LIVE AT THE LYCEUM, 1969
Situated just off the Strand in London’s West End, the Lyceum Ballroom was a favoured live music venue for many years, and one that would feature in Entec’s early development. Serialised events included ‘The Sunday Lyceum’, promoted by Charisma Records founder Tony Stratton-Smith and popularised by headliners such as The Nice, and ‘Midnight Court’ – a regular all-nighter endorsed by John Peel that followed the demise of Middle Earth.
In 1969, these events were notable for the Crab Nebula light show along with audio support from WEM: two ingredients that helped to give Entertainment Technicians Limited its competitive edge in those early days.
On June 6th, Gilbert & George presented their ‘Singing Sculpture’, repeatedly singing ‘Underneath The Arches’ in costume. Entec director Simon White, who witnessed the bizarre performance, recalls: “They were in full white tie and tails evening dress with bronze painted heads and gloves. They stood as statues in the Green Room, freaking out the musicians who had seen nothing like that before.
“This is now copied on every street corner in Covent Garden and throughout the world, of course, but Gilbert & George were the first to do it.
“Although they only repeated their slow mime to ‘Underneath The Arches’ three times, it did feel like they’s been performing for hours. There was dead silence from the 2,000 stoned teenagers until they left the stage… followed by a huge, audience-wide response of “What the hell was that?” wonderment, much to Gilbert & George’s delight!”
As detailed on the featured advertisement, November 14th saw the appearance of Flaming Youth, featuring an 18-year-old drummer and singer named Phil Collins. A rare Tyrannosaurus Rex live set from a Midnight Court gig has been released though, sadly, listeners are not be able to appreciate the light show.
Other artists appearing at the Lyceum in 1969 included Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, The Plastic Ono Band, Jeff Beck Group, Joe Cocker, Procol Harum, Soft Machine, Yes, Family, King Crimson, Stan Webb’s Chicken Shack, Caravan, The Pretty Things, Steppenwolf, Curved Air and The Nice.
