Concert Details

Show Notes:

The Marquee Club opened in 1958, initially presenting a mix of trad and modern jazz alongside skiffle acts. Two bands typically played each night, with aspiring groups filling the interval slots—performances that soon drew increasing attention as tastes shifted toward rock ’n’ roll and mod. By 1963, the Marquee had become synonymous with the emerging R&B scene, and over the next 25 years it played a central role in the development of blues rock, psychedelia, progressive rock, pub rock, punk, new wave, and the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The artists who took their first steps on its famously cramped stage—among them bands associated with Eric, including The Roosters, The Yardbirds, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Cream, and Derek & The Dominos—collectively trace the story of modern British popular music. Melody Maker once described it as “the most important venue in the history of pop music.”

The Marquee Club first operated in the basement of the Academy Cinema at 165 Oxford Street, in the circus-themed Marquee Ballroom, which had previously hosted dance orchestras and swing bands. When the lease expired, the club relocated in 1964 to 90 Wardour Street in Soho—its most famous home—with a capacity of around 700. That site closed in 1988 ahead of redevelopment, after which the club moved to 105–107 Charing Cross Road, where it remained until closing in 1995.

Several revival attempts followed: a short-lived reopening at Islington Academy in 2002, and another at 1 Leicester Square in 2004, both of which closed within a year.

Interesting fact: The Yardbirds played the closing night at the Oxford Street location on 5 March 1964 and returned to headline the opening night at the Wardour Street site on 13 March, appearing with Sonny Boy Williamson II.