It’s gone down in history as the gig that changed the world – and Timperley-based Paul Welsh was the only photographer there.
His pictures captured The Sex Pistols’ legendary gig at the Lesser Free Trade Hall in Manchester on June 4th 1976.
It was attended by only 50 people, but was widely seen as the catalyst for the Manchester music scene that followed. Had it not happened, there could well have been no Buzzcocks, Joy Division, Factory Records or The Smiths.
Forty-six years on, Welsh has decided to display the entire collection at Manchester’s Central Library – just across the road from where the gig took place – later this year. We spoke to him.
ALTRINCHAM TODAY: You were the only photographer at one of the most famous gigs of all time – the night the Sex Pistols played the Free Trade Hall on June 4th 1976. What are your memories of the night?
PAUL WELSH: First of all it would seem unimaginable today that there would only be one person taking photographs at a gig. The gig in question was a product of that time, the band were unlike any band we’d seen in the UK up to that point. They were discordant, not at all professional, very basic, very honest, yet despite the lack of the sort of professionalism we’d grown accustomed to from other bands, the contrast left me leaving the Lesser Free Trade Hall feeling like I was walking on air, as if I’d witnessed something really special.
AT: How many photographs survive from the night and how popular have they proved in the 46 years since?
PW: There are 21 photographs from that night. I was initially offered £1,000 for the negatives by a local photographer but I decided to upload them to Getty Images.
They have been selling worldwide for the past 14 years from New Zealand, Australia, Japan, the USA and Europe in magazines, newspapers, books and documentaries.
AT: All your photographs from the night will now be going on display at Central Library in Manchester. Why have you decided to display them now and what can people expect?
PW: All the people who have purchased the photos for display have chosen the same half a dozen and so the majority of the photos haven’t been seen by the general public. This will be the first and possibly only time the entire collection will be available to see. There will also be photographs I took of other artistes for my magazine Penetration as well as a printed commentary and assorted memorabilia associated with that gig.
AT: You live in Timperley now – what are the other highlights from your career?
PW: I edited my own magazine in the 1970s, a magazine that appeared two years before the UK punk scene evolved, and I was told by the editor of the first punk fanzine ‘Sniffin Glue that my magazine was his inspiration.
I then spent 15 years writing comedy scripts for TV shows both in the UK and Germany and more recently had a book published by Cleopatra Records in LA about the band Motorhead.
I was a friend of Lemmy for 14 years and conducted the very first Motorhead interview.
Anarchy in the Manchester Central Library! will be on at the Central Library from October 10th until December 30th 2022
