Rock Shrine No. 38 – UFO [Pink Floyd]
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UFO was London's first psychedelic club, the equivalent of the Electric Circus in NYC or the Fillmore in SF. It was started by music entrepreneur Joe Boyd and John Hopkins (aka "Hoppy") in an Irish dancehall called the "Blarney Club", a basement venue under the Berkeley Cinema. This wasn't the first time the location had been an essential nightclub; from 1919-1926 it was a jazz club where races could mix to hear predominantly black music.
UFO opened on December 23, 1966. As Joe Boyd wrote in his book 'White Bicycles', "freaks came out of the woodwork from all over the city".
Joe Boyd: "The club's first few months were idyllic. Freaks descended en masse. We made money, everyone was astonished by how many like-minded souls there were in London, the groups had a prominent platform for the first time and our beautiful silk-screen posters could be seen all over the city. Something new was happening every week and even bigger things, it seemed, were just around the corner. It is hard to convey the excitement and optimism in the air then."
Pink Floyd were effectively the house band, though evenings combined live music and light shows, avant garde films and slide shows, dance troupes and even "spot the fuzz" competitions as attention from plainclothes police increased. Producer Chris Thomas (Procul Harum, The Pretenders, Roxy Music, John Cale, Elton John, The Sex Pistols, etc.) remembers seeing the Floyd one night playing with all the PA equipment at the sides of the room, so that while the band were in front of you, the sound was coming from the sides. Another night they played behind hanging sheets that completely obscured the stage, with the light show projected on them. Pete Townshend was a regular, studying Pink Floyd from beside of the stage.
Pink Floyd at UFO:
How they looked if you weren't on drugs:
When Pink Floyd grew too popular, Soft Machine became the house band. Others who played included The Incredible String Band, Arthur Brown, Tomorrow, and Procol Harum, who played there when "A Whiter Shade of Pale" was No 1 in the charts. On April 28, 1967, Jimi Hendrix turned up as part of the audience and then jammed with Tomorrow, who were headlining.
How many plaincothes policemen can you spot?:
UFO was killed by success — it was too small to accommodate the increasing crowds. In June, 1967, Hoppy was imprisoned for drug offences and further police pressure caused the landlords to revoke the lease. It moved to The Roundhouse for a few months but a high rent meant Joe usually lost money. In October it ended.
The building was torn down in 1970 as part of a huge, multi-block redevelopment. Today the location is still a cinema; the basement where Pink Floyd first wowed London is a room with a screen.
Let's give the final word to Joe: "Like most revolutionaries, the freaks of 1967 aimed high. And like many, they failed to reach their goals. The list of disappointments is long, but one only need watch a right-wing politician or pundit talk about the era to realise how much was accomplished: the very words "the Sixties" make them spit with fury, so we must have got something right!"
UFO: 31 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 1BX
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Comments (13)
As per usual..great post. It's amazing the power that places have. Joe's final words are perfect.
Anecdote Update: I just remembered Joe telling me that he hired one Bernard Rhodes as Security, as he was the only guy who had managed to get in without paying. In those days Bernard wore a kaftan. In 1975 he was working with old friend Malcolm McLaren and in 1976 was managing The Clash. The things people leave off their CV....
Good common sense and intuition,Joe!
I guess job progressions like that happen in today's world, but it doesn't seem like it, as the biz lurched toward a set model..well until the last couple of anything goes years.
"White Bicycles" is still the best book about pop music that I've ever read - though Cody, I just finished "Lonely Avenue" and the first half is spectacular....
Ol' Doc sure got around didn't he..I gotta read White Bicycles..I bet I'd like it more than the Kant I'm reading now.
I'll confirm Bill's opinion of 'White Bicycles'; right up there with Nick Tosches' 'Hellfire'. Joe's philosophy could be defined as: be in the right place, meet all the right people, bring together amazing talents, then miss out on benefitting commercially. Causality? Yes, but in a much more entertaining way than Herr Kant. And Joe's description of Dylan going electric at Newport - where Joe was the stage manager - is one of the great chapters in music writing.
In addition to the Dylan section, Jonh, I would add the terrific anecdote at the beginning about how Dick Clark was discovered. I went to a reading/signing Boyd did at a nearby record store and he read that section, wonderfully....
john, i was wondering when this venue was going to show up on your list.......great job
"...the very words 'the Sixties' make them spit with fury, so we must have got something right!"
That brought a smile to my face.
Awesome John thanks for that
Electric Circus on St. Marks became a rehab clinic and SRO (single room occupancy) for folks to stay in while going through the program. Then of course the real estate became too sought after and they sold the property to make it into expensive condos (Who wants to live on St. Marks??) with a fast food sushi joint and Japanese clothing stores down below.
Great post Jonh! It's hard to think of PF as a house band but I guess they had to start out somewhere.
No fair! You know about me and "Astronomy Domine." Now, I'm having flashbacks to a place that I never experienced in person.
dachmo - it seems harder for these places to stay standing in the US than over here. Probably because of the excessive nostalgia the English indulge in, wanting everything to look the way it did 100 years ago.
Mike - All part of the service, sir!