Odeon Cinema | The Edinburgh Gig Archive

The Cinema at 7 Clerk Street was opened as theNew Victoria on 25th August 1930, designed by architectsWE Trent & JW Jordan for Gaumont. Renamed The Odeon in April 1964. 1978 saw the stage made deeper, making the performance area more suited to many live bands that played gigs here bookended by the years 1970-1981(Including my first ever gig, the Madness matinee show in December 1980). In 1982 the auditorium was subdivided, ending it’s life as a music venue. The cinema sadly closed on 30th August 2003.

The Odeon 20th April 2009. ©S.S. 2009.

**Interestingly, when the Odeon signage was removed there remained the faint outline of the “New Victoria” signwriting underneath dating to 1930.** **©S.S. 2009**.

**The original Odeon back gates as they were in 2009.** ©S.S. 2009.

1970 20th March Deep Purple

1970 23rd-25th July The Corries
1970 26th-29th August, 2nd-5th September, 9th-12th September Corrie Folk (The Corries and guests).
1970 28th November Julie Felix & The McCallums
1970 27th December The Corries
1971 13th August Syd Lawrence & His Orchestra
1971 22nd August Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, & Peter, Paul, & Mary
1971 4th December Humpherey Lyttelton & Alex Welsh-A Tribute To Louis Armstrong
1971 17th December Yank Lawson, Bob Haggart & The Worlds Greatest Jazz Band
1971 19th December The Corries
1972 19th March David Hughes-A Viennese Evening
1972 28th May The Corries
1972 1st November Up Country
1972 3rd November The Four Tops
1972 8th November Cliff Richard & Olivia Newton John
1972 9th November George Hamilton IVth
1973 7th January The Corries
1973 17th February Freezin’ Heat
1973 3rd March Slim Whitman
1973 7th April Roxy Music, Sharks, & Lloyd Watson

1973 23rd May Paul McCartney & Wings

***Thank you to Tom McClymont for the ticket and poster above.***

1973 27th May The Corries
1973 31st August The Corries
1973 1st September The Corries
1973 7th September The Corries
1973 13th October Lindisfarne
1973 16th & 17th November Cliff Richard (4 shows in total)

1974 8th February Wizzard (2 shows)

1974 5th April The Incredible String Band

1974 12th April Mick Ronson
1974 15th April The Spinners
1974 19th April Deep Purple, support band Elf

1974 25th May Alvin Stardust (2 shows)

1974 29th May Black Sabbath & Black Oak Arkansas

***Unofficial programme bought at this show.***

1974 4th June Lou Reed (the show was very late to start as Lou was busy drinking in the bar of the Caledonian Hotel).

1974 12th October Mud
1974 19th October Uriah Heep

1974 21st & 22nd October Roxy Music

**Thank you to Charles Laing for this ticket.**

1974 31st October The Bay City Rollers
1974 15th November Golden Earing, support band Lynard Skynard

1974 19th November Sparks, support band Pilot

1974 10th December The Rubettes
1974 13th December Rod Stewart & The Faces
1975 29th April The Bay City Rollers

***Rollermania at the odeon!! Thank you to Alan for the picture.***

1975 16th & 17th October Sparks
1975 21st October An Evening With Bette Davis
1975 26th November Uriah Heep
1975 6th December Mud, support band Bilbo Baggins

1975 14th December Jim Cruickshanks Gala Night, compere Stu Francis
1976 22nd April Nazareth

1976 14th & 16th May The Average White Band

1976 28th & 29th May The Sensational Alex Harvey Band

1976 23rd June Slik
1976 8th August Country & Western Festival Ethna Campbell, Carl Gibson, & Wayne Nutt
1976 10th September The Bay City Rollers

***Thank you to Andy Mitchell for this ticket.***

1976 25th September Be Bop Deluxe

1976 24th October Patti Smith, support band The Stranglers
1977 11th March Val Doonican
1977 30th September Dr Feelgood, support band Mink DeVille

1977 14th November Thin Lizzy, support band The Radiators From Space

1977 15th November Gary Glitter, support band Rosetta Stone

1977 25th November Peter Straker
1977 6th December The Boomtown Rats

1978 4th February Judas Priest

1978 18th April The Commodores
1978 5th May UK

1978 23rd May The Maddy Prior Band

**Thank you to Graham Ferguson for this ticket.**

1978 28th May AC/DC, support band British Lions

1978 29th May George Benson
1978 31st May Blue Oyster Cult, support band Japan

1978 1st June Ian Dury & The Blockheads
1978 5th June Gerry Rafferty & Rab Noakes (Dire Straits did not play)

1978 6th June The Buzzcocks
1978 14th June Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers
1978 22nd June The Boomtown Rats, support band Matt Vinyl & The Decorators

1978 30th June UFO

1978 14th July Jasper Carrott
1978 30th August Patti Smith (aftershow party at The Antiquary St Stephen’s Street, Stockbridge)

**Ticket for Patti Smith’s poetry reading at the Odeon. This took place in the afternoon on the day of the gig. Thank you to Andy Mitchell for this ticket.**

**Thank you to Graham Dumble for this signed flyer from the afternoon poetry reading.**

1978 13th September Blondie, support band The Boyfriends

***Debbie Harry at the Odeon 13th September 1978. Thank you to David Miller for the photograph***

1978 25th September Brand X, special guest Peter Hammill

1978 28th September The Tom Robinson Band

1978 1st October Rose Royce
1978 7th October DrFeelgood

1978 10th October Wishbone Ash

***Thank you to David Evans for this ticket.***

1978 11th October Steel Pulse, support band China Street

1978 18th October Kraftwerk
1978 23rd October Buzzcocks, support band Subway Sect

1978 27th October Whitesnake, support band Magnum

1978 31st October AC/DC, support band Blazer Blazer

The pictures above are AC/DC at the Edinburgh Odeon on 31st October 1978, featuring the late great Bon Scott, who sadly died just over a year later. Thank you to Hugh for these rare pictures. © Hugh C.W. 1978.

The pictures above are Blazer Blazer, support to AC/DC at the Edinburgh Odeon on 31st October 1978. At one point Blazer Blazer’s line up contained Michael “Nicko” McBrain, later to join Iron Maiden. Thank you to Hugh for these rare pictures. © Hugh C.W. 1978.

**Please magnify to read.** ***Blazer Blazer programme excerpt, thank you to Hugh for this item.***

1978 1st November Sham 69

1978 7th November Judas Priest

1978 16th November The Clash, support band The Slits

***Thank you to Alan for this rare signed flyer.***

1978 20th November Lindisfarne
1978 21st November The Cheiftains
1978 26th November Devo
1978 1st December John Martyn

1978 13th December Rory Gallagher

1978 22nd December The Rezillos, support band Chou Parrot (The Undertones did not play).

1979 15th & 16th January Elvis Costello & The Attractions

1979 23rd January The Kinks

1979 8th February UFO

1979 20th February Herbie Hancock

1979 21st February Steve Hillage

1979 1st March Average White Band

1979 5th March Bad Company

1979 6th March Graham Parker & The Rumour

**Thank you to Graham Dumble for this scan.**

***The five photos above are Graham Parker at the Odeon 6th March 1979. Thank you to Allan McKay for these pictures. ©Allan McKay 1979.***

1979 13th March Eddie & The Hot Rods & The Members

1979 15th March Van Morrison

1979 19th March Elton John

**The three pictures above are Elton John at the Edinburgh Odeon 19th March 1979. Thank you to Steven Betts for these pictures. ©Steven Betts 1979**

1979 24th March Bootsy’s Rubber Band
1979 26th March David Essex
1979 27th March Motorhead

1979 30th March Folksong ’79
1979 1st April The Hollies

1979 6th April Frankie Miller
1979 16th April Thin Lizzy

1979 27th April JJ Burnel, Support bands Blood Doner & Rapid Eye Movement

1979 28th April Rush

1979 1st May Child

**Mike from the band Child at the Odeon. Thank you to** **Chris for the photo**

1979 2nd May John Miles, support band Bandit

1979 7th May Dennis Brown & The Professionals, support Rudy Thomas

1979 12th May The Tubes

1979 19th May Renaissance

1979 23rd, 24th, 25th & 26th May Status Quo

***The pictures above are Status Quo at the Edinburgh Odeon May 1979. Thank you to Hugh for these rare pictures. © Hugh C.W. 1979.***

1979 1st June The Police, support band The Cramps

1979 3rd June Robert Halpern
1979 9th June The Who

Thank you to David for his memories below of The Who at the Odeon “In the foyer they had a lot of stands advertising Quadrophenia and the Kids are Alright movie which had just been released. We managed to nick a couple of album covers and hung around outside the back of the theatre in the hope of getting them autographed. We saw John “Rabbit” Bundrick the keyboard player, and my mate swears we saw Kenney Jones as well. We did find out however that the band were staying at the Caledonian Hotel in Lothian Road”.

“So we went down to the hotel and met Roger Daltrey, Bill Curbishley the band’s manager and Harvey Goldsmith the promoter. Roger signed the album sleeves. They asked us whether we had been to the recent outdoor rock festival at Loch Lomond, which we had. They seemed very interested in what we thought of the event. We wondered whether they might have been contemplating playing a festival that summer. They didn’t as a matter of fact. Interestingly though, their very next gig after the Odeon was Wembley Stadium”. The gig was amazing!

1979 10th June Dire Straits

1979 19th June Third World
1979 21st June Steve Hackett

1979 29th June Dave Edmunds Rockpile, support band Lew Lewis Reformer (rescheduled from 6th May)

1979 29th & 30th July Ian Dury & The Blockheads

***Thank you to Ian Dunipace for this rare badge.***

1979 29th August Rickie Lee Jones

***Thank you to Gordon for the above NME review of the Rickie Lee Jones Odeon concert.***

1979 1st September Alien film premier

***Thank you to Oddfellow for this scan.***

1979 7th September The Skids, support band The Berlin Blondes

1979 15th September Louden Wainright III

***Thank you to Winnie Lisowski for this ticket.***

1979 20th September XTC, support bands Yachts & Viva

1979 5th October The Boomtown Rats

***Bob Geldof & Johnny Fingers autographs obtained outside the Mount Royal Hotel Princes Street. Thank you to steve for these.***

1979 6th October Buzzcocks, support band Joy Division

***Thank you to Steve for this Pete Shelley signed ticket***

***A third ticket for this gig, included for the seat number, stalls A29 for The Buzzcocks and Joy Division! Unbelievable!***

Thank you to ken for his memories of The Buzzcocks gig Pete Shelley and the guys were as loud, punchy and frantic as I’d expected but I remember being surprised at the high quality of the sound and the tight musicianship.I guess by that time they were honed by a few years on the touring circuit.

**Please magnify to read. The gem above is a period review of The Buzzcocks/Joy Division Edinburgh Odeon gig my Morris. Thanks go to him for sending this.**

1979 17th October Whitesnake

1979 20th October Alien (midnight charity screening of this iconic sci-fi film)

1979 23rd October Camel

1979 1st November Steve Hillage

1979 17th November Hawkwind

1979 21st November Motorhead

1979 22nd November John Martyn

1979 28th November The Kinks
1979 29th November Talking Heads, support bands A Certain Ratio & Section 25

The support band was due to be The Human League, but on the release of this press release from Bob Last the support slot was cancelled. “The Human League, intrigued to experience their own performance themselves, have designed a remotely controlled touring entertainment. Therefore, 30 Human League minutes will be available on the upcoming Talking Heads tour. The League themselves may well join the audience on some evenings to savour the occasion. The arrangement will allow them on other evenings to continue working on their second album in their Sheffield workshop.”

***Human League advert for the cancelled support slot tour with Talking Heads.***

Thank you to Ken for his memories of the Talking Heads gig
“Talking Heads put on a funky but spooky performance…David Byrne was in full-on sweating, awkward psycho/geek mode and hardly ever looked up at the audience!”