The Marquee Club 80's by Claire Flude
"I think my first gig at The Marquee was Bernie Torme in '83, though it could be '84. I lived in Sheffield at the time and remember being really excited to be coming to the legendary Marquee. I couldn't believe how small it was!
From then on, I used to come down maybe once a month 'till I moved to London. I saw a lot of great shows there. I worked for a couple of bands and got so well known by the guys on the door that I was able to slip into a few gigs for free!
It was the time of glam and the girls' room was not a place to light a ciggy! The hairspray was so thick in there you only had to walk in and get out your comb!
Lemmy (Motorhead) was a regular -I see him more at The Rainbow in L.A. these days than in London!- Razzle (Hanoi Rocks), Neil Murray (then of Whitesnake) were always around.
I remember hiding our wine bottles in the curtain folds of the bar/foyer area. And if you were unfortunate enough to fall over, when you got up you had the floor print on you!
I also remember being in there to see Bernie Torme and the temperature was about 130! I think they had exceeded the capacity by a few hundred that night.
I remember being shocked to find out the Wardour St Marquee was to close and was going to be a restaraunt! We had great nights there! The 'new' Marquee on Charing Cross Road was a pretty good venue. I saw a lot of gigs there too. I think the last gig at Charing Cross Road I went to was Stonebird, 5th of June 1994.
I saw The Feeling at the Leicester Square Marquee on 30th March 2005 and thought it was a good venue but The whole Marquee thing seems to have died when Charing Cross Rd closed. I know there was another venue after that but can't remember where.
I made a lot of friends at Marquee gigs. I miss it! This is a great site to re live the good times of rock 'n' roll!"
Claire Flude, London, England, March 2007.
battynanny@hotmail.co.uk