Marquee Club

Marquee Club

Marquee Club on Upper Saint Martins Lane in Covent Garden in August 2007
Location	London, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′48″N 0°08′02″W / 51.5134°N 0.1339°W / 51.5134; -0.1339Coordinates: 51°30′48″N 0°08′02″W / 51.5134°N 0.1339°W / 51.5134; -0.1339
Type	Nightclub
Genre(s)	Rock
Opened	12 July 1962
Website	themarqueeclub.net

The Marquee was a music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts.

It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962.

The 1960s: Rock Roots

Keith Moon's plaque, 90 Wardour Street.

In 1964 the club moved a short distance to what became its most famous venue at 90 Wardour Street. Here, almost every major rock band of note played over the next 25 years on the tiny stage. Residencies during the late 1960s alone included Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies, Chris Barber, The Yardbirds, Divlje Jagode, Led Zeppelin, The Who, King Crimson, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Jimi Hendrix Experience & Pink Floyd (who played on Sunday afternoons as part of the Spontaneous Underground club).^[1] To find out who was playing on any given night, you could just call in at the 'Ship' pub a few doors away.^{[citation needed]} In 1964 Moody Blues manager/producer Alex Murray used a homemade studio in the garage at the back of the club to produce the classic 'Go Now' single which shot to #1 at Christmas 1964 and film the first ever UK pop video promo. The development of Marquee Studios was largely financed by profits from this record.^{[citation needed]}

The Rolling Stones returned to the club 26 March 1971 after an eight year hiatus to film a television special.^{[citation needed]}

Club owner Harold Pendleton launched the National Jazz Festival in 1961 in Richmond. This was the precursor to the Reading and Leeds Festivals.^{[citation needed]}

The 1970s: The New Punk Order

Although never a seminal punk venue, the Marquee nevertheless embraced the burgeoning punk rock movement of the late 1970s and regularly promoted punk and new wave nights into the 1980s. Bands such as The Boys, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Stranglers, Generation X, London, The Police, skrewdriver, The Sinceros, Buzzcocks, The Jam, Joy Division and The Cure all trod the famous Wardour Street stage. Mainstream rock acts like Dire Straits (in the first tour, July 5 and 6, 1978^[2]), Alexis Korner, Steve Hillage, Rory Gallagher. Racing Cars, The Enid, Hanoi Rocks and The Tyla Gang also appeared regularly at the venue.

The 1980s: New wave of British heavy metal and prog revival

During the early to mid 1980s the Marquee became an important venue to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM). Def Leppard played their first show on the Pyromania World Tour here, and included a different setlist from the rest of the shows on that tour. There was a glam revival spearheaded by Hanoi Rocks,The Babysitters and the Quireboys etc. NWOBHM bands such as Angel Witch, Diamond Head, Witchfynde and Praying Mantis were regulars and Iron Maiden were filmed playing there for LWT documentary 20th Century Box (introduced by a very young Danny Baker).

The Marquee was also the central venue of the progressive rock revival of the early 1980s. It was here that the then unsigned Marillion began to gain a wider fan base and press interest playing frequent 2 night residencies to a sold out crowd. Other neo-progressive rock acts of the time regularly headlining at the club included Twelfth Night, Solstice, and Pallas, often supported by acts such as Pendragon or IQ who would in later years become leading lights of the "neo-prog" scene. Other progressive bands regularly playing the Marquee at this time included Quasar, Haze, Cardiacs and Liaison (who were not strictly prog but seemed to become linked to the movement).

New wave and indie bands also appeared including "Two Pints Of Lager And A Packet Of Crisps Please" one-hit wonders Splodgenessabounds, and the almost-cult band The Hummers.

During this period The Club held heats and the final of Melody Makers 'band contests'.

'Secret' Gigs

The historical importance of the club led to a number of bigger, established artists playing 'secret' gigs at the venue often as one-off 'fan thank yous', warm up shows or just because they liked the intimate atmosphere. These 'secret' shows were often promoted under an assumed name designed to be recognised only by hardcore fans. These included appearances by The Jam (under the name John's Boys), Marillion (under such names as Skyline Drifters and Lufthanser Air Terminal), Prince, Genesis, Iron Maiden (appearing as guests on a bill headed "A Fun Night With The Entire Population of Hackney"), Squeeze & Mötley Crüe (in the Charing Cross Road venue as The Four Skins - seen in the video of their cover version of "Anarchy in the UK", and to the derision of those who arrived at the venue expecting the skinhead band of the same name). The less-famous Glasgow indie guitar band Del Amitri poked fun at this tradition in 1985 by playing a gig at the Marquee with "Special Guests" 'Bob Dylan and the Libyans', who were Del Amitri in costume. The venue also prominently featured in the 1985 video for the Wham! single "I'm Your Man". 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.

Current Developments

In 1988, the Wardour Street site was sold for redevelopment (it is now Meza and Floridita with a cigar retail shop Spanish restaurant and Cuban restaurant and some flats) and the Marquee Club was forced to move again, this time to a larger venue at 105 Charing Cross Road. During this period, American progressive metal band Dream Theater recorded their first live album, Live at the Marquee, at the venue. This site was also subsequently bought for redevelopment and the club closed in 1996. A pub now occupies the building.

Ballboy at the Marquee Club on August 13, 2005

In 2001, the Marquee name was bought by entrepreneurs (including Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics who owned the brand rights) and affixed to a brand new club, located in a purpose-built space in Islington, now the Islington Academy. However, this hit financial difficulties and closed in 2003, less than a year after it had opened.

The "Marquee" name was then used for another new venue at 1 Leicester Square in the heart of London's tourist district, opening in 2004, again under different owners. The opening night was called the Breakthrough Weekender and featured visual effects by Mark Hatchard of Hotbox Studios and Hotbox Events. But that venture also folded after less than 18 months.

In August 2007, a club using the name Marquee re-opened once again, this time on Upper Saint Martins Lane in Covent Garden. However, it too closed its doors for the last time on 10 February 2008, with Colchester based rock act Torn Asunder being the last ever band to headline at The Marquee.

There are currently no further plans to resurrect the name yet again.

Bibliography

• Bob Brunning (1986) Blues: The British Connection, London: Helter Skelter, 2002, ISBN 1-900924-41-2
• Bob Brunning, The Fleetwood Mac Story: Rumours and Lies, Omnibus Press, 2004, foreword by B.B.King
• Dick Heckstall-Smith (2004) The safest place in the world: A personal history of British Rhythm and blues, Clear Books, ISBN 0-7043-2696-5 - First Edition : Blowing The Blues - Fifty Years Playing The British Blues
• Christopher Hjort Strange brew: Eric Clapton and the British blues boom, 1965-1970, foreword by John Mayall,Jawbone (2007)ISBN 1-906002-00-2
• Paul Myers: Long John Baldry and the Birth of the British Blues, Vancouver 2007 - GreyStone Books
• Harry Shapiro Alexis Korner: The Biography, Bloomsbury Publishing PLC, London 1997, Discography by Mark Troster

References

1. ^ In the sixties - Barry Miles
2. ^ "Dire Straits tour 1978". Tours. Canada: Mark Knopfler official cite. http://www.mark-knopfler.info/tour1978.htm. Retrieved 13 February 2010. 

External links

Media related to Category:Marquee Club at Wikimedia Commons

• TheMarqueeClub.net — Historical Tribute Site of the Old Marquee Club
• [1] "Richard Thompson (musician) [born 1949] recalls the inspiration for "Walking the Long Miles Home": "I used to do that all the time. If you miss the last bus, you're basically screwed if you are a 16-year-old in London in the pre-car era. I did that countless times - walked home to North London from the Marquee Club or Ronnie Scott's. It is kind of an exhilarating thing to do, although it is exhausting.""