Hammersmith Apollo

The Hammersmith Apollo is an entertainments and concert venue located in Hammersmith, London, England which, over its seventy-five year history, has played host to countless musical, theatrical and comedic acts.

History

It was opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace cinema, Hammersmith and seated over 3,500 people. In 1962 the building was re-named the Hammersmith Odeon, a name many people still use for the venue along with the phonetic abbreviation "Hammy-O". The venue was later refurbished and re-named the Labatt's Apollo following a sponsorship deal. Musical Theatre Star Michael Ball was the last person to play Hammersmith when it was named 'Odeon' and the first person to play following it's renaming as the 'Apollo', both during his 1993 sell out tour.

File:View from the stage.jpg

View from the stage

Later, it was again re-named The Hammersmith Apollo, and played host to a number of stage productions, notably Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Doctor Dolittle, both starring Phillip Schofield. In 2002 the venue was again re-named, this time to the Carling Apollo after another brewery struck a deal with the owners, US-based Clear Channel Entertainment (spun off as Live Nation (Venues) UK Ltd in 2005).

In 2006, the venue reverted back to its former name, and is currently known as the Hammersmith Apollo. Around this time the stalls seats were made removable and now some concerts have full seating whilst others have standing only in the stalls (i.e. no seats). In the latter format the Apollo can accommodate about 5000 people.

In 2007 the pipe organ, still present from the building's days as a cinema, was restored. The building then changed hands and was bought by the MAMA Group.

View of the stage

Performances

It is as the Hammersmith Odeon that the venue is best known internationally, especially since Motörhead's 1981 live album No Sleep 'til Hammersmith (ironically, the album wasn't recorded there).

Many rock and pop stars have performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, including Gary Numan, Depeche Mode, Radiohead, Kate Bush, Blondie, Mott the Hoople,Queen, Tori Amos, Bob Dylan, The Cult, The Tubes, Thin Lizzy, AC/DC, Frehleys Comet, Guns N' Roses, The Cure, Talk Talk, Tool, Iron Maiden, Megadeth, In Flames, Celtic Frost, Black Sabbath, Blue Öyster Cult, Wishbone Ash, Iggy and the Stooges, Status Quo, Elkie Brooks, Metallica, Marillion, The Who, Ozzy Osbourne, Rainbow, Fall Out Boy, Deep Purple, Squeeze, Rush, Nelly Furtado, Genesis,Dire Straits, Venom, ABC, Nik Kershaw, Dream Theater, Duran Duran and most recently Trivium supported by Annihilator, Sanctity and Gojira. The venue was also part of the 2004 "Carling Live 24" event, which saw Feeder play their only date of that year.

David Bowie performed his final concert as Ziggy Stardust at the venue in July 1973. Bruce Springsteen's performances there in 1975 are also well known, as is Neil Young's performance there in the same year, when part of the venue caught fire. Johnny Cash performed at the venue in 1966. In late 1964 and early 1965 the Beatles played 38 shows over 21 nights. Special guests on the bill included the original Yardbirds featuring Eric Clapton. Also, Frank Zappa recorded parts of his 1979 album, Sheik Yerbouti, at the venue.

Randy Rhoads performed one of his first shows with new musical soulmate Ozzy Osbourne on the Blizzard of Ozz tour in 1980.

Venom accidentally burned Hammersmith's ceiling during performance, which event can be clearly seen in the 7 dates of hell concert video (during Countess Bathory). As a result, Venom was banned from Hammersmith for a year.

Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour performed three sold out shows at this venue on his 1984 About Face solo tour which was documented on the concert video David Gilmour Live 1984.

Queen played several concerts at the Hammersmith, including their Christmas concerts in 1975 and 1979. In fact, the Hammersmith Odeon hosted the 4-night Concerts for the People of Kampuchea, a benefit concert to raise money for Cambodian residents who were victims of the tyrannical reign of dictator Pol Pot of which Queen played the first night.

Many bands have released live CDs or DVDs of concerts held at the Apollo, such as the Kings of Leon, the pop stars Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Robbie Williams. Kylie Minogue and Girls Aloud released DVDs of their concerts at the Apollo in 2004 and 2005 respectively, and a DVD of a Bruce Springsteen concert held there in 1975 was released as part of the Born to Run 30th Anniversary Edition package; later the CD Hammersmith Odeon London '75 was released. Melodic death metal band In Flames also released a DVD that featured footage of a December 2004 performance there. Comedian and actor Eddie Izzard's show Glorious was also released as a DVD. Rush recorded their 1978 performance and later included it in their three-disc set, Different Stages.

Bob Marley and the Wailers performed at the "Hammy-O" in 1976, part of the Rastaman Vibration Tour.

Other acts have made music videos featuring clips from performances at the Apollo. An example of this is Kelly Clarkson, who made a special version of her "Breakaway" video using clips from her concert at the Apollo in 2006.

In the early 1960s, many of the top American stars performed at the Odeon, including Tony Bennett with Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald with Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong and Woody Herman and the Herd.

The Hammersmith Apollo is seen in the American romantic comedy film Just My Luck where McFly perform in which, in the movie, is the Hard Rock Cafe. It is also the location in The Football Factory where the Chelsea fans board the bus for Liverpool away.

Since 2004 it has been the venue for the BBC Television series Live at the Apollo, originally titled Jack Dee Live at the Apollo.

Musical theatre star Michael Ball has performed at the Hammersmith Apollo on five occasions- each time selling out. His concerts in December 1993 and December 1994 were recorded by BBC Radio 2. He has also recorded his 2003 and 2007 concerts for DVD release.

On November 25th, 2006, Video Games Live presented the first ever UK video game concert at the Hammersmith Apollo as part of their 2006 World Tour.

The Apollo pipe organ

The original 1932 Compton pipe organ is still present at the Apollo and was fully restored to playing condition in 2007. It has a beautiful 4-manual console which rises through the stage on a new lift and about 1200 organ pipes housed in large chambers above the front stalls ceiling. Having fallen into disrepair, the organ was disconnected in the 1990s and the console removed from the building. However at English Heritage and the council's insistence it has been reinstated and the entire organ restored. A launch party was held on July 25th 2007 at which an invited audience and the media witnessed top organist Richard Hills play this incredible instrument.

Pipe organs such as this were installed in most cinemas of the pre-war period to provide music for film shows, accompany silent movies and to feature in solo performances. Many were also broadcast on the radio and recorded on 78rpm records. These organs were based on church-type instruments but had many other sounds including percussion instruments built in. A lot of the pipe sounds were voiced to sound like instruments of the orchestra and indeed the organs were in effect one-man orchestras, offering a large variety of sounds and being capable of accommodating music styles from classical though to jazz. Although several such organs survive in the UK these days, there are very few left in their original buildings. The Apollo organ is one of these and its wonderful sounds now fill the huge Apollo auditorium again after about 25 years of silence.

The restorers were HWS Associates of London - www.hws.org.uk

See Youtube video link below.

External links

• Guide to events at Hammersmith Apollo
• Youtube video of organ launch party