Supporting The Sex Pistols

Resheduled to the 16th (again, cancelled) to allow the band to go on the Bill Grundy Show

added article 23 January 2020
updated Feb 2024 added articles

Anarchy on the River Tay - How a cancelled Sex Pistols gig in Dundee changed music history forever

By Graeme Strachan
3 March 2018

Online or archived PDF

The Caird Hall date became the gig that never was when Queen pulled out of making an appearance on Thames Today on December 1, which was the London evening TV show presented by Bill Grundy.

Their plugger suggested the Pistols as a substitute on the tea time show.

McLaren thought the publicity generated by live TV was too good to turn down and a limousine was duly sent for the band and the Caird Hall gig was hastily rescheduled for later in December.

The band appeared live on Grundy's show and the infamous performance made front page headlines the next day.

Former Dundee DJ Pat Kelly said the story of punk might have been completely different had the band played their Caird Hall show as planned.

"Dundee Corporation was frightened that the Caird Hall would not be in one piece if they allowed them to perform the rescheduled date.

"So they dutifully cancelled their booking."

Dundee, the Sex Pistols and the Filth and the Fury.

The Barley Boat
11 October 2016;
John Robertson

Link

The story in Dundee goes that the band were due to play at the Caird Hall that same night and that they had cancelled the gig in order to appear on TV. There are easily obtained facsimile posters for sale that seem to confirm that this was indeed the case. Evidence elsewhere suggests otherwise though.

Dundee Tech College Students Union have their own webpage with lots of details about the venue.

Link

DJ Brian Wilson remembers..."Norrie McGrath was Vice President of Entertainments for the year - April '77 to the end of the 1978 academic session. 

Norrie was the guy who had a clear-out of old paperwork from the office when he took over in April '77 and said I could have anything I wanted before it was consigned to the bin. Which is why, among my cherished possessions is the receipt for the Sex Pistols gig in October '76 , the contract, signed by Malcolm MacLaren, for the aborted Caird Hall gig, which would have featured The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Damned and Johnny Thunder and The Heartbreakers.

Included are the letters from the council about the gig but I didn't get the final one. However, Iain Flett at the council's archive department was able to send me a scan of the final letter, which basically said that the decision was deferred until January so the Union could present supporting evidence. Obviously, the deferment killed off the concert!

Also grabbed a copy of "Circuit", which was the magazine for entertainments promoters at the time. 

Below is a wee reminder of the doomed Sex Pistols gig at the Caird Hall, and the muddle organising it. The poster has the wrong support acts for 1st December. It should have been The Ramones, Talking Heads and Chris Spedding & The Vibrators.

The revamped tour dates (Dundee 16th December) with revamped support acts, crop up on the official tour poster. Tickets were available from both Caird Hall and Tech College.

RETRO DUNDEE: DUNDEE'S DUFF PISTOLS POSTER

Link

It has been in circulation as a fact that, the Sex Pistols cancelled this 1st December Dundee gig "at the last minute" to appear on the infamous Bill Grundy TV show.

Well here below is a factual timeline sequence published in the music press that suggests otherwise...

Poster from the cancelled gig, Caird Hall

Dundee College of Technology Student's Union

Abertay University, formerly the University of Abertay Dundee, is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland.

The University was created in 1994, under government legislation granting the title "University of Abertay Dundee" to the Dundee Institute of Technology.

In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology was formed in 1888.

TECH COLLEGE UNION AKA BOWLING ALLEY

Dundee Tech College Students Union have their own webpage with lots of details about the venue.

Link or archived PDF

PHOTO

There is also a good description of the SU venue here

TECH COLLEGE UNION AKA BOWLING ALLEY

Saturday, 7 February 2009
TECH COLLEGE UNION AKA BOWLING ALLEY


Online or archived PDF or just a text.html to easily read the comments

This building on the corner of Marketgait & Guthrie Street, once had a real tenpin bowling alley in the 60's. So later, when it came to be a Students Union in the 70's, us lot who went there still generally referred to it as the "Bowling Alley".

The students in this case being from the College of Technology rather than University.
It's heyday was the mid 70's to mid 80's period, and was always a really good buzz.

The Sex Pistols, Dire Straits, Simple Minds, Motorhead are just 4 of the acts who performed there before going on to greater things.

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