Extract>>
Original source: http://www.hotrails.co.uk/history/1978.htm
Friday 28 Apr
Bands on the Bill
1: Japan
2: Blue Oyster Cult
Setlist:
01 RUReady 2 Rock
02 Last Days Of May
03 Me262
04 Godzilla
05 Summer of Love
06 5 Guitar Medley (Mark II)
07 Born to be Wild
08 (Don't Fear) The Reaper
[ Rest of Setlist Unknown ]
Roy Knowles
Let's get this straight - nothing will ever compare with seeing BOC for the first time. (see my review - my first BOC gig Nov 1975). But now they were my band. I lived and breathed the BOC. I had waited nearly 3 years to see them again and I was going to love every minute of the show - I would even watch the support band, it meant that much to me. As it was such a celebration (and I was nearly the legal age) we went out for a few beers before the show - fortunately not as many as the guy sat next to me in the stalls at the Free Trade Hall. My abiding memory from watching Japan was this bloke from Sheffield looking at the lead singer David Sylvian, and saying " I'd give her one" When I pointed out that it was actually a man, he replied " I don't care, any port in a storm".
Dave Robinson
Incidentally, talking about support acts, the Manchester show opened with Japan, who were at that time in a sort of glam-rock, heavy makeup and spandex phase ( very New York Dolls ) ! Hard to imagine that this was the same Japan who later produced all the new-romantic type stuff a few years later.