Lights out Forever at Hammersmith Palais

The Hammersmith Palais had its last live performances this past week-end. The Good, the Bad and the Queen played Saturday night, and the Fall wound up affairs on Sunday. The summer will continue to see some club nights, but the promoter says that there is little likelihood of any major acts ever again. The Palais is slated for demolition to make way for another office block, just what London needs.

Sadly, the Hammersmith Palais was on something of a comeback. For the past two years, it has been a lively and interesting venue after seven years during which there was not a single live show. Recently, it hosted the New Musical Express awards, and such diverse acts as Justin Timberlake, Robert Plant, Duran Duran and Tom Jones played the site over the last 24 months.

The Hammersmith Palais went up in 1919, and it has seen every musical style since. The tea dances of the 1920s and 1930s made it a popular place among all social classes (a young man asking a young lady to dance was never quite sure what accent would accept or decline his invitation – a great social leveler). During the Blitz, Londoners danced there as if the Luftwaffe was merely part of the percussion section. By the 1950s, rock and roll breathed more life into the old place.

Dave Gaydon, the promoter, explained why musicians and fans loved the Palais, “The stage runs the wrong way round, along the long wall rather than at the short end, so no one in the crowd feels a long way away. Bands love it because the stage is really big and they feel they can reach out and touch the audience.” With a capacity of only 2,000, it is much smaller than its reputation.

That fame extends beyond people who have actually been there. Joe Strummer’s “White Man in Hammersmith Palais,” written after an all-night reggae show he attended, could well be his best work. The lyrics and tune are churned out by garage bands from Seattle to Singapore by kids who’ve never been to Hammersmith. It resonates because the Hammersmith Palais, and places like it, aren’t buildings – they’re feelings. There’s a piece of it in deepest, darkest Missouri, Melbourne and Medellin.

Still, it hurts to see it go. Ray Davies of the Kinks wrote “Come Dancing” about the death of the Ilford Palais many years ago, and the lines remain apt. “The day they knocked down the palais, Part of my childhood died, just died.” Actually, it was more of an extended adolescence, but that doesn’t really scan. Still, some good will come of it. London will have more cubicles. Oh, goody.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

Home