On June 4, 1976, the Sex Pistols played Manchester's Lesser Free Trade Hall to an audience of no more than 50 people. The night would colour the lives of everyone in attendance, and change the city's music scene forever.
The Pistols were invited to play the show by Bolton Technical College students Howard Trafford and Pete McNeish, better known to the world now as Buzzcocks founders Howard Devoto and Pete Shelley. The pair's initial motivation was somewhat selfish - they wanted their new band to support the London punk quartet - but Buzzcocks weren't yet ready to perform in public, meaning that the opening band slot was reluctantly passed over to local rockers Solstice, whose biggest claim to fame was that they could play Mountain's Nantucket Sleighride note-for-note.
