Civic Hall, Guildford

The Civic Hall. Guildford was an arts and entertainment venue on London Road, Guildford that opened in October 1962 and closed in January 2004, and has since been knocked down and replaced by G-Live.

The very first concert, on 11 Oct ’62 was classical, featuring pianist Gary Graffman. The years that followed were a veritable who’s who of the music industry. Tuesday nights in ’63 were dominated by the Beat Nite Dance which featured on 19 November ’63: Robb Storme and The Whispers, on 26 November: Ray Pilgrim and the Minute Men; on 3 December: Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, and on 10 December: Johnny Kidd and the Pirates. Then, on 15 December ’63, The Rolling Stones took to the stage, thanks to the Ricky Tick Club promoters. Also, on the bill that night were The Yardbirds, who’d recently recruited Eric Clapton.

On 19 Feb ’65, Graham Andrews remembers the Moody Blues manager calling him to say their drummer was ill, but he played the show the next day, avoiding a last-minute cancellation. On 14 December ’67 the “Living Blues” concert for Cancer Research was held at the Civic Hall with Peter Green’s Fleetwood Mac, Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation, Tony “Duster” Bennett, Chicago Northwestern System, Dr Brown’s Gospel Medicine, Spirit Level, and Electric Blue. The “classic” Fairport Convention line-up of Denny, Thompson, Hutchings, Matthews, Nicol and Lamble played an Arts Lab benefit concert at the Civic in late ’68, with Bradford, their German Shepherd, on stage with them. The Guildford Student Rag Ball was held at the Civic on 28 Nov ’69, with headliners Deep Purple supported by Bridget St. John, Horse and Quintessence.

The Ferris Wheel, shortly before the bands demise, played the Civic Hall on 17 January ’70. Bass player Steve Currie may have played his debut gig with T-Rex there in Nov ’70, but we are reliably informed that Tony Visconti stood in on bass in Feb that same year. Rumour has it that Free’s “All Right Now” was written in a dressing room backstage, although so was a venue in the Midlands… On 14 March 1971 Mike Westbrook performed “Copan / Backing Track”, a seven-and-a-half-hour composition based on overlapping time cycles, inspired by the Mayan Calendar as part of Guildford University’s Free Fest. Seven musicians improvised over a pre-recorded backing track on which they had also played with a programmed light show by Cyberdescence which paralleled the musical cycles.

Guildford band Running Dry opened for Brinsley Schwarz and support act Quiver on 13 December ’71. 

Slade took to the Civic’s stage on 14 May ’72, with Status Quo in support. Mott The Hoople were regular Civic performers, their 3rd appearance being on 13 August ’72. Bowie attended that gig with Lou Reed and Tony Defries. According to Niall Brannigan, Hoople came out for the 2nd encore, and “All the Young Dudes” was at No.3 in the charts, and Ian Hunter said, “Well, I s’pose we better do the single then?” The audience roared. “But we need help with the backing vocals….”. Out of the wing walks Bowie, all Ziggy hair and white, three-piece suit; draped his arm around Mick Ralphs and they sang into the same mic. King Crimson recorded “Live in Guildford” [DGM CLUB24] at the venue on 13 Nov ’72. On the 27 May ’73 the Ziggy Stardust tour hit the Civic Hall; and local band Lady Jayne also took to the hall’s stage that year. In ’75 10cc’s gig was notable for the venues lax approach to fire and safety regulations for the overcapacity 1400 attendees. Gong also appeared at the Civic in ’75, recording the almost two-hour performance live for later broadcast on radio which has subsequently been released a couple of times. That same year, in February ’75, Caravan were supported by local band Asylum. A year later, on 15 February ’76, the rather odd billing of The Kursaal Flyers supported by Kokomo rolled into town. Also, in ’76, Tony Stewart reported in the 1st May issue of NME that a PFM fan injured their hand in a blaze at the Civic Hall.

Hot Chocolate played The Civic a number of times. On one occasion, percussionist Patrick Olive pulled Jacobs Well resident Lisa Ranger up onto the stage, went to a nightclub after the concert, and reportedly then dated for almost a year.

On the 1 May ’77, The Clash kicked off the White Riot tour, supported by Subway Sect and London (apparently The Jam were supposed to support but backed out).

’77 was also the year that The Stranglers got banned from the Civic Hall due to a “near riot” by fans – According to Steve Baker, Hugh Cornwell said “we spent 2 hours moving all the chairs off the dance floor and someone has put them back, please be good boys and girls and put the chairs neatly against the walls please”. Two minutes later there was a pile of 400 broken chairs in the middle of the dance floor. Not really a riot, just people wanting to dance to the music. On 7 Dec ’78, local lad, Eric Clapton along with Elton John (piano), George Harrison (guitar), and Muddy Waters (guitar / vocals) were in the stage’s spotlights.

On 1 May ’79, Rachel Sweet opened a short UK tour at Civic Hall, before heading off to the US. Bristol’s The Pop Group had issued their debut single in March 1979 and their debut album in April, both to acclaim, and included the Civic on their promotional tour, hitting Guildford on 22 May ’79. The next week, on 27 May ’79, The Undertones, supported by The Chords, not The Purple Hearts as originally billed, appeared at the Civic – a gig at which there was a bit of a fracas reportedly initiated by Sham 69’s Jimmy Pursey and ex-Sex Pistols Steve Jones and Paul Cook, accompanied by a contingent of ‘punks’, resulting in the destruction of a lighting rig and Undertones gear. The next month, on 11 June ’79, The Police took to the venue’s stage supported by The Cramps. XTC played most of ‘Drums and Wires’ at the Civic on 16 September ’79, with The Yachts, & Viva—who replaced The Dazzlers—opening the show. Then, on 1 November ’79, the Buzzcocks came to town. Further ‘trouble’ with fans lead to the threat of a total ban on punk band concerts in ’79 by then manager Stephen Gleason. Thankfully that didn’t occur, and Joy Division took to the stage on 1 November ’79.

The next year, however, saw The Stranglers return with a heavy police presence and steel top capped boots, belts and anything dangerous looking confiscated at the door. Mod group The Selector proved it wasn’t just punks that could cause trouble that same year.

The early ’80s saw big names continuing to book the Civic; including Genesis, and The Pretenders. On 21 February ’80, Dolly Mixture opened for The Beat, who didn’t receive a particularly complementary review for their performance in Record Mirror. Stiff Little Fingers, supported by Another Pretty Face, gig on 13 March ’80 saw Jake Burns yelling for a cessation of the ‘hail of gobbing’ part way through and Ali McMordie adding petrol to the fire in the form of a pint over the heads of the perpetrators. While the barage may have subsided, their encore was interrupted by a stage invasion which eventually led to the band storming off. The Undertones, on 24 April ’80, were supported by Moondogs, and The Jam. Philip Hall reviewed The Chords appearance at the venue on 8 May ’80 and later in the month the Civic hosted Toyah. Among the big names was Iron Maiden, on their first headline tour of the UK following their shows supporting Judas Priest, when they visited the Civic Hall on 19 June ’80, with Praying Mantis as the opening act. A half full Civic Hall greeted headliners Secret Affair on 11 September ’80, for what was a lackluster performance of the group’s standards, after a valiant attempt from The Step to rile the audience. On 6 November ’80 it was Orchestral Maneuvers in the Dark and the next month, on 19 December, local heroes The Vapors, plus special guests, appeared at The Civic.

Toyah returned on 15 January ’81, a gig memorable for the ejection of two “skinheads” who were caught “enjoying private pastimes in the very public atmosphere” during her show. A week later The Blues Band took to the stage and on 25 March ’81, Elvis Costello and the Attractions visited The Civic as part of ‘The Tour to Trust’. Then the following month, Stiff Little Fingers dropped by, as part of their UK tour, on 23 April ’81 at which Jake Burns had some choice words for some ‘Sieg heiling’ skinheads in the crowd. Teardrop Explodes, at the height of their popularity with their debut album released the previous year and 2 hit singles in 1981, appeared in Guildford as part of their UK tour. Their set included tracks from that album and their second, due to be released a few months later – including Passionate Friend, which would be their next hit single. The show was broadcast mono on FM radio. Judie Tzuke, who played to significantly fewer than the 400,000 estimated to have seen her in New York’s Central Park the year previous, was in Guildford’s Civic on 28 May 1981. 

A week after Teardrop Explodes, Split Enz embarked on their Step Ahead tour from Guildford’s Civic Hall on 25 June ’81. The next month, on 23 July ’81, Hazel O’Connor’s Megahype didn’t exactly fill the hall. Hawkwind rolled into town to perform on 29 October 81, followed on 5 November by John Martyn and his Band, and on 13 November that same year by Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, who included the Guildford venue on their UK tour.

Early the next year, on 3 February ’82, The Look played as the opening act for The Climax Blues Band at the Hall. Just over a month later Teardrop Explodes thumbed through their set on 10 March, by which time the band’s fraught internal situation with disagreements and meltdowns led to Cope retreating to Tamworth and the band stripping down to a three-piece. The next night King Crimson presented a very different show. Nick Lowe, touring his ‘Nick the Knife‘ LP, took to the stage on 13 May ’82. Three days later, on 16 May, The Boomtown Rats’ V Deep tour rolled through Guildford, followed on 19 May by Level 42 stepping onto the stage. The Jam were originally scheduled to close their short ‘farewell’ UK tour on home turf at the Guildford Civic Hall on 9 December ’82, which came after Weller announced that The Jam would disband in late October. However, the last gig – due to ticket demand – was at a hastily book additional date in Brighton.

Clapton returned with Jimmy Page in 1983 and there were performances by Hawkwind, Echo and the Bunnymen, and Mark Knopfler. Marillion were supported by Peter Hammill on 17 March ’83 and performed to “full (though not quite packed crowd)” according to Hugh Fielder in his review of the gig that saw Fish go walkabout amongst the crowd with his radio mic during the encore. Tears for Fears hit the stage on 6 April that same year, and Terry & Jerry opened for Level 42 on 7 September ’83. On 24 September ’83, Paul Young performed on the stage at the Civic Hall, Guildford. On 1 December ’83, Tears for Fears returned to the Guildford venue.

Thomas Dolby’s The Flat Earth was released on 10 February ’84 and six days later his The Flat Earth Tour kicked off at the Civic. Having released his breakthrough single “Wouldn’t It Be Good” in January ’84, which reached No. 4 in the UK, and debut LP “Human Racing” in February, Nik Kershaw was supported by Illustrated Man at The Civic on 26 March ’84. The very next night Julian Cope was at the venue. Glaswegian pop band Endgames were the ‘special guest’ on the Howard Jones’ Hide & Seek tour, that visited the Civic on 2 April ’84. Bruce Foxton, as part of the promotional tour for Touch Sensitive was supported by Guildford’s Shoot! Dispute, at the Civic Hall on 3 May ’84. On 12 November ’84, The Alarm played The Civic, returning the next year to be seen by Pete Cole, his first gig, on 22 May 1985, when The Faith Brothers opened for the band. A recording taken at this show of The Faith Brothers’ ‘Country of the Blind‘ would later appear on the B-side of their second single ‘A Stranger on Home Ground‘, released on 24 June ’85. On 3 June ’86 Gary Moore performed ‘Take A Little Time’ lie for the very first time at the Guildford venue, which was release as a single in ’87 and peaked at No.75 in the UK Chart that December.

In 1988 the manager was Martin Dodd. During Dodd’s tenure, Du Kane promoted gigs featuring Guru Josh, Adamski and Seal, The Shamen, The Beloved, Cookie Crew, Stereo MCs, Carl Cox, Richie Rich and D Mob at the Bliss, Rak, and Shazzam events. Fronted by identical twin sisters, Jacqui Cuff and Pauline Cuff, Soho rolled through the Civic Hall on 19 April ’89, promoting ‘Message for my Baby‘. It Bites, with a harder-edged, more guitar-orientated sound, played the venue on 3 July ’89, supported by Blinder, who morphed into Headswim c’92. Dodd also booked Bucks Fizz, who appeared on 30 August ’88, followed the next night by Montreal based Bowser & Blue, who were supported by Jokers Wild and Haji Ahkba Band. Dodd left after two years, moving to Portsmouth’s Guildhall, just before the venue really started to decline. Despite gigs by Gary Brooker, Terrorvision, Prodigy (25 Oct ’94), Super Furry Animals (29 Oct ’99); many of the big bands of the ’90s stopped booking the aging Civic. Headnoise joined Redwood, Supermodel and Disturbing Guests at the Civic Hall, on 16 June ’95, for Splatch!The early 2000s did see Jools Holland, Bob Geldof, and The Hollies, but it wasn’t enough. On Sunday, January 4, 2004, Eric Clapton, Kenney Jones, Paul Jones, and Gary Brooker played the last gig.

In July / August 2009 the Civic Hall was demolished to make room for G-Live, which opened in 2011.

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