The Venue (Victoria Street, London)

The Venue was a music club at 160-162 Victoria Street, London, England, owned by Virgin Records. It opened its doors in October 1978 and operated until 1984.^[1] The first act to play there was Graham Parker and The Rumour, followed by the last live performances by Alex Harvey before his death. Todd Rundgren played some dates there just before Christmas in 1978, as part of the tour to back up the Back to the Bars album; released for the Christmas market, at the time. Two shows were sometimes played per night, and the ambience was akin to a nightclub, where audience members sat at tables and could have drinks and meals while listening to the acts. It was also popular for use by record companies showcasing new signings to the music media.^[2]

Additional info

The sound system was supplied by Eastlake systems, it was their first foray into live sound.

The building first opened as the Metropole cinema on December 27, 1929.^[1][3] After The Venue closed, it was occupied by a Dicky Dirt's discount jeans shop in the mid 1980s and was a branch of the restaurant chain "Ask" prior to its demolition in early 2013 as part of a major redevelopment of the area.

Acts that played at the Venue

• After the Fire
• Altered Images (23 Sept 1981)
• The Armoury Show^[4]
• Captain Beefheart and the Magic Band (12 and 14 Nov 1980) ^[2][5]
• Blancmange
• The Blow Monkeys (16 Feb 1983) - opening for Fad Gadget
• Blue 1979 - with support band Kokomo
• The Blues Band
• Brand X
• James Brown
• Bruford
• Cabaret Voltaire (band)
• John Cale
• The Cars
• Cocteau Twins (16 Nov 1982)
• John Cooper Clarke (10 Dec 1980)
• The Cramps
• Crosby & Nash (21 Apr 1980)
• Defunkt
• Delta 5
• Depeche Mode (23 July 1981) ^[6]
• Devo (1979)
• Doll by Doll (18 Dec 1979)^[7]
• Charlie Dore
• Clint Eastwood & General Saint
• Dave Edmunds
• Fad Gadget (16 Feb 1983)
• Georgie Fame^[2]
• Felt (15 Sept 1983) - opening for the Smiths
• Rory Gallagher (July 1979)
• The Go-Betweens (15 Sept 1983) - opening for the Smiths
• The Go-Go's
• Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
• Al Green
• Peter Green
• Steve Hackett
• Charlie Haden's Liberation Music Orchestra
• Hall & Oates
• Peter Hamill
• Herbie Hancock
• Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel
• Roy Harper
• Alex Harvey
• Steve Hillage (10 Apr 1979)
• Bert Jansch and Albert Lee
• Japan
• Wilko Johnson
• Junior Walker and the Allstars
• Kajagoogoo (21 Jan 1983 ^[8]
• King Crimson (10 Aug 1981) ^[9]
• Kokomo (band)
• Legs and Co.
• Level 42 (21 Aug 1981) ^[10]
• Lindisfarne
• Machito
• Taj Mahal
• Hugh Masekela
• Curtis Mayfield
• Kate & Anna McGarrigle
• The Members (11 Apr 1981)
• Merger (1981)^[11]
• The Monochrome Set (5 March 1981, 26 July 1982, 2 November 1982) ^[12]
• Nine Below Zero
• Graham Parker & the Rumour (1 Nov 1978)^[2]
• The Passions (17 Oct 1981)
• Pigbag (9 Dec 1981)^[13]
• Iggy Pop (with Nico)^[2]
• The Pretty Things
• Alan Price
• Tito Puente
• Queen Ida
• Q-Tips (11 Sep 1981 and 27 Mar 1982)
• Sun Ra
• Ramones^[2]
• Chris Rea
• Rip Rig + Panic (9 Sept 1982)^[14]
• The Rivits (featuring Jess Roden)^[15]
• The Roaches
• Rocket 88 (featuring Alexis Korner)
• Rockin' Dopsie
• Roman Holliday
• Todd Rundgren (Dec 1978)
• Shakatak
• Shock (troupe)
• The Skids
• The Slits
• The Smiths (15 Sept 1983)^[2]
• Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
• The Sugarhill Gang (Feb 1980)
• T34 (three times in 1982) ^[16] (This is not T-34, the rock band featuring Al Murray.)
• Tik and Tok
• John Stewart
• Richard and Linda Thompson
• U2 (18 Dec 1979)^[7]
• James Blood Ulmer
• Stevie Ray Vaughan (8 Sept 1983)
• Tom Verlaine (9 and 10 June 1982)
• XTC (1980)
• The Yachts
• Zeitgeist

Coordinates: 51°29′53″N 0°08′00″W / 51.4981°N 0.1332°W

References

1. Grundy, Ian; Roe, Ken. "Metropole Cinema". Cinema Treasures.
2. "The Venue". Create Victoria.
3. Bartholomew Reference Atlas of Greater London
4. Armoury Show on the marquee
5. Captain Beefheart Youtube video
6. Depeche Mode Youtube video
7. "U2 Victoria, 1979-12-18, The Venue, Early Days — U2 on tour". u2gigs.com. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
8. Sutherland, Steve (29 June 2011). "Kajagoogoo Early Gigs 'The Venue' London". KajaFax. Retrieved 18 Feb 2013.
9. Berkeley based Audio Recordings List
10. Level 42 Youtube video
11. "Merger - Live At the 'Venue' Victoria 1981". Amazon. Retrieved 3 April 2015.
12. themonochromeset.co.uk - live page
13. Pigbag ticket stub
14. Rip Rig + Panic ticket stub
15. Rivits ticket stub (with the band name misspelled as Rivets)
16. T34 Youtube video

External links

• Photos of the Venue - Flickr set by dusashenka
• Various Venue posters etc - A lot of bands are listed on posters here, although it is quite hard to see the dates
• More Venue related images