King Tut's Wah Wah Hut

King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, known to locals simply as King Tut's, is a live music venue in Glasgow, Scotland. It is owned and managed by Glasgow-based gig promoters DF Concerts. First opening its doors in February 1990, it has established a reputation for showcasing new talent and hosting many well-known bands' first Scottish appearances. Those who have played gigs at Tuts early in their careers include Beck, Radiohead, who supported The Frank and Walters, and Travis, who played the venue regularly under their original name of Glass Onion.

With a capacity of only 300, the venue's intimate atmosphere has helped it win many awards, including the title of "Best Live Venue" in the UK from Radio 1.

Presumably it is named after the identically named East Village, New York club which flourished on 7th Street and Avenue A through the 1980s, hosting comedy, performance art, and live music. In the original Batman TV series, there was a villain called King Tut, whose lair was called the Wah-Wah-Hut.

Oasis

It was at King Tut's in May 1993 that Alan McGee, Creation Records' boss and a well-known music mogul, famously discovered the then-little-known band Oasis. McGee had missed a train at nearby Queen Street station, and decided to head to Tuts to kill time before the next one.

Oasis, then an unsigned band and playing their first gig outside of northern England, had themselves arrived at the venue by chance. The band had been asked along by My Sister Lover, a fellow Mancunian band who were scheduled to support 18 Wheeler at King Tut's that night. This caused consternation with the venue's management, who had no idea of this arrangement. It was finally agreed that Oasis would be given a short 20-minute set, half of which, according to the band's Noel Gallagher, consisted of "a ten-minute version of 'I Am the Walrus'".

McGee, who had been tipped off by My Sister Lover, was sufficiently impressed to offer the band a record contract there and then. "I thought I could take this, and maybe sell 200,000 copies worldwide," McGee later said.

External links

* [http://www.kingtuts.co.uk/ King Tut's website]