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
Did you remeber ecxatly when did you saw FREE in concert in Nottingham Portland Building ? Perhaps 17 October 1970 (Karnival Queen Ball) ? Thanks for your memories !
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… Read more »
Did you remember ecxatly when did you saw FREE in concert in Nottingham Portland Building ? Perhaps 17 October 1970 (Karnival Queen Ball) ? Thanks for your memories !
ROXY MUSIC and SHARKS (with also Andy Fraser Ex-FREE founder member) played Nottingham University 15 March 1973
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… Read more »
I remember the Higsons one mentioned above, that was in Ancaster Hall in (I think) 1984. Also saw Red Guitars at a hall party, might have been Sherwood or Rutland but I’m not sure.
I can remember Julian Cope playing at PB and (unfortunatelY can also remember Gary Glitter.