The University has hosted some impressive acts down the years
It has been quite a long time since the University of Nottingham hosted really big bands. But the history, mainly from the early 70s before the advent of the Boat Club and Rock City, is surprisingly impressive:
Some gigs took place in the Sports Centre, others in Portland. Some other star performers included:
Rod Stewart
Cat Stevens
Mott the Hoople
The Incredible String Band
The Who
Yes
Jethro Tull
The Strawbs
Can
Gong
And some performances resulted in live albums including from
John Martyn
Soft Machine
Fairport Convention
We also had
ELO
Roxy Music
The Kenny Ball Orchestra
Wishbone Ash
Lindisfarne
Rory Gallagher
And slightly more recently:
The Damned
Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Human League
Squeeze
Dr Feelgood
Simple Minds
Siouxsie and the Banshees
The Cure
Japan
Plus:
Cast
808 State
Carter USM
The Levellers
Perhaps the biggest gig at the University was the historic first performance by Wings in the Portland Ballroom. Details of this occasion have previously been published on a University of Nottingham blog
Songkick has a pretty good list of gigs too. But fails to mention Gary Glitter’s show.
Are there any that anyone remembers from this list or that aren’t included here? I’m imagining that Strawbs gig was something special.
Slade picture: By AVRO (Beeld En Geluid Wiki – Gallerie: Toppop 1973) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Two other gigs, both in halls, which have been notified to me – a Wonderstuff gig in Derby Hall (thank you to Elspeth Gilfillan for that reminder) and a Dr and the Medics show (they played all their hits and more) at Florence Boot (at which I was present some 14 years or so ago but had completely forgotten).
Confirmation of that Cure gig just popped up. Supporting Siouxsie and the Banshees in 1979: http://cure-concerts.de/concerts/1979-10-01.php
thin lizzy and high tide saw them both but cannot find the dates they played
Focus played in PB in 1976. With my tickets bought, Jan Akkerman left the band so the original date was postponed, but they found another guitarist and arrived later in the year to play a great set with Thijs in full flow
Early 70’s we saw the Alex Harvey Band , Horslips , Andy Fair Weather Lowe , Captain Beef heart and the Magic Band , John Martyn,
A good memory of the Portland Building is that one of the side rooms played cartoons.
I saw Free and The Faces in the Portland Building early 70s
I remember a great gig by the Welsh rock band Man in late 73 or early 74
I was at Notts from 1970-73. We were privileged to see some great bands during that period.
I can recall seeing the following performers listed below.
I have probably missed a few but will check up with others from the undead class of ’73.
AL STEWART
AMAZING BLONDELL
ATOMIC ROOSTER
BARCLAY JAMES HARVEST
BARRON KNIGHTS
CAPTAIN BEEFHEART
CURVED AIR
EAST OF EDEN
EDGAR BROUGHTON BAND
FACES (with ROD STEWART)
FLEETWOOD MAC
FREE
KEEF HARTLEY
LINDISFARNE
MARSHA HUNT
McGUINNESS FLINT
MIKE HARDING
MONTY PYTHON ROADSHOW
PENTANGLE
QUINTESSENCE
RADNA KRISHNA TEMPLE
RORY GALLAGHER
ROXY MUSIC
SHAKIN STEVENS
SHOWADDYWADDY
STEELEYE SPAN
TIM HART & MADDY PRIOR
VINEGAR JOE
WINGS
WISHBONE ASH
The 1973 undead have added these to the list…………
T Rex May/June ’71
Colin Bluntstone ’73
Roy Wood’s Wizzard ’73
Are there any photos of these gigs discoverable anywhere? currently doing a news feature for the university on their previous gigs!
Very jealous of the bands you had in the 70s. A slightly older friend of mine Colin, used to run discos on campus during that time (became the appropriately named KillerWatt). I was there in the early ‘80s and from memory we had on Campus or at Hall Parties (HuStu and others)
Boy George and the Culture Club
Bad Manners
King
Mari Wilson
Boomtown Rats
Slade
Showaddywaddy
The Higsons
The Drifters
HuStu also nearly had one hit wonders Dead or Alive in my final year just before they hit Number 1 with “You spin me round”….but our Soc Sec Jon Bailey was outvoted, he never lets me forget…..!