For a variety of reasons I had decided to stop being a performing member of The Radiators during the recording of the TV Tube Heart album. My last gig with the band until our 2004 reunion, was at Dalymount Park (August 21st 1977, with Thin Lizzy) where we were royally screwed around (but that’s another story for another day). The band decided to relocate to London (25th September 1977) to work closely with Ted and Roger of Ace/Chiswick Records. Philip asked me if I would come to London and look after the day to day management of the band for the first 3 weeks of dates. Still feeling a deep connection with the Radiators From Space, I accepted his request.
One of these shows was a gig at The Red Cow in Hammersmith. After sound checking, Pete decided to go out to get something to eat. On the way back, he was ambushed by a bunch of Teddy Boys, who didn't like the look of him. He got a bit of a thrashing(and likely so did they). He took a thump to the face, leading to a totally swollen eye. Always the consummate professional, he went straight from the fight to the stage and played a great show. Like most gigs around this time, it got fairly chaotic. A very enthusiastic audience caused the big speaker stack to sway with their pogoing. To avert the risk of it toppling, I stood behind holding on as all Hell was breaking loose. I heard a shout of “LOOKOUT!”, I turned around, and BANG, was hit in the face by a part of a lighting rig that had been sitting on top of the speakers. However despite being dazed, I had to hang on to the precarious speaker stack with, unknown to me at the time, blood running down my face from a cut eyebrow. Esteemed photographer Chris Gabrin captured this moment, along with Pete's eye and a great show.
After the gig, Pete and I went to the hospital to be checked out. Seeing that we were from Ireland, the on-duty nurse in the A&E department, asked us had we been drinking and fighting with each other! We were treated and sent home to fight another day.