London Calling! Depending on your age, this is either a chance to wallow in glorious nostalgia, or grab an ‘education’ in Rock history, it’s legends and myths, as your informed guide takes you on a magical, musical journey. Have those lyrics come alive and make the London connection. Over 100 iconic rock sites and locations enlivened with gossip, trivia and background information! This is a combination of the morning and afternoon tours. The morning section covers Rock landmarks in bohemian Soho and the north London neighbourhoods of Camden Town, Kings Cross, Holloway and Islington. In Soho and nearby ‘Tin Pan Alley’, Beatle fans can thrill at seeing Macca’s Golden Disc covered office, the flat where he wrote ‘Yesterday’, their Saville theatre, the NEMS office, early club and gig sites and their fan club offices. Here, you’ll see clubs, pubs and studios where future rock gods like Zepplin, The Stones, The Who, Pink Floyd, Queen and Hendrix first strutted their stuff and laid down songs that three-generations of rock fans have since toe-tapped, head-shook, shower-sung or a fresh air-guitar to! Legendary names like UFO, Marquee, 100 Club, Roxy and Ronnie Scott’s. North of the city’s centre you’ll visit trendy Camden Town and Islington of Madness, and ‘Brit Pop’ fame; seeing the studios where Pink Floyd cut ‘The Wall’ and found their school-kids chorus, where Amy Winehouse ended her short and sad life, where the Clash made ‘London Calling’ and Queen’s ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. You’ll see where U2’s career got off to an inauspicious start, where Hendrix burnt his first guitar.
Add to this where Jimmy Page cut his first disc in the fateful home studio where Joe Meek (the Telstar man) also killed his landlady. Gig sites and clubs include the legendary Klooks Kleek, the Rainbow, Roundhouse and Hope and Anchor. Other sites covered on this fantabulous tour relate to the ‘British Invasion’ bands and progressive rockers. There’s also Hendrix, John and Yoko, Rod Stewart, Bonzo Do Doh Dah Band, Graham Bond, Elton John, The Clash, Alexis Corner, Cream, Bob Marley, Oasis, Blur, the Sex Pistols, Bob Dylan and more modern icons such as Amy Winehouse and Coldplay.
For lunch, you can either be dropped at the Hard Rock Café (not included in the cost) , where you’ve time to visit their impressive memorabilia vault and eat, or have lunch near our afternoon departure point.
The afternoon section begins at 2:00pm, covering Chelsea, Kensington, Holland Park, Notting Hill Gate, St John’s Wood, Marylebone and the West End. Touring sites that made the ‘sixties swinging’! See the boutiques, pubs and clubs that made a decade and inspired hundreds of well-known lyrics. For Beatle fans, there’s Brian Epstein’s flat, Ringo’s Kings Road apartment, John and Yoko’s first home, Paul’s current London home, the studio where the St Pepper cover was shot, Apple Office and boutique, EMI, the rooftop and where the ‘Mop Tops’ the played their last ever live gig and lots more other Beatle-related landmarks, and YES you do get to walk across the famed Abbey Road Crossing! The tour also covers where Geldof conceived Band Aid and Live Aid and where and how the Sex Pistols was formed, the Clash’s neighbourhood and cradle of reggae. There are heaps of sites to please Pink Floyd and Queen fans. We pass the homes of Freddie Mercury, Bowie, Bolan, Jimmy Page, Macca and Clapton to name a few and see where Jimi Hendrix died. You never know who you might see in passing! For Stones fans there’s the legendary Edith Grove apartment, several of Jagger’s houses, the ‘Sticky Fingers’ restaurant. All this plus studios, record company offices, gig sites, secluded hotels favoured by the stars, album cover locations and story after story, from your informed rock guide.
Highlights
· Small group on 16-seat mini-bus
· Specialist Live guide with themed music soundtrack
· Seeing parts of historic London tourists seldom see
· Over 200 significant rock and pop heritage sites
· The famed Abbey Road Crossing and Beatle’s sites
· Music genres include rock n roll, blues, psychedelic, progressive, punk, pub rock, Brit-pop and the current scene.
