Great gigs at The Winter Gardens

The Malvern Winter Gardens regularly held gigs in the 1960s.

Through the 1960s, '70s and '80s, the old Malvern Winter Gardens was one of the few places in Worcestershire where you could see decent bands.

The venue hosted everyone from prog rockers to punks, and you entered down a set of stairs into a hall that had bars set at opposite ends of the same room.

To get a drink between the support act and the main band, you needed patience and good elbows!

Many well known names played there.

Memories

The main hall had an air of decaying grandeur, but was big enough to attract good names, and small enough to let the audience feel close to them.

That said, if you were small and at the back, you weren't likely to see much if the audience stood up - though in the days of prog rock crowds tended to sit down and listen, rather than jump around and rave.

Tell us your memories of the venue, and the bands that played there.

Here are some of the bands we know played there:

1965

Clifford T Ward was signed by John Peel's former manager

30 May 1965: Cliff Ward and the Cruisers - fronted by Clifford T Ward

6 June 1965: The Hollies

24 July 1965: Screaming Lord Sutch

1968

Marc Bolan bought the Old Rectory in Weston-under-Penyard

4 April 1968: The Drifters

24 August 1968: John Mayall and Ten Years After

September 1968: Tyrannosaurus Rex

7 September 1968: Geno Washington

1969

Deep Purple were formed in Hertford in 1968

1 July 1969: The Moody Blues

14 July 1969: Jethro Tull

1 September 1969: Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band

20 September 1969: Deep Purple + Taste

27 September 1969: Yes + Caravan

1970

Bill Ward, the Black Sabbath drummer, lived in Cradley, near Malvern

30 May 1970: Black Sabbath

1971

Hawkwind was briefly billed as Hawkwind Zoo

3 July 1971: Hawkwind

1972

It's said that Mott the Hoople influenced the look of bands like Kiss

14 August 1972: Derek And The Dominoes (Eric Clapton)

30 August 1972: Mott The Hoople

9 September 1972: Van Der Graaf Generator

1973

ELO performing on Top of the Pops in 1973

17 March 1973: E.L.O.

22 May 1973: Jethro Tull

24 November 1973: Procol Harum

1974

Steve Harley's first guitar was a Christmas gift from his parents.

18 January 1974: Thin Lizzy

5 June 1974: Cockney Rebel

1975

The Barclay James Harvest story began in the early 60s in Oldham

22 September 1975: Barclay James Harvest

1976

The Damned continue to this day to embody the punk ethic.

26 March 1976: The Damned

14 April 1976: Judas Priest

1977

AC/DC are still performing and now have spanned three decades.

24 January 1977: AC/DC

25 June 1977: The Jam

24 August 1977: Ultravox

6 September 1977: The Stranglers

1978

Siouxsie And the Banshees split after 20 years

19 September 1978: The Buzzocks

15 November 1978: Siouxsie and The Banshees

6 December 1978: The Undertones

1979

Generation X were named after the title of one of Billy's mum's books

3 February 1979: The Dammed + The Ruts

9 February 1979: Generation X (Billy Idol)

6 March 1979: Stiff Little Fingers

5 December 1979: Motorhead

1980

The Pretenders all originated from Hereford, except Chrissie Hynde

20 February 1980: The Pretenders + UB40

5 April 1980: Joy Division

10 May 1980: The Beat

1999

Ozzy Osbourne left Black Sabbath sometime in 1979

25 July 1999: The Fall

13 September 1999: Ozzy Osbourne