There was a time in early eighties London when you could not escape seeing Nico live.
She was probably often still billed as Nico from the Velvet Underground on the posters but truth be told by now she was the legendary Narco from the London Underground. (That's stolen unashamedly from 'Nico: Songs They Never Play on the Radio' by James Edward Young which is one of the funniest books you will ever read.)
Nico would be on this bill and that one and there are esimates that she played live in the region of 1200 times between 1980 & 88.
Sometimes you had no idea that she would be taking part that night as when Rip Rig & Panic had a gig at the Wag Club on a very sultry summer night and yeah Nico joined them for a couple of VU tunes (thinking Sunday Morning and Heroin) and that WAS something special.
Anyway I decided to move to Amsterdam in 84 and look there is Nico playing The Paradiso again. And again...
My friend Laurie's abiding memory of a visit to Amsterdam in the early seventies was having his acidtrip totally turned into a freak out by witnessing her performing Janitors of Lunacy live at the...you guessed The Paradiso.
My ex- wife even had a flying visit to her home town here in Melbourne when we were living in London and yep...there was Nico performing at The Prince of Wales in St. Kilda. That was with Dr John Cooper Clarke in tow and the tales of their life in their Brixton flat in Young's book are fugn hilarious. Highly recommended
I also had Dick Witts' biography of her but I just realised that didn't make the move to Exile Towers. With the stolen book list also including Vivien Goldman & David Corio's Black Chord it is really easy for me to know who took them. (Nico fan and a photographer you say and only steals hardback copies. Hmmm)
Not only is she a khunt she is also a very rich khunt too
People eh
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