Madonna

I just recalled a snippet of Leeds history. They started putting big gigs on Roundhay Park. Rolling stones, fuck me, I think even paedophile Michael Jackson played up there. Anyway, I hadnt planned on going to see Madonna but I was living in Capeltown and its only half a mile up the road. My brother Animal, now dead from a motorcycle accident came to drag me up there. Paul Fryer was there, he told me he got close enough to see the celu;lite on her thighs. This was the True Blue tour so sher hsdnt become the gym steroid pterodactyl she later transmogriphied in to. I think he told me he went up to Roundhay on some art /vandalism project to do with doors.
My memories are different. Animal took me up there, he'd latched on to me as an uncooperative apprentice in his Hells Angels ideas and longed for a younger brother. They dragged me up there from my home in Shepherds lane to hang out with the Royal Park motorcycle amphetamine community where we sat drinking with thirty odd none ticket holders, this was Leeds, we had every right to see her if she wanted to come to Leeds. The strangest alliance erupted, something unimaginable, impossible, a vast gang of blacks from Chapeltown met the Leeds United service crew [at this time probably the meanest firm in the country]. The three disparate communities united for the only time in Leeds history. Maybe it took Madonna to unite us. The fence was vast aluminium panels and after repeated batterinbs from all the gangs a panel fell.. A few slipped through before a semi circle of game coppers formed a barrier. they were veterans of the medieval Orgreave miners strike battle and the Nostel Priory detruction of the convoy where pregnant women, children were all targets. Pure evil. Dont let anyone tell you that they didnt love fighting anyone different from the white upper and middle class. They stripped off thier numbers, drew truncheons and relkished the battle. They were to lose until they got the horse men in. The football fans experience was the key, they made a series of charges to batter the coppers thgrough sheer force of numbers. Each surge they would take a few knocks but grab a boy and beat him to a pulp. I recall one female police leading a lad to the black moria in tears, 'I lost my jumper', 'never mind, love, it'll be reet' she reassured him. Most of us joined in the thrill of the violence. We were in. I lost track of all my friends, enjoyed the evening, and walked home alone.
It is a great thing that the black community, the Leeds United Service Crew and the motorcycle druggies could put aside tier common disagreements to work toward a common goal. It says a lot about the good in humanity.