Only a wisp of a plan
Our enemies were as dumb as us
August 14th 1992, and Fibbers opened in a butt-ugly concrete pile in the the arse end of York.
Three days before opening August 14th 1992 somebody thoughtfully shoved a market trolley through the glass frontage. John Halder rebuilt it in a day.
Two days before opening the council said our capacity could only be 100. Michael Leech knocked a bloody great hole in the wall and slung in a door. Bingo. More customers.
And one day before there was still only a wisp of a plan. It was the very definition of make it up as you go.
There was no money, no financial planning. Every day we looked at what cash we had on the desk and spent it on another band. And prayed.
We opened all day and people started eating our Mexican food long before Old El Paso invented a fajita kit. They slurped our ‘proper froffy coffee’ years before Starbucks said they invented it. To those folks I say THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.
To this day I don’t know why venues don’t open during the day; we even used to serve food during gigs (we were that skint…).
We got busy even as predators circled. They were as dumb as us. We survived.
We did seven days and seven nights for years. With three young children at home.
If you’re daft enough to do this, I’d say don’t stand at the starting line waiting for the finishing line to magically appear. You gotta run, fall over a bit, go off track, get your shins spiked, do extra laps.
I fantasise about spending a lottery win on rebuilding the original Fibbs.
Every half-brick, fire-damaged floorboard, busted toilet, dog-eared poster, sticky carpet tile, red leather sofa, telephone kiosk, rickety chair, traffic light, scuffed bar, real ale handpull. Boiling hot nights in a fog of ciggy smoke. And all of it cobbled together in hope, but glued in place by a million folks and more trailing to Stonebow House. They are the success story.
But I’m old and past it. So along with my chum Simon Frost of brightfive I’m in the final throes of a Fibbs retrospective. It’s taken three years so far.
8500 gigs, 6000 bands. It’s not just a long boring gig list. Pics, vids, posters, booking diaries, contracts, riders, specs, menus, staff, customers, links, tagging, the lot. And you can even add your own content, sharing your own memories and images with us all. There’s even a merch section where you can get content printed on to pretty much anything.
Special thanks to Graeme Fox who put up his house as surety. My eldest sister Karen without whom etc. Aaron Mellor for his unquestioning support and belief in the latter years. And many many more - they’ll be in the book.
If I ever get around to writing it…
