Soho/Covent Garden: London’s Entertainment District Music Walks
London Rock Tour: Original Rock Music Walking Tours
Why travel with a copycat, when you can go with the ORIGINAL London Rock Tour!
SOHO & COVENT GARDEN
Explore the heart of the Entertainment District! From ‘Tin Pan Alley,’ music publishers’ row, to the epicentre of the Swingin’ 60s. Fashion and tunes! Here is a French Quarter of London, the beatnik coffee houses, skiffle and jazz clubs of the 1950s; here are the ‘basement and attic’ venues for 60s folkies, R&B-ers and bluesmen, 70s punks, where New Wave bands started, where hip hop first hit the UK, where the ‘2nd British Invasion’ 80s bands became the New Romantics and the Goths. This area has grown from plague pits to gin palaces to supper clubs to peep shows to posh boutiques. Here is the capital’s Chinatown and hub for the LBGTQ community. This area has connections to just about every band/artist one can think of – Beatles, Stones, Kinks, Bowie, Queen, The Who, Cliff, Paul Simon, Duran Duran, Judy Garland, Josephine Baker, Yes, Boy George, Jimi Hendrix, Guns N Roses to name a few.
Think you know Soho? If we had a penny for every time a Londoner said, “I’ve walked by there so many times, but I never knew…” Join us and peel back a few layers of heritage, 1920s through 1980s and beyond!
This 2 hour walk will take you on a musical adventure through London Rock Music history. What’s your genre?! Your talented London Rock Tour walking guide will tailor the walk to the ‘playlist’ of participants, along a fun and knowledgeable musical journey of the capital.
EARLY YEARS — bebop, wartime, skiffle, jazz & blues roots…clubs, theatres, management offices, coffee houses…Flamingo, Cousins, Ronnie Scott’s, 2ii, Roundhouse…
BEATLES & CLASSIC ROCK — Here are Paul’s offices, theatre once owned by all the Fab Four, early gig sites, Brian Epstein had offices in this area…see where the Stones ‘were born,’ and early gig sites, venues like The Marquee…Stones, Elton John, Alexis Corner, Ken Coyler, The Kinks, Led Zep, Georgie Fame, Zoot Money, The Who, The Animals, The Pretty Things, Jimi Hendrix…
PROG — YES, Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, Gentle Giant, King Crimson, ELP, Genesis, Soft Machine, Caravan, Renaissance, SuperTramp; YES’s first meetings took place and where the band first rehearsed; recording studios…
PUNK & NEW WAVE — Clubs like The Roxy, The Vortex, St Moritz…The Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Jam, Joy Division, The Vibrators, The Buzzcocks, Poly Styrene and X Ray Spex, The Slits, Siouxsie & The Banshees, The Damned, The Jam…U2, Elvis Costello, Warren Zevon, The GoGos, Boy George & Culture Club, Depche Mode, Spandau Ballet, George Michael & Wham!, Pulp, Dire Straits, Duran Duran, Eurythmics, Bowie…
MEETING POINT: Denmark Street, next to St Giles in the Field Church, 60 St Giles High St, London WC2H 8LG
SUGGESTED ITINERARY FOR PRIVATE DEPARTURE
This is a custom tour available for private departures, subject to guide availability — tailor made to best suit your interests — Why travel with a copycat, when you can go with the ORIGINAL London Rock Tour!
To make a reservation send your date request to: [email protected]
Email: [email protected]