The Odeon Cinema in Clerk Street was opened as the New Victoria in 1930, and was designed by architects WE Trent & JW Jordan for Gaumont.  The cinema hosted many memorable gigs bookended almost exactly by the years 1970-1981. (Including my first ever gig, the Madness matinee show in December 1980!).  Sadly now empty.


1970  20th March Deep Purple                                                                                           1973  7th April Roxy Music
1973  23rd May Wings                                                                                                         1973  16th & 17th November Cliff Richard (4 shows in total)

                                    

 

 

1974  8th February Wizzard (2 shows)

 

1974  19th April Deep Purple, support band Elf


1974  29th May Black Sabbath

                                                                                           

 

1974  4th June Lou Reed (This show may have been cancelled, can anyone confirm)
1974  21st & 22nd October Roxy Music
1974  15th November  Golden Earing, support band Lynard Skynard
1974  19th November Sparks
1974  13th December Rod Stewart & The Faces
1976  23rd June Slik
1976  25th September Be Bop Deluxe

 

                                                                              

 

1977  30th September Dr Feelgood, support band Mink DeVille

 

 
1977  14th November Thin Lizzy, support band The Radiators From Space         1977 15th November Gary Glitter, support band Rosetta Stone

 

1977  6th December The Boomtown Rats


1978  5th May UK

                                                                                                                

 

1978  28th May AC/DC, support band British Lions


1978  31st May Blue Oyster Cult, support band Japan

 


1978  22nd June The Boomtown Rats, support from local band Matt Vinyl & The Decorators

                     

                                                                                                                                           1978  30th June UFO

 


1978  30th August Patti Smith

 


1978  13th September Blondie, support band The Boyfriends


1978  25th September Brand X, special guest Peter Hammill 

                                      

 

1978  10th October Wishbone Ash                                                                                     1978  11th October Steel Pulse, support band China Street

 


1978  23rd October Buzzcocks

 


1978  27th October Whitesnake, support band Magnum


1978  31st October AC/DC    

                                   

                                                                                                                                        1978  7th November Judas Priest 

 

                                                

 
                                                                                                                                         1978  16th November The Clash

 


1978  1st December John Martyn

                                                                                      

 

1978  13th December Rory Gallagher

                                                                              

1978  22nd December The Rezillos, support band The Undertones & Chou Parrot 

             

 

                                                                                                                                                1979  23rd January The Kinks

                                                    

                                                                                                                                               1979  8th February UFO

 

1979  20th February Herbie Hancock

                                                                               

 

1979  21st February Steve Hillage 

                 

                                                                                                                                                 1979  5th March Bad Company

 

 

 

 1979  19th March Elton John


1979  26th March David Essex                                                                                           1979  27th March Motorhead

                                                                                              

 

1979  30th March Frankie Miller                                                                                          1979  16th April Thin Lizzy

                               

 

1979  27th April JJ Burnel (The Stranglers)                                                                    1979  28th April Rush


1979  2nd May John Miles, support band Bandit

 

            

                                                                                                                                         1979  7th May Dennis Brown & The Professionals, support Rudy Thomas 

                                          

                                                                                                                                                 1979  12th May The Tubes

 

 

 

 

1979  19th May Renaissance                                                                                              1979  23rd, 24th, 25th & 26th May Status Quo 

                                  
                                                                                                                                             1979  1st June The Police, support band The Cramps
 

1979  9th June The Who
Thank you to David for his memories below of The Who at the Odeon
"In the foyer they had a lot of stands advertising Quadrophenia and the Kids are Alright movie which had just been released. We managed to nick a couple of album covers and hung around outside the back of the theatre in the hope of getting them autographed. We saw John "Rabbit" Bundrick the keyboard player, and my mate swears we saw Kenney Jones as well. We did find out however that the band were staying at the Caledonian Hotel in Lothian Road". 

"So we went down to the hotel and met Roger Daltrey, Bill Curbishley the band's manager and Harvey Goldsmith the promoter. Roger signed the album sleeves. They asked us whether we had been to the recent outdoor rock festival at Loch Lomond, which we had. They seemed very interested in what we thought of the event. We wondered whether they might have been contemplating playing a festival that summer. They didn't as a matter of fact. Interestingly though, their very next gig after the Odeon was Wembley Stadium".

The gig was amazing!

 

1979  21st June Steve Hackett 
                                  
                                                                                                        
 
1979  29th June Dave Edmunds Rockpile (rescheduled from 6th May) 
 
                     
1979  29th & 30th July Ian Dury & The Blockheads  
                                                                                                                                              1979  7th August The Skids, support band The Berlin Blondes                                      1979  15th September Louden Wainright                                                                          1979  20th September XTC, support band Yachts                                                           1979  5th October The Boomtown Rats

1979  6th October Buzzcocks, support band Joy Division
Thank you to Steve for this Pete Shelley signed ticket
 
Thank you to ken for his memories of The Buzzcocks gig
 
   Pete Shelley and the guys were as loud, punchy and frantic as I'd expected but I remember being surprised at the high quality of the sound and the tight musicianship.I guess by that time they were honed by a few years on the touring circuit.


1979  17th October Whitesnake

 

1979  17th November Hawkwind


1979  21st November Motorhead


1979  22nd November John Martyn    

                            

                                                                                                                                        1979  29th November Talking Heads, support bands A Certain Ratio & Section 25

         Thank you to Ken for his memories of the Talking Heads gig                                                                                                                                           "Talking Heads put on a funky but spooky performance...David Byrne was in full-on sweating, awkward psycho/geek mode and hardly ever looked up at the audience!"

                                                                                                                                                1979  11th December Leonard Cohen

 

                       Leonard Cohen at the Edinburgh Odeon Photo © Alan Wilson                  

1979  15th December Wings

 

 

1980  1st & 2nd January Blondie
1980  16th January UFO
                                                                                                      

 1980  19th & 20th January The Clash, support Josef K & Mikey Dread


1980  23rd January Wishbone Ash


1980  27th January The Ramones, support band The Boys                                           

 

1980  5th February Robin Trower   

                                    

                                                                                                                                                1980  6th February Iggy Pop, support band The Psychedelic Furs                                1980  16th February Spyro Gyra 
                                                                                                                                          1980  22nd February The Tourists

 


1980  1st March Peter Gabriel

 

                                                                                                                                                1980  5th March Gillan

                                                                                                   

 

1980  9th March Nazareth                                                                                                    1980  19th March Judas Priest

 

 

 

1980  28th March Stiff Little Fingers, support band Another Pretty Face
                          
                                                                                                                  
 
1980  8th April Gerry Rafferty                                                                                              1980  23rd April Genesis                                                                                                     1980  8th May Eric Clapton, support Chas & Dave


1980  16th May Black Sabbath  

                                               

                                                  

                                                                                                                                                 1980  21st May Suzi Quatro                                                                                                1980  22nd May The Average White Band                                                                        1980  30th May The Undertones, support band The Moondogs                                     1980  1st June Saxon, support band Tygers Of Pan Tang
                                                                                                          

 

1980  3rd June Joan Armatrading  

              

                                                                                                                                                 1980  6th June Whitesnake

                                                                                                

 

1980  6th August Ted Nugent

                                                                                             

 

1980  15th September Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard Of Ozz

 


1980  20th September Rick Wakeman

                                                                             

 

1980  26th September Rory Gallagher And His Band

             

                                                                                                                                                   1980  17th October UFO  

 

                                        

                                                                                                                                                1980  23rd October Ian Gillan

                                                                                                   

 

1980  3rd November Motorhead 

                                           

                                                                                                                                                1980  4th November Tangerine Dream

1980  9th November John Martyn                                                                                        1980  11th November OMD                                                                                                 1980  29th November Hazel O'Connor, support band Duran Duran 
1980
  5th December The Damned, support band The Straps


1980  8th December Ultravox
1980  9th December Madness (2 shows Matinee & Evening)                                         1980  12th December Hawkwind                                                                                       1980  13th December Saxon

 


1980  16th December Steeleye Span                                                                                1980  22nd December Hawkwind

                                                                                     

 

1981  14th January The Boomtown Rats                                                                           1981  20th January April Wine


1981  22nd January Slade                                                                                                   1981  20th February Krokus

 

                              

                                                                                                                                                1981  9th March Iron Maiden

                                                                                              

 

1981  21st April Girlschool

                                                                                                  

 

1981  29th April Echo & The Bunnymen
1981  1st May Tygers Of Pan Tang                                                                                    1981  12th May Japan                                                                                                 1981  16th May The Cure

 

 

 


 

1981  23rd May Stiff Little Fingers,  support band The Wall 

              

                                                                                                                                                1981  28th May Wishbone Ash                                                                                            1981  29th May Toyah, support band Positive Noise


1981  6th June The Teardrop Explodes                                                                             1981  16th June The Tubes

 

 


1981  1st July Diamond Head

                                                                                            

 

1981  6th July Duran Duran                                                                                                 1981  19th July Def Leppard

                                                                                               

 

1981  28th August Simple Minds                                                                                        1981  5th September Michael Schenker Group


1981  16th September Hazel O'Connor                                                                              1981  19th September Nazareth

                                                                                        

 

1981  26th September Ultravox
1981  27th September Sad Cafe                                                                                     1981  9th October Gary Glitter

                                                                                           

 

1981  10th October Hawkwind

 


1981  7th November Gillan

                                                                                                 

 

1981  13th November The Damned, support band The Anti Nowhere League(release date of the Friday 13th EP).


1981  26th November The Cure

 

 



 

 

 

 

1981  29th November The Pretenders

1981  9th December Slade
1981  16th December Nils Lofgren, support band Grand Prix  (possibly the last gig at this venue?)
 
Thank you to Alan for the Photo