Not for nothing has Fibbers firmly established its reputation as being York’s premier live music venue. It first opened way back in 1992 and since that time has welcomed more than one million people through its doors to see a staggering six thousand plus shows involving more than twice that many bands, including performances by the likes of The Killers, Arctic Monkeys, Biffy Clyro, Stereophonics, Coldplay, Editors and Kasabian as they started out on their individual roads to greater stardom.
Fibbers spent the first 22 years of its life in Stonebow House in York city centre before great uncertainty over the future of that building contributed towards a move across town to its current location in Toft Green. What has not changed, though, is Fibbers capacity to attract some of the very best international, national and local live music acts that are around today.
One look at the venue’s schedule for February is testament to its enduring appeal. The month starts in earnest on the 7th with the arrival of Live Dead 69. This is anything but another Grateful Dead tribute band featuring as it does the Dead’s original keyboard player Tom Constanten, a man who played on the band’s first three albums. This all-star group also includes the incredible talents of Mark Karen, long term guitarist with Bob Weir’s Grateful Dead side project RatDog, and the former Jefferson Starship lead guitar player Slick Aguilar. At Fibbers Live Dead 69 will perform the very first two live Grateful Dead albums (Live Dead recorded in 1969, and then, two years later, Skull & Roses) in their glorious, improvised entirety.
Five days later and another living legend lands at Fibbers this time in the form of the No Wave icon, and acclaimed writer, photographer, actress and conceptualist, Lydia Lunch. The co-founder of the hugely influential Teenage Jesus & the Jerks will be joined here by her fellow American, the composer and instrumentalist Weasel Walter in a collaboration that promises to be not for the faint of heart.
And then it is the turn of the celebrated Canadian metal band Anvil to take to the Fibbers’ stage. That they are still here after almost 40 years and one of the most labyrinthine careers in rock history is a tribute to their endurance, enthusiasm and energy. Expect plenty of the latter on the 21st of February.
For further information on these shows and details of all its forthcoming events, please visit the Fibbers website.
