Podcasts · Word In Your Ear

Nik Kershaw remembers Live Aid, snoods, fingerless gloves & a sudden male-female audience shift

15 Mar 2025 · 27 min · Episode 737

Someone else we put on the cover of Smash Hits 40 years ago who’s touring in 2025! He’s playing European festivals, ‘80s packages, dates with his band and a string of solo shows billed as ‘Musings & Lyrics With Nik Kershaw’, and talks to us here about the first gigs he ever saw and played, which involves …

… a bad case of Imposter Syndrome.

… how the relationship with your audience changes over 40 years.

… “it all seemed so important back then. I was in this little bubble where I thought the world was waiting for my next statement.”

… seeing Rory Gallagher, Wishbone Ash, Lindisfarne, Slade, T Rex, the Sensational Alex Harvey Band – and Vinegar Joe at St Matthew’s Baths in Ipswich.

… the sole appearance of his first band Thor at Rushmere Village Hall.

… instant success in 1983: four nights at Hammersmith Odeon without playing clubs first - “We’re going to need a bigger PA!”

… playing Steely Dan and Weather Report one night and The Birdy Song and Country Roads at a wedding the next.

... appearing between Elvis Costello and Sade at Live Aid – “quite a sandwich” - and forgetting the words.

…and the ‘80s festival circuit: “one big club”.

NIK KERSHAW TOUR DATES HERE: https://www.nikkershaw.net/tour-dates/

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Links in the notes 3

• https://www.nikkershaw.net/tour-dates/
• https://www.patreon.com/wordinyourear
• https://acast.com/privacy

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