It was thirty years ago today...

The papers this morning were full of reports of Bob Dylan's 70th birthday, but in terms of anniversaries today has a much more personal resonance for me. 30 years ago today I went to my first ever proper concert, XTC and The Members (purveyors of The Sound of the Suburbs, lest anyone forget) at Birmingham Odeon along with my good friend Tim Worth, now one half of the dynamic wine duo that is the Worth Brothers. It was in fact one of XTC's last ever gigs as shortly afterwards Andy Partridge felt unable to tour anymore and retired from live performance. Pictured above is my only memento of that day, still lovingly preserved. Plans were originally afoot to recreate that day in some form, perhaps by persuading Mr Partridge out of retirement, or a nostalgic trip to another gig to commemorate this event. However, Mr Worth is at his own sold out event whilst I, somewhat more surprisingly, am also involved in a food related event with my good friend the spice monkey at the Star in Highgate.