100 Club

Infobox music venue
name = 100 Club


caption =
location = Westminster, London
type =
genres =
years_active = 1942 – present
capacity = 350
owner =
promotions =
website = [http://www.the100club.co.uk/ www.the100club.co.uk]

The 100 Club is a music venue in London situated at 100 Oxford Street, W1.

The 100 Club has a legendary status within the history of modern British music, having played live music since 24 October 1942. In this year the venue was a restaurant called "Macks", which was hired out every Sunday evening by the father of jazz drummer Victor Feldman in order to provide his son with regular gigs.

The club was eventually taken over by Humphrey Lyttleton's manager and during that period, Louis Armstrong appeared at the venue.

Following involvement in the Trad boom, and the UK beat scene and R'n'B, the club became famous during the punk years.

September 20 and September 21, 1976, saw the 100 Club play host to the first 'International punk festival', an event which helped to push the then new punk rock movement from the underground into the cultural and musical mainstream. Bands which played at this event included the Sex Pistols, Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Clash, Buzzcocks and The Damned.

Under the promotion of Ron Watts, the venue then became a regular venue for original punk bands like Angelic Upstarts, UK Subs, as well as, from 1981 onwards, hardcore punk bands such as The Varukers, Discharge, Charged GBH, Crass, Picture Frame Seduction, English Dogs, etc.

The Rolling Stones played a secret show there on 31 May 1982 as a warm-up for their European tour, and returned again on 23 February 1986 to play a tribute show for their recently deceased pianist Ian Stewart, a concert that was their only performance between 1982 and 1989.

Other nights would see a range of old-school jazz, rhythm-and-blues and soul groups on the famous stage, including a memorable "duel" between tenor sax greats Teddy Edwards and Dick Morrissey in the 1980s. Other giants of jazz, including Sonny Stitt, Lee Konitz and Archie Shepp have also appeared at the club.

The 100 Club is still going strong today, with decor unchanged since the 1970s, although punk bands no longer appear there regularly. Instead there is a busy programme often booked up many months in advance by promoters aware of the cachet of having a sold-out night at the venue. Occasionally, big-name touring bands will play "secret" or low-key unadvertised gigs there, relying on word of mouth to fill the 350-capacity space.

On 10 June 2007, George Melly, whose association with the 100 Club goes back to the days when he performed there with Humphrey Lyttelton, gave his last ever public performance.

Releases

* The Automatic - Live at the 100 Club (Live EP)
* Gallows - Live at the 100 Club (Live EP)
* ((The sex pistols) Live at the 100 club (Bootleg C.D)

External links

* [http://www.the100club.co.uk/ 100 Club website]
* [http://www.the100club.co.uk/history.asp History of the 100 Club]
* [http://www.the100club.co.uk/history_bands.asp Musicians that have played at the 100 Club]
* [http://www.rhythmat.com Rock, Ska, Folk and Rock 'n' Roll events at 100 Club]