The Saville Theatre was leased by The Beatles‘ manager Brian Epstein for use as a music venue in 1965. Cream, Jimi Hendrix, The Who, Jeff Beck, Traffic, Fairport Convention, The Incredible String Band and The Bee Gees are amongst those who performed here.
Hendrix opened his gig here on the 4th of June 1967 with a killer rendition of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, which he had listened only two days before for the first time, the album being released on the 26th of May (in the UK; on the 2nd of June in the US). Paul McCartney, who attended the performance with George Harrison and Brian Epstein himself, later said “I put that down as one of the great honours of my career.”
Epstein died in August 1967 and the venue was sold in 1969, quickly returned to presenting theatrical productions. In 1970 it became the two cinemas ABC1 Shaftesbury Avenue and ABC2 Shaftesbury Avenue, which in 2001 were converted to the four-screen cinema Odeon Covent Garden.
Worth having a closer look is the orginal (1931) frieze by British sculptor Gilbert Bayes, with scenes of Bacchanalia, Harlequinades, and charioteers of Imperial Rome (certainly inspired by the 1925 silent movie Ben Hur).
Address: 135-149 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8AH
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