The Sex Pistols’ proposed appearance in Dundee on 1 December 1976 was quickly overtaken by national publicity events. As The Courier later stated, “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 subsequent broadcast ensured headlines across Britain, and led some Dundee observers to suggest, in retrospect, “the story of punk might have been completely different had the band played their Caird Hall show as planned.”
The rescheduled Dundee concert, set for 16 December, also collapsed after resistance from the local authority.
As recounted in correspondence later unearthed by students, the council deferred a final decision until January, effectively ending the booking. A retrospective account in The Courier explained: “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.”
The Retro Dundee blog further noted that although it had circulated “as a fact” that the Pistols dropped Dundee “at the last minute” for the Grundy show, press coverage showed that revamped tour dates were announced weeks in advance: “This confirms the Sex Pistols did not cancel the 1st December Dundee gig ‘at the last minute’… the only reason Sex Pistols appeared on Grundy was because Queen had to cancel their scheduled appearance the day before the show.”
Pistols get the boot from Dundee
THE Sex Pistols punk rock group got the thumbs down from Dundee yester-day.
Civic amenities boss Harold Rubidge told the district council licensing court that permission for the group to appear at Caird Hall had been scrapped.
A move by Lord Provost Charles Farquhar to ban the group from any venue in Dundee was defeated. But student Ian Mackie, one of a group promoting the visit said: "As far as we are concerned they will not be coming to Dundee. We are dis-appointed. But we have been forced into this decision."
Blue
The Sex Pistols shot to neteriety after their 'blue' language in a television interview with Bill Grundy.
Lord Provost Farquhar said he had seen an extract from the pro-gramme and there were good reasons for sus-pending the Caird Hall's licence.
The group who were banned from Bir-mingham's Town Hall are to top the bill at another hall only yards away,
How a cancelled Sex Pistols gig in Dundee changed music history forever
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."
John Robertson, The Barley Boat, 11 October 2016, PDF
Dundee, the Sex Pistols and the Filth and the Fury.
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.
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.
https://retrodundee.blogspot.com/2010/10/dundees-dodgy-pistols-poster-1976.html –– Link
RETRO DUNDEE:
DUNDEE'S DUFF PISTOLS POSTER
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...
It has been in circulation as a fact that, the Sex Pistols cancelled this 1st DecemberDundee 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...
On 13th November 1976 the music press published details of a punk tour to be co-headlined by Sex Pistols and The Ramones, with Talking Heads, Chris Spedding & The Vibrators the other acts.
The Dundee date arranged being 1st December.
Then on 20th November 1976 the music press published an announcement that all of the acts had pulled out of the tour except the Sex Pistols. The tour was then revamped with Sex Pistols the headline act and support bands being Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Damned and The Clash.
The 16th December was now the date for Dundee as a result of the revamped tour.
As you can see, the 1st December date on the poster has the second choice of bands (Sex Pistols, Johnny Thunders & The Heartbreakers, The Damned and The Clash), but these acts weren't confirmed until the revamped tour dates for 16th December.
If the gig poster was for the 1st December, it would have had the first choice of acts on it (The Ramones, Sex Pistols, Talking Heads, Chris Spedding & The Vibrators).
This confirms the Sex Pistols did not cancel the 1st DecemberDundee gig "at the last minute" to appear live on the Bill Grundy TV show because the revamped dates were confirmed 2 weeks before the TV show aired.
The only reason Sex Pistols appeared on Grundy was because Queen had to cancel their scheduled appearance the day before the show and Sex Pistols replaced them at the last minute.
There is no Dundee gig connection with Pistols on Grundy.
Furthermore, a different music press article from 13th November had Newcastle the date for 1st December punk tour package, so there was never anything definitely secured for that date.
The real Anarchy In The UK tour officially started on 3rd December after the first attempt was scrapped.
The poster's date and support acts don't go together at all - the information is meaningless.
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The above is only a small sample of evidence.
There is much more wrong with the poster than just the date & support bands.
To read the detective work about it, you can download the full 13 page PDF in the link below.
Confirms that the poster is not connected to a gig, Tech College, Caird Hall or Pistols.
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.
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.
There is also a good description of the SU venue here
PAGE 3 - The fallout, Tour collapses RevisedDates following the Grundy outrage
Anarchy Tour Adverts, before and after The fallout from Bill Grundy show
Feature Magazines Books (Anarchy Tour)
PAGE 3 - The fallout, Tour collapses RevisedDates following the Grundy outrage
Anarchy Tour Adverts, before and after The fallout from Bill Grundy show
Feature Magazines Books (Anarchy Tour)
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.
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