"Wednesday 21 December; do out-front sound for Gerald at the Hacienda."

(Graham Massey, 808 State)

"A celebration of the summer of '88"; DJ's Jon DaSilva and Mike Pickering."

(From "The Hacienda Must Be Built" by Jon Savage)

"some gay club with James Taylor quartet on downstairs .just me martin and Gerald"

(Graham Massey, 808 State)

"We all met at the Hacienda in 1988. We had met before, though. Me and Carl had done some gigs in Chester supporting 808 State. Andy and Carl were already pretty established, but we had no gear at the time - it was basically an SH-101 and a little Tandy mixer."

(K-Klass)

Listed in the NME of 17th December 1988.

A Certain Ratio & A Guy Called Gerald with DJ Morgan

"A Guy Called Gerald supporting A Certain Ratio, 1988, Sheffield Leadmill. So groovy that the audience got them back on stage to play "Born in the North", which they'd performed on Tony Wilson's TV show the week before. "

Review by Rob M in the fanzine, Get Out And Hitch A Ride (Issue 6, 1989) here.

A Guy Called Gerald, 808 State, Tackhead Sound System

"December 6th the Ritz as state 808 /a guy called gerald/Tackhead sound system for Steve barkers on the wire Xmas bash."

(Graham Massey, 808 State)

"(are you sure this was a Tackhead gig? i remember an African headcharge gig at the Ritz in 89 with guests a guy called gerald doing voodoo ray an that singer going ahaahooooyeeeeh for half an hour, then another guest spot with i cant remember who. And Gary Clail getting mightily stroppy over the mic with something like 'if you do turn up on stage in 2 minutes that's it, your fucked cos i ain't waiting any longer, so stop wasting our fuckin time... They never did show up on stage but the fuckin sound was mad that night...)"

From this webpage

Reviewed in the NME (24th/31st December 1988).

'Wet' (Aqua Party at Victoria Baths with two heated swimming pools, Turkish baths and sauna; DJs Mike Pickering, Graeme Park and Jon DaSilva, plus a special beach-wear fashion PA. A wonderful idea, but it was bit too cold to entice a lot of people to come down; there was hardly anybody on the dance floor in the sport room, but luckily there was plenty of space in the sauna and the amount of people in the pool was just right. A half-hour of the night was televised as part of 'The Other Side Of Midnight' - a weekly arts programme presented by Tony Wilson and broadcast by Granada.)

From "The Hacienda Must Be Built" by Jon Savage.

Gerald's performance of "Voodoo Ray" was shown on "The Other Side Of Midnight".
Guy called Gerald Band at Victoria Baths Rave (Gerald ,Graham Massey, Hanif and Colin Thorpe)

"The more boxes we could wire together the better. Gerald never had plugs on his gear and would jam bare wires into the mains with matchsticks. If we needed a new lead, we would cut an old one in two. I remember a scary moment when we played a rave in Victoria Baths with the pool open, and everyone's in the water dancing water-hockey style, and there's all Gerald's bare wires.' "

Graham Massey, 808 State (sleeve notes to Prebuild)

"But Granada good on em! Some where they have The Other Side of Midnight (Tony Wilson's Late 80s show with Theme tune by Yargo (Paddy and Phil Kirby's 80s band, an Arthur Baker Remix used to be dropped sat the Thunderdome by D and A) On which me and martin 1st performed Pacific ,The Rave in Victoria swimming Baths with Gerald and Me"

Graham Massey, 808 State

Video here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5LiFdvTzZOY

with Jon Da Silva, Mike Pickering, Mark and Steve from the U41A

Yellow flyer from Phatmedia

Edward Barton, Jane & Chapter and A Guy Called Gerald @ Boardwalk

Reviewed in the NME (12th November 1988).

G.M.R. Live Broadcast

"The Born Again Meltdown Party"

The Man From Del Monte
Inspiral Carpets
Dub Sex
State 808
+Meltdown DJ's

A live 10-minute version of "Voodoo Ray" (featuring Gerald) was played on Greater Manchester Radio .

Graham Massey: "this is International 2 , (slightly larger venue on Plymouth Grove)
The Body Gloove Gig .think it was reviewed with photos ..was possibly the same night as one in Glasgow, seem to remember all jumping in a mini bus and doing a rave in a bus depot at 6 am"

Saturday 23rd September:

Richie Rich
+State 808
DJ's John DaSilva and Spinmasters (808 DJs)

Graham Massey: "this is International 2 , (slightly larger venue on Plymouth Grove)
The Body Gloove Gig .think it was reviewed with photos ..was possibly the same night as one in Glasgow, seem to remember all jumping in a mini bus and doing a rave in a bus depot at 6 am"

State 808 Live at Boardwalk, Manchester

Reviewed in the NME (27th August 1988) by Sarah Champion.

From The Wrexham Leader (29th July 1988):

Top rap acts at the Cotton Club

ON AUGUST 1 Wrexham's Cotton Club plays host to a night unlike any other in the area - it is the first Doctorin' The Cotton Club
night.

The special night on August 1 will feature soul, funk, house and hip hop music, top DJs with live mixing and some of the country's best live acts in the style.

There will be live entertainment from up-and-coming Manchester acts Hit Squad MCR and Warrior Posse. MCR are rated as the hottest unsigned house act in the country and Warrior Posse are a rap act who could "teach Derek B where real hip hop comes from."

The DJ line-up features Chris Reynolds, John Locke, Gary Jones, Matthew Roberts and Leon Roberts.

Their standards will be high - Chris, Gary, Matthew and Leon will be part of a DJ team supplying the club sounds at this year's
prestigious WOMAD festival in St. Austell, Cornwall, at the end of August.

The organisers feel the area needs a gig of this type, and they promise a night only rivalled in world famous clubs such as New York's World and Paradise Garage!

DJ Leon Roberts said the music will feature the best of real dance music including some of the records that have made it into the charts.

He said: "We know the demand is out there' being wasted on inferior tracks; we're out to do it properly and have a good time in the process.

"The music will be guaranteed Stock/Aitken/ Waterman free but not chart free and definitely guaranteed infectious."

If the gig, is supported well it could be made into a regular spot.
Entrance is £2.50 and normal club rules apply - over 18s only and no jeans or trainers.

Scratchbeat Masters (+ Acid Set) @ Congleton

State 808 @ Wrexham - first gig as State 808?

With DJ Gary Jay "Gary DJ'd at The 808 state and A GUY CALLED GERALD gig at Wrexham's cotton club in June 1988 and give him much needed publicity "

State 808 Live.

"(gig on the outskirts of Liverpool in like a youth centre?)" (Graham Massey, 808 State)

Scratchbeat Masters @ Boardwalk

"Friday 4th march hip hop gig at boardwalk. think this is where thermo kings would be recorded."

(Graham Massey, 808 State)

"My first UK hip hop gig was seeing all 4 crews in the Hit Squad playing at the legendary Boardwalk, which, at the time only held 200 downstairs and was a really grimy venue. It was mad - I was 15 and sneaked in with my mate Steve, the air smelt funny, the place was seedy as fuck but playing tunes like BIG DADDY KANE Raw (awesome), FROZEN EXPLOSION Babs (psychedelic), RHYTHM RADICALS Dig the move (hard PE tribute), it was crazy. All 4 groups did their very different sets, all were 'local' but otherwise varied in sex (well there was only one bird rhyming but this was 88), colour, style & swagger. The jam ended late, very late, my Mum said we would 'have to talk' in the morning, I didn't care, it had been worth every minute."

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