This day in HISTOROCK !! The Marquee Club !!

            This day in HISTOROCK !!

                                             In 1964, The Who played the first of 22 consecutive Tuesday night gigs at The Marquee Club in London. The band were paid £50 for each gig. During this period, The Who were appearing anywhere they could. They were playing in back rooms in pubs and small clubs in and around the London area. Keith Moon once said "The Marquee is the only place that has any influence, where managers and promoters and the press can see you"  Moon admitted that playing at The Marquee helped The Who develop their musical ideas. The Marquee helped The Who (and many other bands) find their feet. "Maximum R&B" said the poster for these Who gigs — and it was.

                                             The Marquee Club was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958. The most famous period was from 1964 to 1988 at 90 Wardour Street in Soho, and it finally closed at 105 Charing Cross Road in 1996, though the name has been revived unsuccessfully three times in the past !! It was always a small and relatively cheap club, located in the heart of the music industry in London's West End, and used to launch the careers of generations of rock acts. It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on July 12,1962 !!

                                             During the 60's, it was like a who's who of what is now ROCK ROYALTY !!  The Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Who, King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Pink Floyd (who played on Sunday afternoons as part of the Spontaneous Underground club) all appeared regularly at the club !! Another band who made regular appearances was The Manish Boys featuring David Bowie, who first played there in November 1964. Fleetwood Mac gave their first performance there in 1967 !! 

                                             During the 70's The Marquee, while still being a mecca for rock bands like Rory Gallagher, Status Quo & Ten Years After, it also became a home to the punk movement featuring some of the most influential punk bands of our time !! On any given nite you could see The Boys, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Stranglers, Generation X, London, The Police, XTC, Skrewdriver, The Sinceros, Buzzcocks,  early Adam & the Ants, The Jam, Joy Division, The Sound and The Cure !! Can you imagine growing up in that part of town.  INCREDIBLE !!  

                                             In the 80's,  Def Leppard played their first show on the Pyromania World Tour at The Marquee, and included a different setlist from the rest of the shows on that tour. There were also performances by Hanoi Rocks,The Babysitters & The Quireboys among others. They have also had many big name acts appear using different names. Here is an impressive list of bands who played there and the names they performed under in brackets. Check this out : Genesis (Garden Wall), Marillion (Skyline Drifters), Squeeze & Motley Crue as (The Four Skins), Metallica played a secret gig 1990 supporting Metal Church on their Blessing in Disguise Tour. They performed as Vertigo, and Mike Howe (Metal Church vocalist) introduced them as a new band that had only played a couple of shows. The Marquee closed in 1996 although it was unsuccessfully re-opened in 2001, 2004 & 2007 !! RIP to the small club with the tiny stage that played host to some of the biggest names in HISTOROCK !! Check out this video of The Who at The Marquee in 1967 !! Enjoy !!

Kepp on ROCKIN !!
Trike :-)