2023

Wednesday 20^th September. Chalk, Brighton.

Sunday 17^th September. 100Club, London.

Monday 18^th September. Bullingdon, Oxford.

Saturday 16^th September. Waterfront, Norwich.

Thursday 14^th September. O2 Academy 3, Birmingham.

Wednesday 13^th September. The Joiners, Southampton.

Tuesday 12^th September. Exchange, Bristol.

Sunday 10^th September. Dorothy Pax, Sheffield.

Friday 8^th September. Old Woolen, Leeds.

Thursday 7^th September. The Attic at the Garage, Glasgow.

Wednesday 6^th September. Cluny 2, Newcastle.

Red Guitars had great songs, cutting lyrics and a guitar sound to die for, but were their tastes too eclectic to hold an indie audience who rarely strayed out into the sun? In the cold light of day it seemed like a good question. In the live arena, however, every doubt was blown away.

Adam Hammond reviewing the Night and Day Café show.
Read Adam's full review at Isolation Records.

Monday 4^th September. Night & Day Café, Manchester.

Saturday 24^th June. O'Rileys, Hull. 40^th anniversary of Good Tech launch!

 

2022

Saturday 30^th April. O2 Institute 3, Birmingham.

…to the unbridled joy of a packed venue, they surge into a scintillating rendition of Marimba Jive, Hallam's South African inspired guitar figures playing off against Lou's sumptuous sliding fretless bassline. It takes seconds to establish that Jerry has lost nothing of the power and distinctive character in his voice and the band have lost nothing of their interlocking groove‐making chemistry…

Trust the Doc after the 100 Club.

Friday 29^th April. 100 Club, London.

Thursday 28^th April. Green Door Store, Brighton.

Saturday 23^rd April. New Adelphi Club, Hull.

Friday 22^nd April. The Attic at the Garage, Glasgow.

Thursday 21^st April. Night & Day Café, Manchester.

Tuesday 19^th April. Old Woolen, Leeds.

1998

Saturday 14^th February, Adelphi Club, Hull

 

1984

Sunday 16^th December, Spring Street Theatre, Hull

Wednesday 12^th December, Electric Ballroom, London

Tuesday 11^th December, Pavilion Theatre, Brighton

Sunday 9^th December, New Ocean Club, Cardiff

Saturday 8^th December, Manchester University.

Manchester Uni tonight was not a place for poseurs…it's the music that counts and the Red Guitars are well aware of that. Tonight's set was a testimony to just how far they've progressed in the past year or so. All the tracks on ‘Slow To Fade‘ appeared plus a few b sides and ‘Fact’ which had been significantly modified. Best songs of the night were in my view ‘Shaken Not Stirred’, ‘Marimba Jive’, ‘Dive’, frantic, desperate and tension packed, and ‘Sting in the Tale’ where bass and guitars created a sinister atmosphere.

Noise Annoys fanzine, Issue 1, Winter 84/5.

Friday 7^th December, Caley Palais, Edinburgh.

Thursday 6^th December, Leeds Polytechnic.

Wednesday 5^th December, Coventry Polytechnic.

Tuesday 4^th December, Leadmill, Sheffied.

Sunday 2^nd December, U.E.A., Norwich.

Saturday 1^st December, Leicester Polytechnic.

Friday 30^th November, Colchester Institute.

Saturday 14^th July ‐ John Peel Session, Maida Vale, London.

Friday 13^th July, “Rock Against Closures” Hull Trades & Labour Club.

Sunday 24^th June, Sheffield.

Saturday 23^rd June, Manchester.

Friday 22^nd June, Rock City, Nottingham.

Wednesday 20^th June, Leeds.

Monday 18^th June, May Ball, Clare College, Cambridge.

Thursday 14^th June, Night Moves, Glasgow.

Wednesday 13^th June, Hull University.

Monday 11^th June, Crypt, Middlesborough.

Saturday 9^th June, Retford.

Thursday 7^th June, Electic Ballroom, London.

Saturday 19^th May, Loughborough University.

Friday 18^th May, U.E.A., Norwich.

Wednesday 16^th May, Hacienda, Manchester.

Monday 30^th April, Cookys, Frankfurt.

Sunday 29^th April, Batschkapp, Frankfurt ‐ cancelled due to the Smiths pulling out.

Saturday 28^th April, Musik Theater Bad, Hanover.

Friday 27^th April, Odeon, Munster.

Thursday 26^th April, Luxor, Cologne.

Wednesday 25^th April, Logo, Hamburg.

Tuesday 24^th April, Loft Im Metropol, Berlin.

Monday 23^rd April, Alter Bahnhof, Hof.

Thursday 5^th April, Easter Ball, Hull School of Architecture.

Tuesday 13^th March, Manchester Free Trade Hall ‐ supporting the Smiths & Sandie Shaw.

Monday 12^th March, Hammersmith Palais, London ‐ supporting the Smiths & Sandie Shaw.

Saturday 10^th March, Coventry Polytechnic ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Friday 9^th March, University of Lancaster ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Thursday 8^th March, Town Hall, Middlesborough ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Wednesday 7^th March, Mayfair, Newcastle ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Monday 5^th March, Coasters, Edinburgh ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Sunday 4^th March, Fusion Club, Aberdeen University ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Saturday 3rd March, Dundee University ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Friday 2^nd March, Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Wednesday 29^th February, Leeds University ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Friday 18^th February, Essex University, Colchester ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Thursday 16^th February, Leicester University ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Wednesday 15^th February, Rock City, Nottingham ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Tuesday 14^th February, U.E.A., Norwich ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Friday 10^th February, London School of Economics.

Thursday 9^th February, Tower Ballroom, Birmingham.

Wednesday 8^th February, Mountford Hall, Liverpool. ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Tuesday 7^th February, Hull University.

Monday 6^th February, Keynes College JCR, Kent University.

Saturday 28^th January, Leadmill, Sheffield.

Thursday 26^th January, Rock Garden, London.

Wednesday 25^th January, Hellfire Club, Wakefield.

Sunday 22^nd January, Spring Street Theatre, Hull.

Friday 20^th January ‐ BBC TV, the Whistle Test.

Thursday 19^th January, Camden Palace, London.

Thursday 12^th January, Baths Hall, Scunthorpe.

Wednesday 11^th January, Hacienda, Manchester.

…Seeing the group on stage for the first time at Manchester's Hacienda, my thoughts were confirmed. More danceable than the singles suggest, it was a hot‐shot foot‐tapping performance of singability and grooving mobility.

From the cold but warm, hard but mellow, slow but fast version of ‘Technology’ to the African‐influenced beat‐ fantastic of ‘Marimba Jive’ the audience shook its hip and swung its leg in time to the sub‐pop monster rhythm of Matt Higgins' drums and Lou Barlow's bass guitar.

Jangling, crashing and smoothly sweeping over this varied backdrop were the reason for the band's existence ‐ the guitars. Red Guitars, in fact. With songs calling for six‐string virtuosity, Hallam Lewis and John Rowley provide the perfect blend of tricks and treats to ease the songs around a warm‐hearted theme.

Binding these elements into a cohesive unit is the voice of Jerry Kidd, a passionate but relaxed singer, who seems to almost talk when most vocalists would warble at full stretch or shout in incoherent form.

Even with the club's notoriously bad acoustics the Red Guitars suceeded in winning over a crowd that's normally too cool to clap, let alone jump up and down snorting like a herd of wild buffalo.

Dave Roberts, Sounds, 11/02/84.

Saturday 7^th January, the ICA, London, as part of ‘Big Brother, New Year Rock Week’.

The ICA's 1984 New Year Rock week concluded when Genesis P Orridge, Frank ‘Fad Gadget’ Tovey and some members of Einsturzende Neubauten used road drills, angle grinders and chain saws to destroy the stage, a performance so infamous that it was re‐enacted in February 2007.

…taking the ICA stage in an aura of anticipation built up by word of mouth, two singles and tremendous record company interest Red Guitars are ‐ intermittently ‐ refreshingly different. If, like I did, you believe that their capabilities lie quintessentially in the tremendous power of lead singer Lawrence (sic) Kidd it's probably because at times his power is so all‐absorbing that it acts to the detriment of the other four members of the band.

But then Red Guitars seem aware of this, and beginning their set with their second single ‘Fact’, the set seemed to be consciously divided into two halves, a half built on plinths of Kidd's power, culminating in the grossly underrated single ‘Good Technology’, and a half launched amid the calypso rhythms of the excellent instrumental ‘Heartbeat Go’, leading to the subtler vocal arrangements of songs like ‘Paris France’.

Scarcely this month's flavour for longer than a week, Kidd has already developed the ability to use the stage and audience to promote the alternating whims and whiplashes of Red Guitars' songs. The gently tumbling ‘Marimba Jive’ is as far apart from the harsh ‘Steeltown’ as Hawaii is from Hull, and yet the nonchalant shift in style between the songs seemed less a change than an obvious progression.

Neil Taylor, New Musical Express, 21st January 1984.

1983

Monday 19^th December, Electric Ballroom, London ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Friday 9^th December, Dudley JB's, Dudley.

Saturday 3^rd December, Cambridge College of Art, Cambridge.

Sometime in December, Tower nightclub, Hull.

Friday 18^th November, Edge Hill College, Ormskirk ‐ supporting the Smiths.

Saturday 15^th October, University College London Union.

Saturday 8^th October, Leadmill, Sheffield.

Wednesday 22^nd September, The Tube, Tyne Tees Television.

Saturday 17^th September, Futurama 5, Queens Hall, Leeds ‐ On a bill with the Bay City Rollers, Howard Devoto, Comsat Angels, John Cooper Clarke, Clock DVA…

Wednesday 9^th September, Ossies Bar, Middlesborough.

Wednesday 17^th August, The Greyhound, Fulham Road, London (£15 minus £5 for PA).

Friday 12^th August, Spiders, Hull.

Saturday 6^th August, John Peel Session, Maida Vale, London.

Friday 24^th June, Dingwalls, Hull ‐ Good Technology launch gig.

April, Bay Horse, Gillygate, York ‐ first gig out of Hull.

Monday 28^th March. Dingwalls, Hull.

The Red Guitars were in magnificent form when they appeared at Dingwalls last Monday. It seems that the number of fans is ever increasing and it is hardly surprising judging by this latest performance. The large crowd who turned up were treated to a non‐stop flow of good music. Right from the beginning when they made a spectacular entrance to the sound of a pulsing drum beat, the band held the enthusiastic crowd spellbound. The Red Guitars roared their way through a selection of their songs with a professionalism that is rarely seen in local bands. The audience quickly warmed to their particular brand of melodious rock and many were soon on their feet showing their appreciation. It all amounted to one hour of sheer enjoyment and it is obvious that with the right breaks this band is destined for the big time.

Hull Times, 01/04/83.

Saturday 5^th March. Welly Club, Hull.