Britain's most prolific gig goer is found

The BBC website, (here), has found Britain's most prolific concert-goer. In 35 years rock fan Ray Morrissey has been to more than 5,000 gigs and has been named as Britain's most prolific concert-goer.

Mr Morrissey's front room has piles of notebook pages listing thousands of gigs, one per line, all with a mark out of 10 circled at the end. And stacks of diaries have more details of the shows, three or four a week - what they were like, what they played, who was there.

His personal history of British music, documents the glory of rock 'n' roll superstars and long-forgotten bands alike in meticulous, matter-of-fact detail. A few years ago, he spent six months putting most of the information onto his personal website - www.raysgigs.com.

Mr Morrissey started going to gigs in 1973, when he would sneak into his local venue, the Hammersmith Odeon, now the Apollo, without paying. The 49 year old remembers his first gig, Mott the Hoople, supported by an up-and-coming Queen, "I remember Freddie Mercury's big teeth more than anything."

In 1976, hearing that two older boys from his school had formed a band, he went to check them out. They were called The Sex Pistols, and he was rapidly hooked on punk. "It wasn't a gig as such, it was a nightclub and the band came on at midnight," he says, recalling the show at the Sundown club, now the Astoria 2 (he gave it nine out of 10.) "There were 200 or 300 in the nightclub, but once the band came on they all went to the toilet and went for a drink, and 20 people watched the band."

"The single 'God Save the Queen' came out on my 18th birthday," he continues, and puts the atmosphere back then perfectly, "Every gig was about jumping around down the front of the stage, falling over, and if you didn't come out covered with sweat, it weren't a gig."

The verdicts on his website are peppered with wry observations into stage moments ranging from the momentous to the bizarre. They include:

"The greatest day in live music ever," describing Live Aid at Wembley Stadium in 1985 (10/10).

"Noel stopped 'Wonderwall' after two lines because he did not want any fans singing along to it," describing Oasis in Brighton in 2002 (9.5/10).

"One of the greatest gigs of all time," summed up seeing The Sex Pistols again at the Notre Dame Club off Leicester Square in November 1976 (10/10).

He has also met Mick Jagger and Madonna and attended AC/DC's second UK gig at the long-gone Nashville Rooms in Fulham in April 1976 (9.5/10) - the first of 36 times he has seen the band. Their return next year after eight years away could be the highlight of 2009, he says. "That's one ticket that I made sure I got tickets in advance," he tells the BBC. "I've got my tickets for the O2 arena and I've already got my tickets to go to Paris for two shows. I will be seeing six shows, probably."

Mr Morrissey worked in security at the Hammersmith Odeon in the 1980s when the bouncers got fed up with him bunking in, but has always been a fan first and foremost. Mr Morrissey is keen to keep up his concert schedule, he says, "Live music's bigger than ever - there's more bands, more festivals, more gigs generally," he says. "So long as they've got quality gigs, I'll be making an effort. I don't like to miss out."

Ray Morrissey's Top 10 Live Bands are as follows:
1. Sex Pistols
2. The Clash
3. Kiss
4. AC/DC
5. U2
6. David Bowie
7. The Rolling Stones
8. The Who
9. Thin Lizzy
10. Van Halen

eGigs has a way to go before it catches Ray, but with 942 reviews in eight years, it should will take about the same time - 35 years to get to 5,000!

FUTURE GIGS