The is an entertainments and concert venue located in
Hammersmith ,
London ,
England . It opened in 1932, and was known as "Gaumont Palace Hammersmith" until 1962. In this year, the venue was re-named the Hammersmith Odeon - the name many people still use for the venue, often shortened to "Hammy-O". The venue was later refurbished and re-named the
Labatt 's Apollo following a new sponsorship deal with Labatt's. Musical Theatre Star Michael Ball was the last person to play Hammersmith when it was named 'Odeon' and the first person to play Hammersmith when it was named 'Apollo'. This was during his sell out 1993 Tour.
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.
It is as the Hammersmith Odeon that the venue is best known internationally, especially since
Motörhead 's 1981
Live Album ''
No Sleep 'til Hammersmith ''. Many rock and pop stars have performed at the Hammersmith Odeon, including
Radiohead ,
Kate Bush ,
Blondie ,
Mott The Hoople ,
Queen ,
Tori Amos ,
The Cult ,
The Tubes ,
Thin Lizzy ,
AC/DC ,
Guns N' Roses ,
The Cure ,
Tool ,
Iron Maiden ,
In Flames ,
Celtic Frost ,
Black Sabbath ,
Iggy And The Stooges ,
Status Quo ,
Elkie Brooks ,
Metallica ,
Marillion ,
The Who ,
Ozzy Osbourne ,
Rainbow ,
Fall Out Boy ,
Deep Purple ,
Rush ,
Genesis ,
Dire Straits ,
Venom ,
ABC ,
Nik Kershaw ,
Dream Theater ,
Duran Duran and most recently
Trivium supported by
Annihilator ,
Sanctity and
Gojira .
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
Cambodia n 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 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.
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.
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 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
