Midnight Court,

Lyceum Ballroom,

London

Do you have any memories of Midnight Court?

We would love to hear from you !

Middle Earth died and a new club had opened in the West End.

This was Midnight Court held at The Lyceum Ballroom in the Strand.

It was an all night event and distinctly commercial. Our first encounter was in April 1969 and it didn't bode well to see bouncers in dj's on the doors.

It did have a large dance floor where the great favourite was Credence Clearwater’s " Keep on Chooglin", but gone was that feeling of a secretive underground meeting place. The gilt and red plush were all incongruous and tripping just exaggerated it's plastic atmosphere, together with the fact that the lightshows had been dropped.

The old UFO crowd didn't go there and acid was taken less. Many people now wore fringed buckskin and snakeskin and the colourful clothes were almost gone. People took speed and barbiturates to watch bands which included Caravan, Blossom Toes, Glass Menagerie, The Nice, Andromeda, Pretty Things and Steppenwolf.

These events fizzled out but with none of the sense of loss felt for UFO and Middle Earth.

Submitted by Rusty Cat Sneazin - March 2002

Just a short hello remembering the amazing enlightening aspects of the Midnight Court, the culture the vibes and not least the sounds and clothes.

It changed my life, meeting or should I say being magnetised by the Kensington Market set, with philosophy of these middle class pioneers of the mind, learning about Leary, Ginsburg etc was very exciting for a lost Tottenham speed freak.

Thank you "Angel" long golden flowing hair (a he), spots from ripping up the stars. John the Bog of Hawkwind fame (credits on one of their albums).

Many more, nearly a year of mostly heaven, never forget what I can remember!. What are these people doing now? ,probably best not to know am still a dreamer.

It was a great dream, a positive creative time and as the famous farmer at Woodstock
said, God Bless you all,I love you for it.

Thanks Good luck
Dave (52) ouch! - August 2002

Always held on a friday night, long queues round the block, acid openly sold for I0bob [50pence new money]!

Brilliant line-ups most weeks with at least 6-8 bands. We had some smashing times there especially when the Bonzo Dog Do Da band came on at 3 a.m. one morning!

Some of the bands I saw were:

Yes....Opal Butterfly.....Serendipity.....East of Eden.....Clark-Hutchinson.....Deep Purple....Steppenwolf.... The Nice....Black Sabbath.....Velvet Opera....Atomic Rooster....Made in Sweden....Uriah Heep....and many many more....

If we didnt like that weeks particular line-up we made our way over to The Temple in nearby Wardour Street where in a basement of the Whiskey A Go Go was London's seediest psychedelic club!!!!

Again featuring superb line-ups such as Mott The Hoople....Pax...Ginger...Black...The Kult (our faves!)...Raddna Krishna Temple.....and tons more....with people shooting up in the toilets it was a joy to go!

I at that time was in a local psych band (Basildon in Essex) called Mynd Protektion, playing long fuzzed out stuff 25 mins long!!!!

We also had an audtion for Decca who hated us!!!! I later in the mid-80s I teamed up with a bloke calling himself the Dream Maker to run a psych club in londons west end called The Taste Experience.

I now run one of Europe's top sixties fanzines "A Letter From Home"

Dave - December 2002

Had a drink in the pub and scored some speed. Queued up as per normal feeling quite normal.

Watched the straights depart (all these old people in their 50's!!) and in we went. I went to see Curved Air but by the time I got in the speed had kicked in.

I spent the whole night in the corridor talking to anyone and everyone.

One poor soul who suffered was one Pete Watts from Mott The Hoople. I think I must have talked to him for rather a long time.

I have a distinct memory of hearing the opening bars of Curved Air's set and telling him that they were the reason I had come.

Same for him, in fact he was on their guest list. We didn't see them. I talked all the way through.

He humoured me while I told him about just about every Mott gig I'd seen plus stories from friends who had seen them.

He was a perfect gentleman.

Submitted by Oldgit - June 2003

I attended John Peels Midnight Court at The Strand Ballroom fairly regularily (after the demise of UFO / Middle Earth ).

I saw a whole load of prominent bands there inc. Steppenwolf, John Mayall's Blues Band, Tyranosaurus Rex, Taste, Colosseum and many others.

I think the lightshow for T Rex may have been Lightshow Androide ?

Richard Smith - October 2020

Pooterland Note regarding the above memory:

Androide Lightshow although visiting London several times did not do any shows in the UK. The Light Show mentioned was almost certainly Crab Nebula who were the in house Light Show.