Lyceum Theatre

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Lyceum Theatre hosted the likes of The Grateful Dead, The Clash, Bob Marley and The Wailers (their Live! album was recorded here on 18–19 July 1975), Led Zeppelin, Queen, The Police, The Who, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Genesis, Deep Purple, Sex Pistols, Joy Division, The Smiths, U2, and Culture Club.

The Flamingo Club

Acts who played at the Flamingo’s in the 1960’s included John Mayall, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, The Animals, Cream, Pink Floyd, The Small Faces, and many others.

The Scots Hoose

In the 1960’s and 1970’s The Scots Hoose (as The Spice of Life was called then) was a popular venue for folk musicians, and saw many great acts of the time, such as Bob Dylan, Paul Simon, and Cat Stevens perform there. In the punk craze of the late 70s even The Sex Pistols played at the venue.

Middle Earth

Between August 1967 and March 1968, the likes of Pink Floyd, The Who, The Pretty Things, Jefferson Airplane, Captain Beefheart, The Byrds (with Gram Parsons), Marc Bolan and T.Rex played the legendary Middle Earth club.

Ziggy Stardust’s Album Cover

The cover photograph for the iconic David Bowie’s album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was shot here, at 23 Heddon Street, by Brian Ward (not by Mick Rock, as Wikipedia claims. F*ck Wikipedia!). It was taken in black and white and later coloured by artist Terry Pastor of Main Artery.

Rock Garden

Opened in 1976, a basement venue in this Covent Garden corner – back then called the Rock Garden – hosted a wide variety of new wave and indie bands including U2, XTC, Adam and The Ants, and Suede. The Smiths played their first London gig here in March 1983.

Bag O’ Nails

In the 60s the Bag O’ Nails hosted an early gig by the Jimi Hendrix Experience (Jimi’s second official gig in London, on the 25th of November 1966), among many others, but it’s also the place where Paul McCartney met his future wife Linda Eastman on the 15th of May 1967.

The Beatles’ Rooftop Concert

The last public performance by The Beatles? Right here in Mayfair on the roof of the Apple Corps building, on Thursday 30th of January 1969, with keyboardist Billy Preston!

De Lane Lea Studios

Major artists such as The Animals, The Beatles, Soft Machine, Queen, The Rolling Stones, Bee Gees, The Who, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Pink Floyd, and Deep Purple recorded songs at the De Lane Lea Studios, but not here in their current location in Soho!

Marquee Studios

The Buzzcocks, Elton John, The Groundhogs, The Clash, Siouxsie And The Banshees, Killing Joke, Daevid Allen, Van Der Graaf Generator, and many others used a homemade studio in the garage at the back of the Marquee Club (in its second incarnation, on Wardour Street) created by Moody Blues’ manager Alex Murray in 1964.