John Peel Wiki

Changes to the look of John Peel Wiki will take place in the near future due to a new skin being rolled out over Oct/Nov across Wikia. Please see the Wikia Staff Blog for further details. On this site, the changes will affect the navigation from the left menu, as well as introduce a fixed page width with narrower content space. Please be patient while adjustments are made for the switch to the new system.

UPDATE: As the change is now in force for some users, I have switched the navigation to the simplified one for the new system. Please check Navigation in the Help section if you can't find things. I also initially made small adjustments to the front page layout, but have now reverted to the old look until all users are on the new system.

COUNTDOWN: Just a reminder for people still using Monaco that the final switch to the new skin is due on Nov. 3. After that, it will no longer be offered as an option. Sorry. Nothing to do with me.

Steve W

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John Peel Wiki
"People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington" - John Peel
Site of Mothers, 2009-08-08

Site of Mothers, High St. Erdington, 8th August 2009. (Mothers was above both shops)

In the late 1960s, John Peel was a regular compere at Mothers club in Erdington, Birmingham, which ran for three years to 1971 and hosted many of the top bands of the era. It was perhaps best known as one of the two venues used for the live sections of the Pink Floyd album Ummagumma. Peel, who was at the 1969-04-27 gig, described the band in his Disc & Music Echo review as sounding like "cries of dying galaxies lost in sheer corridors of time and space" - earning him his first Pseuds Corner entry in Private Eye. In a 1976 interview, Peel cited the Pink Floyd Mothers gig as one of his top two involving the band (the other was in Hyde Park in 1968). [1]

In 1997, Peel contributed a foreword to the book "Mothers, The Home of Good Sounds 1968 - 1971" by Kevin Duffy (Birmingham Library Services).

Peel at Mothers[]

The list below was initially compiled from the International Times online archive and Marmalade Skies monthly pages (see numbered references). All other listed dates (without numbered references) are sourced solely from Kevin Duffy's "Mothers, The Home Of Good Sounds, 1968-1971", which was also used to confirm other dates. All dates can also be found on the Gigography page, where possible clashes with other events are noted.

1968

June 23: Tyrannosaurus Rex [2] [3] – advertised, but club didn’t open until Aug 9.

Sept 15: Tyrannosaurus Rex ("make it to Mothers!") [4]

Sept 28: Keef Harley, East Of Eden

Oct 5: Eclection, Ron Gessin

Nov 3: Joe Cocker [5]

Nov 17: Family

Nov 24: Jethro Tull [6]

Dec 15: The Nice [7]

Dec 22: Ten Years After [8] [9]

Dec 24: Family, Action [10]

Dec 26: Chicken Shack, Tea & Symphony [11]

Dec 31: Jethro Tull, Savoy Brown, Bakerloo Blues Line [12]

1969

Jan 12: Pink Floyd

Jan 19: Who

Jan 26: Nice

Feb 8: Moby Grape. Group Therapy, Giant (US all-nighter)

Feb 23: Fleetwood Mac

Mar 2: Chicken Shack [13]

Mar 9: Spooky Tooth [14]

Mar 23: Crazy World Of Arthur Brown [15] [16]

Mar 30: Country Joe & The Fish [17] [18]

Apr 6: Fairport Convention, Eclection

Apr 13: Fleetwood Mac [19]

Apr 20: Blodwyn Pig, Doctor K [20]

Apr 27: Pink Floyd (see introduction above)

May 4: Principal Edwards Magic Theatre, Blonde On Blonde

May 18: Steppenwolf

May 25: Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum, Pete Brown’s Battered Ornaments

May 31: John Fahey [21]

June 7: Procol Harum [22]

June 14: Deep Purple, Group Therapy [23]

June 29: Jon Hiseman’s Colosseum

July 5: Liverpool Scene, Keef Harley

July 12: Marsha Hunt

July 19: Who

Nov 8: John Drummer Band, Cressida

Dec 26: Groundhogs

1970

Jan 9: John Peel (no listed band)

Jan 23: Medicine Head

Feb 6: Black Sabbath

Feb 20: Siren

Mar 6: Medicine Head

Mar 20: Forest

Apr 3: Asgard

Apr 17: David Symonds, Stackwaddy, Vision Workshop Lights

May 1: Conchise

May 15: John Peel (no listed band)

May 29: John Peel (no listed band)

See Also[]

Links[]