I used to go to The Venue and see The Pixies/GilScott Heron/Jesus and mary chain,Segue,Misty in Roots,etc etc,and also roadied for several bands like Anthem/Dr Chives Swinging Herbs/The Screaming Ab Dabs/The Battery Brides in the early/mid 80s.There was another venue on Market St,called the Flesh Exchange where I saw James King and The Lone Wolves/Primal Scream,at this point Bobby Gilespie had recently found fame as the drummer with the Jesus and Mary Chain-who were shite live by the way. There was a small venue opposite Dr Drakes, where I saw The Rezillos/ Big Country on their first tour.Their Drummer Mark Breziki went on to loads of session work with The Cult etc,and with his brother on Bass played with Midge Ure at The Lemontree.I saw my brothers band at The Venue, and next door ,where Dr Drakes is now there was even gigs at O Henrys.There was always gigs at the student union too,like Eurythmics,and thanks to the local promoter Duncan Hendry Aberdeen had a thriving music scene not only in The Venue ,but in many other venues too,like The Northern Hotel,some other hotel on Union St,Ritzy,The Music Hall,and he organised the Alternative festival,which had many gigs in unusual venues not usually associated with bands and there were gigs at The Amatola,Beach Ballroom,(MEGA CITY 4),Radars-Rosies etc etc,they change the name way too much,St Kays,The 62 club-Toxic Ephex,and you could always hire out places like the upstairs in Portals and thon shitty dive on King St,I 've seen loads of bands there and even gigged there but the name escapes me. The Capitol had Motorhead/Kid Creole/Bauhaus/U2/SLF-The Wall/Siouxsie and the Banshees-Lynton Quesi Johnston/The Rolling Stones.It was a good venue,far better than the Music Hall or Exhibition Centre-I despise them,shit,overpriced warm beer in plastic glasses,and no fucking smoking,nah I 'll give it a miss .I have been to both Venues on Numerous occasions but they do not ever make you feel welcome to be there,it's like herding fu**en sheep.Drummonds was turned into a decent Venue by Ian Slater,who put on loads of name bands like Ocean Colour Scene,and gave local bands good money even on Mondays,he is one of the best promoters/sound engineers that worked in Aberdeen,he now is in a band called Pablo,buy their CD it's pretty good,they are even louder then Dick Dale or Motorhead live. I can not stress enough though ,the guy who made it all happen as far as good touring bands ,Duncan Hendry who now works at His Majesties, should be given a title for his outstanding contribution to music and the arts in Aberdeen,he like Andy Shearer at The Lemontree have made life bearable in Aberdeen,and I save a fortune in travel/accomodation,when I go to Dundee/Edinburgh/Glasgow/The festivals,Well done guys ,I SHOULD PROBABLY BE IN tHE gUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS FOR THE MOST AMOUNT OF GIGS SEEN BY ONE PERSON .F**k !,and I have drank and smoked through nearly all,if a Tab takes 5 minutes off your life,I should have died about euuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuur,he he he ,just my wee joke,seriously though,if Roy Castle was still alive he would be proud of me.