Gigs at Exeter

For many Exeter alumni, the bands they saw in the Great Hall, The Pit or the Lemmy provide some of the greatest university memories. Over the years we have been lucky enough to hosts bands such as The Who, Pink Floyd, U2, Radiohead and Bob Marley.

While people reminisce about the gigs they attended and bands they saw, we've never had a concert list before. Now, thanks to alumni Alan Cottee (Geography, 1979) and Paul O'Carroll (English, History and Sociology, 1983), we are starting to build one. Thanks to their memories and diaries from the late seventies and early eighties we have begun a list.

If you have anything to add or comments to make, then please contact us on alumni@exeter.ac.uk and we will update the list. We'd also love to add any of your concert memories to this page.

Here's a little from Alan about why he started the list.

"To introduce myself…

"My name is Alan Cottee, I studied Geography at Exeter between September 1976 and July 1979. I then started a PGCE at Exeter through to 1980 but abandoned this early after deciding teaching wasn’t for me, subsequently having a career in I.T. until early retirement. To assist the alumni team in the development of a historical university concert listing, I have delved into my memories of music and gigs at Exeter during my time there; aided by my wife, friends, faded memories, and sometimes diaries!

"Sometime in the brief interlude between lockdowns, I was in a pub with two friends discussing bands we’d seen, as you do, and I commented that we’d had many good bands at the University of Exeter. This led me, during lockdown in March 2021 to start compiling a list of the bands that had been to Exeter while I was there from September 1976 to June 1980. Early on I found that a complete list didn’t exist in one place on the internet, so it took a fair bit of research, using my memories, the internet, and picking the brains, and diaries of my wife Jacky and friends who were at Exeter with me. We came up with a list that may or may not be entirely accurate, but hopefully it’s close."

"If you can add any detail to the list then please do, I’d like to fill in the gaps. I enjoyed putting this together no matter how sad or nerdy it may seem, but then it was lockdown, and I am retired."

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Paul got in touch after we did a call-out for U2 memories on behalf of the band's researchers.

"I was a fresher in 1980 and, looking back now, it’s hard to appreciate the wealth of live music we were offered because at the time I took it completely for granted that you could see bands like Echo and the Bunnymen, Tenpole Tudor, Aswad and U2 in the space of a few weeks. U2 were beginning to make some waves at the time running up to their first gig at Exeter; I had heard about them on the radio and their first single, 11 O’clock Tick Tock, was on the jukebox in Cornwall House. The concert took place in ‘The Pit’, in Cornwall House on 7 October and U2 were supported by Midnight & the Lemonboys, members of whom went on to form other bands such as Peter and the Test Tube Babies and Transvision Vamp. Publicity for the gig was through this flyer, a montage of reviews of the ‘Boy’ album from the music press. Entry was £1.25."

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Memories

"The early sixties were a great time to be social secretary. Live music was still the vogue, headline bands were still prepared to do one night stands at prices ordinary students could afford. At a recent visit to the University not one poster advertised a live band just disc jockeys hosting discos. This was the age of the Beatles, the Stones, the Mersey Sound and a whole host of bands eager to make their fortunes and thus play at student dances. It was when the austere fifties were replaced by a new liberalisation especially among the young, the start of the hippy movement, and open air festivals.

The lists of artists and acts we booked reflects in a small way the pop groups and entertainment acts of the time. The following, whilst not comprehensive, gives a good idea of the diversity and quality of the acts that I booked: George Melly, David Frost, Lance Percival, Paddy Roberts, Johnny Dankworth,Ted Heath, Victor Sylvester, Don Usher, Alex Welch Big Band, Acker Bilk, Bruce Turner, Ray Ellington, Alexis Korner, Cyril Davis, Long John Baldry, Sister Rosetta Tharpe,The Barron Knights, The Undertakers, Unit 4 + 2, The Nashville Teens, The Magill 5, Marty Wilde, The Tornados, Brian Poole and the Tremeloes, The Graham Bond Organisation, The Who, Ray Ellington, David Kossoff. There is a story to go with virtually all of these but I will highlight just a few..." 

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- From Mike Mutter's unfinished autobiography (Economics and Politics, 1965), Social Secretary January 1964 - June 1965

“For a lot of people the music you listen to in your teens and early twenties forms the backdrop of what you were doing and, to an extent, who you were at the time and it sticks with you. That’s certainly the case for me and there are bands that I saw at Exeter - such as Dr Feelgood, Echo and the Bunnymen, Elvis Costello, Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Squeeze, The Undertones and U2  - whose songs resonated with me and that I will still listen to or go see play live now some 40 years later. (BTW although my children might say otherwise I’m not a complete dinosaur and do also listen to music from the 21st century!)

“Whilst a student I signed up as one of the stage crew - we were known as ‘humpers’ as I recall - to help put together and then dismantle the set before and after gigs. If you were on ‘earlies’ you’d meet outside the Great Hall in the afternoon (I was studying economic history so my diary wasn’t too troubled with lectures!) then help unload the truck and, if you were lucky, get to listen to the sound check. ‘Lates’ involved packing everything up after the show and finishing in the middle of the night but there was a chance you might meet the band. (I remember having a beer with Jim Kerr after The Simple Minds gig in 1982 and also going to a party with Mari Wilson and the Wilsations). You were paid for your shift in either cash or tickets but everyone preferred tickets because if the show was a sell-out you could sell your spares at a higher price. No one likes touts but as an impoverished student it was a useful way to make a few quid and top up your grant!"

- David Hacon (Economic and Social History, 1983)

"I attended Exeter University from 1966 till 1970 and remember the following... or so I believe! 

"The first gig I went to was in 1966 with Geno Washington and the Ram Jam Band followed closely by the excellent Cliff Bennett and the Rebelrousers. In 1968 I remember a superb gig by Aynsley Dunbar Retaliation who also appeared at the Quay Club in 1969 supported oddly by Mud.

 "1969 was a special year with gigs by Free, just after releasing Alright Now. Next were Fairport Convention with Sandy Denny and Martin Lamble, the drummer, who was killed in a road accident soon after. Later that year Savoy Brown appeared without their then vocalist Chris Youlden who had the flu and played a complete blues set without any of their then album material. What they sounded like that night can be found on the live side of their album Blues Matter recorded in Leicester. Uriah Heep were a new super group who had just got together and they played a rather turgid gig later that year.

"I also remember that in late 1968 or early 1969 Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac were booked to appear but had to be cancelled as we did not sell enough tickets to make it worthwhile. Luckily I was able to see them in 1969 at the Bath Blues Festival. I missed the Who concert but could still hear it nearly a mile away on the night!

"One other story is that in 1990 I met a former social secretary of the university during an interview process who told me that in 1967 he had the bad judgement to turn Robert Stigwood down when he offered him gigs by the Bee Gees, who he called the new Beatles, and an up and coming guitar hero from USA known as Jimi Hendix. He realised soon after that a career in pop music was probably not for him when they both went to number 1.

"And one further story, not music related, was that in 1968 Enoch Powell came to give a speech in the Great Hall soon after his 'rivers of blood speech' in Birmingham. Exeter was a very conservative and sleepy Uni in those days but as soon as he appeared he was booed and heckled so that he had to abandon his appearance." 

Gordon Bye (Geography, 1970)

"In my second year (1980/81) I was part of the team that did the catering for the bands that came to  do gigs at the Great Hall and the Pit. I can remember the U2 concert in the Pit really well, as I was asked to interview the band! I still dine out on that story! 

"I can't remember where (if anywhere) it was recorded. I remember asking them about their band name and being surprised that one of them (not Bono) was wearing a studded dog's collar! My lasting memory of that gig was the flag of the boy in the army helmet which was their backdrop. I bought the cassette immediately after the gig, I was so impressed!

"The article in the Alumni magazine said that tickets cost £1.25, but my recollection was that it cost 20p - if other gigs were costing £1.60 (Two Tone) in the Great Hall, you wouldn't be paying £1.25 for a Sunday night gig in the Pit!!!

"I have a complete set of autographs from The Jam somewhere and I distinctly remember the Original Mirrors support band, as I bought their album - which I still have!!! I presume I got The Jam's autographs backstage, but it was a long time ago! I know I had them stuck to my wall in Halls.

"I remember doing the catering for Slade, as they came from my neck of the woods (Wolverhampton) and for Gary Glitter (not proud of that one) and I have a tee shirt which I was given by Toots! Other notable gigs include the 2Tone one, with The Specials, Selector and Madness, all on one bill - that was crazy."

Deborah Castle nee Harris (French and German, 1981)

‌‌"I was University of Exeter’s Guild of Student’s last ever Entertainments Officer. An elected part-time post on the Executive Committee.

"I took over in January 1989 when Emily S. resigned. My Dad had just died 10 weeks earlier. This was at the start of my 3^rd year, but I dropped out as I just didn’t want to study. I was already involved with the Guild as a student rep. And wonderfully I was asked to take on the Entertainments role. I wasn’t actually a student at the time. I was signing on. But I had this fantastic opportunity to have role while I recovered – it was an opportunity to have a “gap half year”. Not many comprehensive school kids did that sort of thing before starting university in the 1980s.

"I shared the Entertainments Office with the charming Geoff Campbell, the Entertainments Manager who was the full-time member of staff. I loved sharing an office with him. And I got first dibs on free records sent to us. Twelve-inch white label of “Info Freako” by Jesus Jones – well quite frankly, I don’t mind if I do!"

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- Jonathan Dearth (Education (Primary) & Maths, 1991), former Guild Entertainments Officer.