Composers of the West End Walk
Composers of the West End Walk
Sat, Sep 3, 11:00
Piccadilly Circus • London
£20
A History Of Rock & Pop In the West End
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4 week series, 4 walking tours. The most comprehensive history of rock & pop in the West End ever presented by a London tour guide.
About this event
SPECIAL EVENTBRITE OFFER - BOOK 4 TOURS FOR THE PRICE OF 3
Usual price £15 per tour – book the whole series for £45 per person.
Across four Monday nights in May or August 2022, covering four different routes, London tour guide Adam Scott-Goulding will unfold the history of rock’n’roll in the West End of London.
Sixty years of amazing music plus… tales of drunkenness and cruelty, the gangsters of the music biz, the fashion and the drugs… with 400 years of London history for a backdrop.
Beginning in Soho with the origin story of the British music business we will cover everything from punk to psychedelia to Britpop, as well as all the roots musics – folk, blues and jazz.
The series takes place on four consective Wednesday Nights in August 2021…
9th May & 1st August 7pm Rock’n’Roll Soho – Meet Tottenham Court Road Tube (Exit 1)
16th May & 8th August 7pm Rock’n’Roll Covent Garden & The West End – Meet Tottenham Court Road Tube (Exit 1) 7pm (1900)
23rd May & 15th August 7pm Rock’n’Roll Marylebone & Fitzrovia – Meet Baker Street Tube (by the statue of Sherlock Holmes) 7pm (1900)
30th May & 22nd August 7pm Rock’n’Roll Mayfair, Piccadilly & More Soho – Meet Bond Street Tube (Marylebone Lane Exit by Disney Store – north side of Oxford Street)
Places are strictly limited, so booking is essential.
About Your Guide
Adam curates and presents 24 different London Music Tours – the most comprehensive programme of music history walks on offer in London. His repertoire covers all periods from the 1500’s onwards all takes in all musical genres.
All tours are available to book as private tours in both walking tour & virtual tour formats
Adam has been leading tours with London Walks for 16 years, is a qualified Westminster Guide and a visiting lecturer in tour guiding at the University of Westminster.
Praise For Adam’s London Music Tours in 2020 & 2021…
★★★★★ “Colourful, dramatic and delivered in style” Katherine G, Tripadvisor January 2021
★★★★★ “Hugely informative and entertaining” Christopher M, Tripadvisor January 2021
★★★★★ “Warm, witty and welcoming” Steven W, Google January 2021
★★★★★ “What Adam doesn’t know about music isn’t worth knowing” Mr&MrsT Google, June 2020
WALK 1 - ROCK'N'ROLL SOHO
From the origin story of rock and pop in the UK to Britpop – this walk is the seminal Rock’n’Roll London tour.
We’ll take in the Rolling Stones first gig and Jimi Hendrix’s last. We’ll chase the ghosts of legendary venues. From coffee to cocaine we’ll look at the drugs that fuelled the music. We’ll catch David Bowie on the cusp of international superstardom and Marianne Faithfull in the heroin fogged aftermath of her first fame. The Who will smash the place up, Eric Clapton will walk away from stardom at the age of 20 and we’ll witness the birth of Led Zeppelin.
Skiffle, blues, folk and jazz are the roots musics on the bill. Soho is the stage – and with Soho comes four centuries-worth of tales of drunkenness and cruelty.
The Playlist Includes…
David Bowie
The Who
Jimi Hendrix
Marianne Faithful
The Beatles
Oasis
Queen
The Sex Pistols
Themes:
50’s Rock’n’Roll Roots
60s R&B
70s Punk
90s Britpop
West End History 1660s- Present Day
Tour ends near Oxford Circus/ Tottenham Court Tube
WALK 2 – ROCK'N'ROLL COVENT GARDEN & THE WEST END
Along the roote of this Rock’n’Roll Walk… the Stones began to roll, Bob Marley touched the world, the Kinks punched and kicked their way to notoriety and Bob Dylan vied with The Beatles in the invention of the pop music video. There’s rich pop pickings in this part of London.
The backdrop to this walk is 400 years of entertainment history.
We’ll go… in the footstep of David Bowie during his years of obscurity… to John Lennon’s last British gig… to the tiny cellar where Paul Simon regrouped from commercial failure… and we’ll rummage in the gentrified ruins of Denmark Street.
The Playlist Includes…
The Rolling Stones
The Kinks
The Beatles
Paul Simon
Sandy Denny
Pink Floyd
Bob Marley
The Clash
John Lennon
Bob Dylan
Themes:
The drug culture
60s Psychedelia & Rock
70s Punk
Theatre History 1660s – Present Day
Tour ends near Charing Cross/Covent Garden Tube
WALK 3 – ROCK'N'ROLL MARYLEBONE & FITZROVIA
This edition is the Beatle-heavy extravaganza. No part of London is more associated with the Fab Four than Marylebone. They lived here, they wrote here, they filmed here. We’ll track their Cuban-heeled bootprints through the first explosion of unprecedented pop fame to their first faltering steps after the death of their manager Brian Epstein.
The Fabs are top of the bill, but the supporting cast for this walk isn’t too bad either. We’ve got the pre-fame Pink Floyd in their original London stomping ground. There’s Dylan’s first British gig way back in 1962. And then there’s the glorious old BBC in Portland Place – we’ll round-up the records they banned, the birth and death of Radio One and the scandals that have enveloped the corporation in recent years.
The Playlist Includes…
The Beatles
Pink Floyd
Bob Dylan
Cream
Themes:
The drug culture
60s Psychedelia & Rock
Censorship & the arts
Celebrity & fame
London History 1660s – Present Day
Tour ends near Goodge Street/Warren Street Tube
WALK 4 – ROCK'N'ROLL MAYFAIR, PICCADILLY & MORE SOHO
On this episode of the Rock’n’Roll London Walk we will see… The most expensive square on the English Monopoly board – Mayfair £400 – where Jimi Hendrix made his home.
The most celebrated theatre in British showbiz – The London Palladium – where the Rolling Stones made a stand against the old guard.
The most luxurious department store – Liberty’s – where David Bowie conceived his most famous look.
The most stylish street in the world of gentlemen’s style – Savile Row – where The Beatles played their final gig.
The most famous junction in the UK – Piccadilly Circus – where The Beatles launched themselves on international stardom.
With such a cast of characters, it’s all bound to end up in court – so we’ll visit the spot where Jagger, Johnny Rotten and two of The Clash were put on trial in the 60s and 70s.
The Playlist Includes…
The Beatles
David Bowie
Jimi Hendrix
The Clash
The Rolling Stones
The Small Faces
Themes:
60s Rock
70’s Glam Rock
70s Punk
Crime & Punishment
60s & 70s fashion
West End History 1710’s – Present Day
Tour ends near Piccadilly Circus Tube