Site of the Marquee Club (London)

United Kingdom / England / London
 place with historical importance, rock/ pop music venue
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The site was once home to London’s rock’n roll mecca, the Marquee Club (1964 to 1988).
The Marquee Club was a music venue first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. In March 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 Rolling Stones, The Yardbirds, Led Zeppelin, The Who, King Crimson, The Syn, Mabel Greer's Toyshop, Yes, Jethro Tull, The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Pink Floyd (who played on Sunday afternoons as part of the Spontaneous Underground club).
In 1972 the Marquee hosted one of the most famous rock performances within the UK, when Status Quo took to the stage with a blistering set, including "Paper Plane", the video for which was filmed during this gig. Although never a seminal punk venue, the club 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, XTC, Skrewdriver, The Sinceros, Buzzcocks, the early Adam & the Ants, The Jam, Joy Division, The Sound and The Cure all trod the famous Wardour Street stage. Mainstream rock acts like Dire Straits (on their first tour, 5 and 6 July 1978), Alexis Korner, Steve Hillage, Rory Gallagher, Racing Cars, The Enid, Hanoi Rocks, The Tyla Gang, Universe and Karakorum (featuring Martin Chambers, later of The Pretenders) also appeared regularly at the venue. 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.
The historical importance of the club led to a number of bigger, established artists playing "secret" gigs at the venue often as one-off 'thank-yous' to fans, 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.
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Coordinates:   51°30'48"N   -0°8'1"E
This article was last modified 6 years ago