1992 was a great year for gigs.  This was the year that changed my musical direction and defined my tastes.

The grunge tsunami that swept the world with Nirvana’s “Nevermind” was the catalyst for change on how I listened to music.  I bought the album on pure impulse the previous year little did I know it would change everything and expose me to a whole new world of what would be labelled alternative rock.

Nirvana finally came to Belfast in the summer of 1992 to the King’s Hall.  They brought with them The Breeders and Teenage Fanclub.  An amazing gig I was dripping from head to toe.  That would be my only time to see Nirvana.  Two years later Kurt Cobain would take his own life.

In contrast going to see Def Leppard the following month was a bit of an anti-climax.  I think by this stage grunge was killing this brand of heavy rock for me and I lost interest in the band after that.  Same applied to Extreme who brought a return visit to Belfast having played the Ulster Hall the previous year.  The Kings Hall gig didn’t live up to their earlier visit.  Extreme were the first band I had seen twice.

1992 also got me interested in local talent thanks to programmes like RTEs “No Disco”.  For years the only Irish band I ever listened to was U2.  Galway’s The Stunning and County Antrim’s Therapy? were firm favourite new bands that year. Two different musical styles but both great bands live.  The Stunning played in the Limelight which at that date was the smallest venue I had seen a band in.

Therapy? were enjoying the success of their first major label album Nurse which saw them headline at the Ulster Hall just before Christmas with Silverfish and InDust.  Christmas gigs were due to become a tradition.

Even though grunge was taking over it wasn’t stopping me listening to both Metallica and Megadeth.  Both great bands, Megadeth rolled into Belfast in September their first visit to Belfast following the near riot at the Antrim Forum in 1988.  Thankfully there was no riot this time as Megadeth along with support from up and coming Pantera put on a great show.

Metallica was my first trip to Dublin to see them play at the Point Theatre promoting their ground-breaking Black album.  A first road trip on the bus on a cold winter night saw the back window of the bus getting kicked out!  We were shivering all the away to Dublin!

• Gigs