Kershaw gig is pulled

The Adventures of Andy Kershaw was set for this weekend at the Continental, in a fitting finale to the venue’s UnPeeled series.

The preceding Tuff Life Boogie series, marked nine years since the death of Kershaw’s Radio One friend and colleague John Peel.

Those included sets by several high-profile acts linked to the Peel show over the years, including indie favourites The Primitives and revered folk artist Nic Jones.

Past Tuff Life Boogie shows included gigs by influential new wave act Wire, The June Brides and The Pastels.

Kershaw announced: “The promoter has lost quite a lot of money, alas, on other recent gigs and decided he cannot continue organising events for the time being. I hope he’s soon back in business, and sorry for any inconvenience this may have caused.”

Enrico La Rocca, who fronts Tuff Life Boogie, said ticket sales were low and he couldn’t afford to lose any more money.

He said: “The Peel shows were a big gamble and I needed national publicity as I don’t connect with enough people in Preston, and that didn’t happen.

“For example, I got about 80 people who paid for Clinic/Poltergeist/Blue Orchids (and maybe half of them were from out of town), but needed 150 to approach breaking even.

“It was really daft of me to do that many shows and make them all mini-ATP festivals. I don’t envisage doing any more shows in the future to be honest.

“I don’t think there’s a big audience in Preston for what I’m doing and I don’t have any desire to promote elsewhere.”

The Andy Kershaw show was also set to feature Glasgow-based garage rockers The Primevals,No other dates at the Continental are affected, those forthcoming concerts including prestigious appearances by Zoot Money and the Chess Masters (November 9), US underground experimental outfit Pere Ubu (November 10) and The Neville Staple Band (November 15).

For the latest listings from the South Meadow Lane venue, head to http://www.newcontinental.net.