Venue in Sutton Coldfield attached to the equally famous golf course, The Belfry hosted Led Zeppelin amongst others.
25 September 1967 – The Penny Peep Show and Sight & Sound
9 January 1967 – Lemon Lime and The Way of Life
6 February 1967 – Normie Rowe & The Playboys, Richard Henry & The Timebox and Monopoly
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Yes Zeppelin played a great and if memory serves very long set at the Belfry (20/3/1971) as part of a short back to the clubs type tour. Also saw Rory Gallagher there around the same time just after Lou Martin joined on keyboard.
I have the only known Bootleg Of Zeppelin at The Belfry, it’s pretty good..I was too young to go, but sounds like it was wonderful.
Didn’t The Who play there.
The WHO did play there, after I saw them live I went from sounds ok to totally hooked
Bowie played the belfry 26th feb 72,did you go?. would love to hear some feedback.Too young(12) at the time myself.
I was in the support band that night.
Was there another Belfry at Wishaw? I’ve got these dates from Birmingham Evening Mail:
13 March 1967 – Manchester Playboys with The New Way of Life (Danny King joins on bass to replace Tony Clarkson and John Bonham on drums)
27 March 1967 – The Moody Blues with The Gods and Exception
24 April 1967 – The Move, The Monopoly and Orange Pips
We used to go to the Curry nights at the Belfry. I was most put out that even though the curry was included in the entrance price I never got a reduction for being veggie and therefore being unable to eat anything. Veggies were thin on the ground in the sixties and seventies. I remember seeing the Who there. They were every bit as good live as their records. The Belfry was always considered to be a more upmarket night club. Happy days!
Saw The Who there. I can probably dig into my ‘records’ and give you the exact date later. One of the best live concerts I ever saw. No-one could beat The Who live.
Saw The Kinks at the Belfry and Long John Baldry, the kinks were brilliant. Well remember the curry, served up on paper plates as I recall it ended up everywhere, on the floor up the curtains.I quite liked it, curry it was a new food to us kids back then. Happy days.
I met my wife at the Belfry 40 plus years ago 29/04/1972 .it was an amazing place and started after Mothers(ex Carlton Ballroom) closed in 71 .The good thing about it was that you could meet up with many of the bands who played there .Fairport Convention , Raymond Froggatt (Monopoly)The Move ,Dana , Barbara Dixon , Stone the Crows , Rory Gallagher , Lindisfarne Ten years After , Eric Burdon and War , Matthews Southern Comfort , Mungo Jerry and many others .My friend from work ,Denny Ball (Rackhams) used to be there all the time and depped with The Move ,when Trevor Burton broke his arm while fooling around in the country with Traffic .He also joined The Ace Kefford Stand when Ace left The Move .You could also find people like Georgie Fame playing until the early hours in the Belfry Bar(all wood panelled) I remember one of the DJs was John Ford (Doc Holiday )and I remember he used to sell Formula one T Shirts at Silverstone. When Lindisfarne played I remember bringing in crates of Newcastle Brown Ale through the toilet window as they were told this was a no no .One of my friends used to help run the bar and I think was one of the first people to do Buy 1 Get one Free.(on Brown and Mild).Ahh THOSE WERE THE DAYS
Hi John
Only just found this site —thank you for reminding me of how great The Belfry was in the 70’s
I am going through a bad patch at the moment and thinking about seeing Free and actually speaking to Paul Rogers has really helped me.
Denver
Certainly a different time… saw Elton in the 70s at Mothers on Erdington High Street Birmingham, 5/- to get in which seemed an awful lot at the time ha!, we stood only four or five feet from his small piano…crazy…. Caught Led Zep at the Odeon in town and also at the Rainbow suite….Jethro Tull at the town hall………….
juicy lucy and a prog rock band capablity brown played there 1972/3 i think and remember lindisfarne
Saw The Kinks,Free, and Traffic at the Belfry in the 70,s great times
I saw an eclectic mix at the Belfry The Faces ,Status Quo ,The kinks, War ,minus Eric Burdon missing in hospital. Also The Hollies Lou Christie David Bowie Julie Felix Ginger Bakers Air Force The Moody Blues Raymond Froggett The Groundhogs Tommy Roe The Wild Angels and I must have forgotten a few
I also saw Ginger Baker’s Airforce circa 1971. I remember trekking there from Sutton Coldfield town with a group of friends, including Dave ‘Whistler’ and Bob Broomhead. We got there early and ended up helping the roadies carry the gear onto the stage. I remember carrying drum cases marked ‘Cream’ having being stamped from Ginger’s time with Eric and Jack in Cream. The place was packed for the concert but I still got my place right in front of Ginger! The stage and audience where basically on one level and very closely knit.What a memory!!
Does anyone have any pics/memorabilia from The Kinks show in 1970 please? PAID
I was with a band callles Crow and we supported Groundhogs and another date with Skid Row featuring a young Gary Moore
Don’t suppose by any chance anyones got some photos?
Seen Raymond Froggett, Lindisfarne and good memories of Curved Air with singer Sonja Kristina. Belfry, Wishaw. 1971, 1972 Very happy Days, remember they opened the concert room doors after the concert and you could walk out into the grounds.
been to hundreds of concerts over the years but led zeppelin at the belfry 1971 has always been my favourite. other concerts I attended at the belfry 1971 were rory Gallagher, stone the crows, groundhogs, Nazereth, and for some reason marmalade.
Kossoff, Kirke, Tetsu, Rabbit appeared at the Belfry in 1972. I went with my mate Harry Gough who lived at Water Orton; my home town was Bedworth. Harry and I were Civil Engineering students at Loughborough between 1971 -1974.
I played at the Belfry with my band with Manfred Mann when Mike D’abo was their singer. I wondered if there was any chance anyone might have a date or other information about this. We did play later when I think the Gods were supposed to be the main act but they did not turn up. I think the band I was with at the time was called Hymm Outlett.
I also played with another Birmingham based band a bit later called Genesis the lead guitarist of which was Bob Hewitt. Does anyone know what happened to Bob or this band?
I played there in a band called Heaven with
The Move and Geno Washington and the Ram Jam band.
Circa 1969.
From the summer 1970 on wards I saw The Who, The Kinks (four times and I still have dates and set lists)Moody Blues twice, Mott The Hoople, Roxy Music, Free. Hollies, Tremeloes,Jack Bruce, Status Quo,Led Zeppelin,Wild Angels(Roy Wood guested ) ,War definitely with Eric Burdon,and I have the poster. and as there were never tickets I can’t remember any more.
I saw the Who there and in the scrum caught one of Moon’s sticks. A fabulous night it was, when the Who were great.
I also played there (on drums) with a band called Linda & the Blend and we were support to chart toppers, the Herd (who were actually very, very good and had all the image). The lead player was Peter Frampton, ‘Face of ’69’ I think.
P.S. Does anyone know the date of the Who concert? I think it was ’66/7.
The Belfry was hard to get to but worth it, especially the side bar where the local ‘names’ drank. I remember having a brief chat with Roy Wood who was there with his blonde girlfriend.
Aug 8 1970. It was when Mothers had moved to the Belfry and was known as Stepmothers.
Just found this site which brought back great memories of curry nights … Cat Stevens there all sitting on the floor. Also Kinks and Roxy Music … Virginia Plane had just been released.
I saw Roxy Music on the same night as previous comment. Virginia Plane had just been released and I thought at the time that this unknown group would go places. Lovely early summer evening and in the interval you could sit in the hotel grounds that had a large ornamental pool. Great times!
Just listening to the Peter Green tribute concert and reminded me of their two great gigs back there in late 60’s/early 70’s.
Really good venue , not too big and you had to dress nicely to get in. One night remember three girls in their long dresses leaning on the railing on the bridge over the pond (during the break) when the railing collapsed! Wish I’d had a camera to remember the girls and frogs all scrambling out of the pond! Am sure the gig carried on regardless. Great times!
Bonzo dog were there as well remember Move, Zeppelin, Raymond Froggatt many times,etc etc.
Went to the belfry in the 70s seen Gary glitter slade lindersfarne all on the same night those was the days then went to greasy lils onthe A5 fora slap up breakfast at 3am 🤪