By far the best way to get a broad look at London's five decades of rock history is this three-hour van tour of London. The tour is very Beatles-centric, as well it should be, but it also focuses on Queen, Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Eric Clapton, Elton John, The Kinks and Led Zepplin. Specific sites include headquarters of Apple and Island record labels; sites where photo shoots were taken; the shop where the Sex Pistols began; clubs where bands got their beginnings; and the homes of Freddie Mercury, Paul McCartney, Elton John, Jarvis Cocker, Brian Epstein, Ringo Starr, John and Yoko, and Keith Moon.
Sadly, the tour also could have been named The London Doors of Death Tour, as just about every other site visited is where someone famous died - Beatles manager Brian Epstein, Judy Garland (not a rock star but certainly famous enough), Mercury, Hendrix and, in the same flat but years apart, Mama Cass of The Mamas and the Papas and Moon of The Who.
You will pick up bits of information like why Bono will to this day not speak with Blur's Damon Albarn, or that Hendrix was escorted out of the apartment Starr owned because he wasn't paying rent and because he painted everything - including windows - black. The same apartment was the first love nest for John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and it's where they were photographed naked.
It's also fun to hear tour leader and tour company owner Bruce Cherry dish dirt on some of the big names.
Van Morrison, for instance, insists that no one talk to him when he's picked up at the airport. One of Cherry's colleagues made the mistake of saying good morning, and Morrison wrote a letter asking that he be fired.
Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones gets a number of unflattering nicknames, such as "Mick Moneybags Jagger, the tightest man in rock'n' roll," and "Michael Phillip Social Climbing Jagger," in reference to his succession of glamorous wives and lovers.
The song "My Sweet Lady Jane" was written about a "rich bird" Jagger was trying to attract, Cherry said. Jagger's knighthood strikes him as inappropriate because Jagger lived in the south of France for years to avoid Britain's heavy taxation.
Jagger could come back for 90 days a year but not stay in his property, so he lived in the Ritz. During that time he wrote "It's Only Rock'n' Roll But I Like It."
"If I could live in the Ritz for 90 days, I'd like it, too," Cherry said.
But he'll also point out that while Jagger hung out with people who took drugs, Jagger is one of the rock stars who never took drugs himself, "which is why he is 62 and as fit as he is."
As for the Beatles, there's an opportunity to cross Abbey Road at the same place they were photographed for an album cover. But the best story is probably the one about their concert at Apple Records on Saville Row.
To promote their album "Let It Be," they locked the door of the building and started playing on the rooftop.
"The place closed down. It was totally gridlock," Cherry said.
"The police had to climb up another building and go across the rooftop to get to them." The police ended the Beatles' concert by cutting off electricity to the building.
It was the last time they played together.
"Rock and Roll London and the Beatles" begins at 2 p.m. Saturday, Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday at the Hard Rock Café at Hyde Park Corner.
Tickets cost 25 pounds ($45). Get information at www.beatles-beatles-beatles.
com or book through Evan Evans Tours at (800) 422 9022 or www.evanevans.co.
uk.
Music shops
Aside from such chain music stores as HMV and Virgin Megastore that are scattered about London, The city has some fantastic music stores.
Denmark Street is almost exclusively music shops, including a drum store, bass store and a fantastic instrument and music book shop, The Music Room.
It is at 19 Denmark St. The 12 Bar Club Café is a blues-oriented spot at 26 Denmark St.
Berwick Street also has a handful of really good music shops and bookstores.
A block in the middle of the street's length is full of porn shops and gay clubs, but other than that, it's got mostly book shops and CD-record shops. Reckless Records has two branches - 26 and 30 Berwick St. The first is mostly soul, jazz and dance records, and the second is all second-hand (which is good, considering how expensive shopping in London can be!
) and more rock-oriented. They also have an impressive collection of music DVDs, books and magazines. The Music Video Exchange, 95 Berwick St.
, has some overpriced rarities, but like Reckless Records, it has a good selection of used CDs.
A good resource for finding record and CD shops in London is "The Diggers Guide to London." This can be found online at www.
vinylvulture.co.uk/pages/digger-lond-cent-2.
htm.
Restaurants
Before you get your hopes up, realize that the rock is not to be eaten. However, London has some unusual rock-related restaurants, including the original Hard Rock Café at Hyde Park Corner, The 12-bar Club Café on Denmark Street and Sticky Fingers at Phillimore Gardens.
Sticky Fingers is owned by former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman and is decorated with the group's guitars, original album illustrations, gold album discs and other memorabilia.
Clubs
Clubs
Carling Islington Academy, a 17,000-square-foot venue in the N1 Centre, 16 Parkfield St., has an impressive lineup of artists guest-DJing and playing.
During our visit, The Libertines' guitarist, Carl Barat, was the DJ, playing a wide array of bands, including The Clash, The Smiths, Pulp, The Streets and The Jam. Before Barat got started, there was punk rock karaoke, and although it was funny to watch, it was horrifying to hear how badly "Rock the Casbah" was mutilated.
Camden is a hotspot for bars and clubs.
Barfly, at 49 Chalk Farm Road, specializes in all that is rock - classic 1970s guitar, indie rock and anything in between. Downstairs, 1960s garage, psychedelia and Northern soul are played. Bands such as Coldplay and Oasis have played there.
Each of its six locations in the UK are epicenters of fairly intimate concerts with bands that very well may be the future of London's pop scene.
Saturday nights at The Dome (178 Junction Road) are called "It's Only Rock'N' Roll . .
. But We Like it at The Dome," with a different guest DJ every week playing rock and indie music. You know that anyone who quotes a Rolling Stones song in the title has things right.
Every Tuesday night at The Roxy (3-5 Rathbone Place) is Panic, described by the club as "an indie night for the open-minded." The club seems to be frequented by mostly twentysomethings out for a good night. This is aided by The Roxy's low lighting; large, open dance floors; and many small tucked-away tables.
New Music Express, England's Rolling Stone-like magazine, has a club night at KOKO (1A Camden High St.), which is part of the newly revamped Camden palace. With lush couches and elegantly overdone lighting - think Moulin Rouge meets Las Vegas - the itself is rather large with a capacity of about 1,500.
It's a good place to get a taste of London's popular music scene. On July 16, Blur's former guitarist, Graham Coxon, had ex-Libertine Barat play a cover of Sham 69's "Borstal Breakout," Barat's first live performance since the Libertines broke up last year.
Theater: 'We Will Rock You'
Rock music goes mainstream in this West End production based on the music of Queen.
It's one of the more popular musicals in London, and it's easy to hear why.
The story's set in the year 2302 where the "Killer Queen" rules a globalized-standardized society, (think "1984" and "Brave New World"). Computer-generated music is part of the mind-control apparatus.
Outcasts called Bohemians seek the remnants of rock -if only they knew what it was and where to find it - and their freedom. New outcasts Galileo and Scaramouche (whose names you may recognize from Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody") prove to be the leaders who rediscover rock.
Initially, it's a bit of a jolt to hear a woman sing "Killer Queen," but Mazz Murray carries it off in a voice that's remarkably tuned to the task.
A steady stream of Queen songs builds to a climactic "We Will Rock You" and finally an encore of "Bohemian Rhapsody" - which, during our performance, featured a guitar solo by Queen's Brian May.
Now in its third year at the Dominion Theater, the production is taking bookings through April 2006. Seats range from 23.
50 pounds to 46 pounds (about $41 to $81, plus service charge). Order tickets in advance at www.london.
net or www.broadway.com.
Live 8
Yes, it's a done deal, but the concert in Hyde Park illustrates what wonderful things can happen when you're focused on music in London.
A week before tickets were distributed, I (Ira) started scheming about ways to get one. However, tickets wouldn't be sent to the U.
S., and I didn't know how to send a text message (for the contest). Once we were in the UK, I spent much of my time trying to get one of the free tickets by text messaging, calling in to radio stations and entering contests online, but nothing came through.
So, I decided to stand outside the park to be part of the vibe and hopefully to hear the performance, even if I couldn't get in.
Waiting for a bus to Hyde Park, I chatted with a woman who, it turned out, had tickets to the concert's wide-screen viewing area.
On the bus, we continued to talk until her phone rang.
"You sure? Really, really sure? 'Cause I've got this girl sitting next to me who'd die to go," we heard her say.
"OK then, I'm sure she'd love them."
When she hung up, she turned to me and said, "This is your lucky day," and she gave me two tickets, one for me and the other for my mother.
I gave her a couple of huge hugs - probably confirming in her mind that, yes, Americans really are that weird - and said thank you a few dozen times with a dopey grin plastered on my face.
I was thrilled and, surprise, surprise, my mother was happy about it, too. True, she doesn't know anything about music beyond the Beatles and The Rolling Stones, but with McCartney doing a performance with U2, this was right up her alley (and, of course, mine, too!).
Even though we had only a couple of hours of music before we had to leave for the airport to return home, Live 8 was worth every second. It was something we'd love to see again, but for the sake of its mission - helping to "Make Poverty History" in Africa - we hope it won't need to be held again. (Hyde Park will certainly have many more big-name concerts, however.
)
Those two hours treated us to McCartney and Bono of U2, to Elton John and Pete Doherty, and to Coldplay.
What a wonderful way to wrap up our magical mystery tour of London.
News RSS