COVENTRY Music Museum Curator Pete Chambers writes for the Observer.
The Enemy are back!
WE all hoped the rumours were true and guess what, they are – Coventry’s indie kings The Enemy will be headlining on the Friday at Godiva Festival 2023.
This will see the band returning to the festival for the first time in 15 years, headlining the main stage on June 30 for a huge hometown show.
The Enemy shot to fame with their iconic debut album ‘We’ll Live and Die in These Towns’ which went straight to number one in the charts – the first time a Coventry band had achieved a number one album.
In the years since, the band have achieved a whole host of awards including two further Top 10 albums and two Top 10 singles.
The Enemy have a long history with Godiva Festival. Their live performances in 2006, 2007 and 2008 are widely considered to be among the best performances in the festival’s history.
Now they return in 2023 to add to that list.
Early Bird tickets for the festival will go on sale on Friday, March 3, and are fantastic value.
An adult ticket for the Friday night costs just £6 and a weekend pass is available for as little as £15.
However, there will only be 20,000 Early Bird tickets available, so people are advised to get their tickets early to save money and avoid disappointment.
For tickets – from 9am on March 3 – visit godivafestival.com/tickets. Further announcements about the line-up will be made in the coming days. Head to godivafestival.com to stay up-to-date with all the latest news on the festival.
Crashing at the museum
Last Thursday saw the VIP launch of the ‘Crash’ exhibition at the Coventry Music Museum based in the 2-Tone Village.
The new exhibition celebrates 35 years of a perfect pop song – ‘Crash’ created by Coventry band The Primitives.
The band formed in 1984 and made a name for themselves in the indie scene, before they struck gold with the jingle-jangle sound of ‘Crash’ in 1988.
The song hit a chord and created a life of its own and to date there has been over 30 cover versions of the song, including one in Spanish and a remix in 1995 that featured in the Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels film Dumb and Dumber.
The song hit number 5 in the UK, 2 in Sweden, 3 in The USA and Ireland, 11 in New Zealand and 15 in South Africa and Tracy and the band graced the covers of all the UK music mags.
Fast forward to last Thursday night, and the opening of the new Coventry Music Exhibition ‘Crash’, where the band took the spotlight and officially opened the new displays as well as delighting the crowd to a short cut-down set (which of course included THAT song).
The exhibition was made possible by the UK Government through the Coventry City Council’s Creative Growth and Cultural Tourism Recovery Programme to help create this exhibition. With massive thanks to the museum’s volunteers.
Well, there is a selection of rare items on show dating back to the early days of the band, you can try your hand at singing ‘Crash’ in the stylised ‘Tracy Karaoke Lounge’ and for that unique photo opportunity there will be something we like to call the ‘Crash-elator’.
Where everything turns upside down – watch out for that car! Above all it tells the story of this iconic perfect pop band and the seismic single, plus all of their other superb body of work.
