Cider With Roadies - Stuart Maconie

Described by Peter Kay as ‘the best thing to come out of Wigan since the A58 to Bolton’, Stuart Maconie has led the perfect music fan's life. From being unspeakably lucky enough to see The Beatles as a child (despite being too young to remember much of it, the details of said concert featured were hilariously described by his mother) to a successful career writing for the (once) prestigious NME magazine.
Starting off as an autobiography of a simple upbringing in Wigan that any child of the
North can relate to before quickly becoming a musical memoir to die for. Cider With Roadies delves into the worlds of Northern Soul and punk rock in his early years, at one point forming a punk band with nicknames so unashamedly paying homage to the Sex Pistols it’s almost cute. As a University English student sending reviews to NME , a method that no longer gets you a job with a magazine, Maconie’s experiences range from the bizarre (a four minute interview with MC Hammer) to the hilarious (a particularly nasty half-week on tour with the apparently insufferable drummer of Napalm Death).
As shamelessly Northern as Frank Gallagher’s parka and combining Stephen Fry-esque wit with the relatable banter of a conversation with Karl Pilkington and the experience of that one man in the pub everyone listens to, Stuart Maconie’s love letter to pop music details the life that people like myself dream of.