More Venues

The Nashville, The Moonlight...more London music venues we've loved

The loss of some of London's more famous smaller venues has meant that there are fewer places for bands to launch their careers. Two former venues that were particularly important in introducing a range of soon-to-be-famous bands to the London music scene were the Moonlight in West Hampstead and the Nashville on Fulham Palace Road.

The Moonlight was in a room in the basement of The Railway Tavern. It was a ram-packed sweaty pit of a room where many of the punk and post-punk bands played in their early days. I remember being mesmerised by the German industrial dance band, Deutsche Americanische Freundschaft at a gig there and, sadly, getting tickets for but not being able to go to one of the few Joy Division gigs in London.

The Nashville: pub rock relic

The Nashville was a relic of the pub rock scene and was a big, grotty room behind the Greyhound pub. I went to see the Specials there at the start of their career when they were a major buzz in the music press. Because of the clamour for tickets there was a queue around the block and in a moment of super heroism I scaled the wall and tore apart a Perspex window advertising the products of Fuller's breweries and jumped into the venue to see a fantastic gig. The Moonlight briefly became a rat and something or other, but is now the Railway Tavern once more. The Nashville and Greyhound site is now occupied by a generic trendy bar.

London music venues: give me the Moonlight...

Reader Steve Marshall has even earlier memories of the Moonlight. "The Moonlight Club in West End Lane, home to punk rock and reggae nites in the 70s, New Romantics in the 80s and the original home of the 6Ts Soul nites was also known as Kooks Kleek in the 60s and 70s (The Rolling Stones and Jimi Hendrix appeared there)." He also remembers the glory days of the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm: "This was home to, amongst others ie Grand Magic Circus in the early 70s, a French performance group and a kids Saturday morning thing called Moonrock, with live rock bands, inflatables! old movies and much more. They moved to Camden Studios later on in life. They featured Afro Rock from Ginger Johnson and Lord Eric too!"

RIP Eel Pie Island

Neil Harding-Deans laments the loss of Eel Pie Island in Twickentham: "Closed it and knocked it down!!!!! Never saw Stones or Who in early 60s. But did see Free, Black Sabbath, Rory Gallagher, Edgar Broughton Band and many more in 70s..."

Whatever happened to The Venue?

Catherine Wiles would like to know. "Does anyone else remember The Venue in Victoria? Good for discos in the early 80s. I no longer live in London, so can anyone tell me what happened to the Camden Palace? Used to go there on a Weds night in the 80s: it was great. Suspect if it's still there, it's become mainstream now."

We want your venues!

Remember any great London gig-going places of the past? Contact London R.I.P and tell us about them.

We want to hear what you've got to say..

Leave a message for us here.

Messages

Next page [2/4] �

Message:	39/39
Date and time:	08/01/2012 at 11:30:47
Sender:	Jim Ross

Yes Free did play the Greyhound. I played there many times with a band called Sleaz Band. I believe we had the crowd record as all the Scots made their way to Fulham. Duncan used to pay us ( not many bands got paid ) He also used to give us 5" Crawfords whisky and took us to the Red Brick curry house afterwords. Great times. Good chipper next door used to sell cod roe suppers. We used to play the Speakeasy in Margaret st too. Our agency ( mountain management) made us members there so we made the most of the restaurant as we could eat free!

Message:	38/39
Date and time:	17/12/2011 at 00:54:57
Sender:	djaysteve

Wow! How time befuddles the memories. I was a regular at the Greyhound during all of 1973. Also on my circuit was The Nashville. The Golden Gloves, The Golden Lion in Fulham. The Trafalgar in the Kings Rd, together with The Chelsea Drug Store(now McDonalds) Me and my mates would all frequent the basement bar in the Greyhound where the welsh girl Judy used to work. I took Judy out a couple of times. But had many, many girlfriends in the Greyhound. Head Barman in those days was Ronnie. Duncan the owner, managed a band called: A Million People. Amongst the well known bands to appear there were. Nazareth, Blackfoot Souix, Free, Kilburn and the High Rds. Caravan, and many more i have forgotten. But the most galling memory i have is the Sunday night when having heard the band start up playing reggae, we decided to head off the the Kings Rd. The following Thursday. Linda from Dundee told me i missed a great night on the Sunday. She said the band had everyone up dancing. That band was Bob Marley And The Wailers. And since these days i am a reggae dj that above all else is my biggest musical regret in life. Those who were there would remember the juke box in the basement churning out Gene Genie, Riders On The Storm, and Benny And The Jets. I was a cheeky so and so in those days and would often be with a girl downstairs and also another in the long upstairs bar which at one end would allow a balcony view over the band.Friday nights were fantastic because as soon as the Greyhound shut we would all head for Duncans all nighter at the Kings X cinema. Can you believe that entrance was only �1 and drugs were everywhere just like today so no change there then. I met my future wife in the Greyhound and i am still with her today in 2011. Fond memories of halcyon days when West London was really the hip place to be. Oh and as i write this who remembers The Cafe Des Artistes below the Social Security building in the Fulham Rd and the Hungry Years Hamburger joint in Earls Court. Those were the days of girls, girls, girls.and pure fun!!!

Message:	37/39
Date and time:	01/09/2011 at 14:45:04
Sender:	gary

Hey Kleinzeit many thanks for the heads-up to that Festivals website. I�ve come across that site before but never saw the Jesus page before. Fascinating stuff. Reading about sightings of him at Speakers Corner reminded me that I saw him there many times � in the 80s I guess � banging on about something or other. I don�t know how I can have forgotten about that but I did. Great to read this page. I wonder if he�s still around. Speaking of Speakers Corner, does anyone who went there in the 80s remember any of the regular speakers? A mad bearded German anarchist? The comedian Tony Allen (I think that was his name) � tall bloke with henna�d hair who appeared very occasionally on TV (The Young Ones for instance). The bloke who used to do a long spiel about dopesmoking (claiming to belong to the Smokers of Hashish International Terrorist group. I remember him turning up one week with one side of his face fully bearded and the other freshly-shaved.

Message:	36/39
Date and time:	24/05/2011 at 21:19:14
Sender:	Steve M

I remember Jesus too , you're right he was at almost every gig I ever went to in London (maybe there was more than one ? ha ha) I saw him at the Roundhouse in the mid 70s and someone set light to a banner or something he was holding he started jumping all over trying to put it out, everyone started laughing and taking the piss. Poor bloke !

Message:	35/39
Date and time:	24/05/2011 at 00:53:34
Sender:	kleinzeit

Hi again, Gary. Apparently this site won't let you post URLs in comments, but if you google "A History of UK Rock Festivals" the top result has a whole page on Jesus and some interesting memories from others who remember him.

Message:	34/39
Date and time:	23/05/2011 at 22:55:15
Sender:	kleinzeit

Hi Gary, yes, I remember "Jesus" - I just googled "guy called Jesus who used to hang out at London gigs in 1980s" trying to find out something about him for a writing project I'm working on. I know no more than you do, but it was good to confirm that he wasn't just a figment of my imagination.

Message:	33/39
Date and time:	16/05/2011 at 09:45:31
Sender:	gary

Anyone remember Jesus? (No - not that one). This was a bloke who I swear was dancing at the front of any concert of any size in London in the 60s/early 70s (and maybe beyond?). I didn't go to many gigs but he was at every single one I went to, so I assumed he must be a fixture at all shows. He was a thin bloke with long blonde hair and what appeared to be robes and a sort of other-worldly vibe about him. The first gig I ever attended (don't remember what it was - may have been Van Der Graaf Generator at the Roundhouse) I noticed this bloke and said to my companion 'Who's that?' and he replied 'Oh - that's Jesus' and it appeared that everyone knew him. He would always be down the front flailing way, as I say. In those days no-one really danced at gigs so I suppose this is why he stood out so much (apart from his appearance of course). It was kind of ironic because I don't think he 'indulged' drug-wise. You'd see his crazy dancing and think he must be off his nut but I saw him talking to people and he appeared totally sober. I say it was ironic because at least half of the attendees at these sort of shows would have been totally off their nuts, but they'd just be sitting there nodding. The only person really 'giving it some' was stone cold sober. I think you can see a shot of him in that film Stones In The Park. I don't know where he got the money to attend so many gigs - maybe they let him in free.

Message:	32/39
Date and time:	06/02/2011 at 02:34:21
Sender:	Clare J

Back then I heard a rumour that Free had once played at the Greyhound as a surprise...can anyone tell me if that was true?

Message:	31/39
Date and time:	05/02/2011 at 09:58:59
Sender:	Clare J

In the very early 70s I saw so many live gigs at the Greyhound...I just loved the place. What a way to grow up!!! And what brilliant era...best music.

Message:	30/39
Date and time:	24/01/2011 at 23:01:21
Sender:	Tony James

I went to all these venues in the early 70s every week...Greyhound - saw Sharks, Heavy Metal Kids, Thin Lizzy.....Nashville saw Death School, Sex pistols...Eel Pie Island was the first gig I ever went to as I lived in Twickenham and I saw Deep Purple on that first night. Then Taste, Sabbath, Groundhogs, it was the greatest venue for me then. Great memories on this site......

Next page [2/4] �