Rick Wakeman "Apollo synonymous with birth of rock 'n' roll", June 2004

In an interview about the closure of the Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto Rick says:

"The people who run Toronto somehow can't see that in the music business...there are no more than four, possibly five, venues in the entire world that are synonymous with the birth of rock 'n' roll,"

Tempus fugit (Herald, 5th March 2004)

"OUR tales of pop stars' excess in the hotels of Glasgow reminded Graham Reid, now in Sydney, of the time Noddy Holder of Slade was holding court in the bar at Glasgow's Marriott Hotel after a sell-out gig at the Apollo. The hotel's concierge was seen going up to Noddy and saying: "Mr Holder, it's about your early morning alarm call." Noddy broke off from his story-telling to dismiss him with a "Don't worry, I've booked one for eight". "Yes, Mr Holder," persisted the concierge, "It's eight o'clock now."

Born to be wild (Herald, 4 March 2004)

AH, the grand old days of the Glasgow Apollo, as recalled on nostalgia website glasgowapollo.com by Gerald Casale of American seventies new-wavers Devo.

"The crowd was wild and violent, but not as violent as the bouncers," Gerald reminisces. "When one Devo-tee was boosted up on to the high stage by his mates, two bouncers tackled him and beat the shit out of him in the wings while we played. I screamed over the microphone to make them stop, but it was useless. When we finished our set, they threatened to beat me up for complaining."

Sour note (Herald 11, November 2004)

OUR story about the Glasgow audience telling singer Peter Frampton to get on with it, reminded Mark Johnston of a night at the Apollo when the lead singer of a rock band did the usual rock-band-thing of dangling the microphone in front of a member of the audience to sing the next line. Unfortunately, he chose a Glaswegian who bellowed into the mike: "I paid twenty quid for this – so you ******* sing."

The law won, again (Herald, 28 July 2004)

"NOSTALGIA website glasgowapollo.com documents the Clash's gig in 1978 when the band, believing erroneously that it was the Apollo's last gig, was worried the bouncers would relish a final opportunity to batter local punk-rock fans. The gig was a tense affair, with the Clash repeatedly asking the warring factions to stop fighting in the stalls. Subsequently, Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon were arrested for being drunk and disorderly, along with numerous fans. Freed from overnight custody, they encountered dancer Lionel Blair in their hotel lobby. Upon hearing their sorry tale of violence and imprisonment, Lionel merely smiled, saying: ''Well, that's show business.''

Les McKeown remembers the Apollo in his autobiography "Shang-A-Lang"

"And so the tour opened in April with six nights in Scotland, the first at the Glasgow Apollo. The Scots Guards played bagpipes and drums up and down the aisles of the theatre, then there was bird song, for some reason, played through the speakers. Dave Eager announced us. We came on stage and stood, backs to the hysterical mob, while the word 'ALIVE' lit up the drum rostrum and the stage erupted into a rainbow of coloured lights. 'Bye Bye Baby' ended the show, not that anyone could hear it, and by then many of the fans had already left the theatre so that they could get a better position outside."

Heavy Metal Kids Remember the Apollo

Danny Peyronel of the HMK has been in touch with Apollomemories. Danny told us that, "We were recently up in Glasgow.....playing there for the first time in nearly 25 years and we all asked about it. Sorry it's gone....all the best with the site, which looks cool." Danny and the lads will feature more on the site soon.

BT Openworld People's Choice Award

Apollomemories has been voted in the top 500 of the BT awards. Despite only being in the running for a month you voted us up to 160th, beating off many official and well established websites.  Thanks folks we appreciate it a lot.

On the back of this we are going to have a go at the NME awards as well.  Please take five minutes to vote for us once again.  These awards are great and help add stories and memorabilia to the site which we can all enjoy.

OK So We Can't Win Them All!!

The following appeared in the Sunday Times on December 07,2003:

"By means of good old-fashioned journalistic sleuthing (otherwise known as bumping into some weirdo in a pub) we hear there may be plans afoot to sell off the renowned Barrowland ballroom in Glasgow's east end and redevelop the land as flats. This will bring an end to what many big acts describe as the "best rock venue in the world" — until, of course, their tour moves on to Sweden and they make the same claim about the Malmo Beatmuzic Halle or wherever.

It would be a pity if the Barrowland closed its doors, not because it's a great venue (you have to stand, which is barbaric, frankly) but because it would enfranchise new legions of misty-eyed sentimentalists hymning its vanished glory, as dreary old rock fans tend to.

Should you ever be in the mood to lose the will to live I'd recommend a peek at www.glasgowapollo.com, a website devoted to the long-demolished former "best rock venue in the world" (David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Deep Purple comments: "My Apollo memories are of that CRAZY stage!!").

So, if you don't want to spend the next decade listening to ageing hipsters mourn their lost youth, start a petition or write to your local MP (inconveniently, mine is George Galloway, who's rather tied up at the moment). The best rock venue in the world must survive!"

Pity they did not get a music fan to write this particular piece of copy!

Scotland v's Holland! - Big Phil Celebrates a Scotland Victory (ok so it was in 1978!!) - Update - 6 December

Check out a fantastic pic of Phil Lynott and Thin Lizzy in the "Who Played" section. This image was sent to us by a fan and unfortunately is shown without permission.

Right! We are told by one of our Apolloheads that the picture was taken by a company called Harry P Photography. Are you out there Harry?????

Further to this we have been contacted by Stewart Campbell, he took the photograph check out his website Campbell Photography, there are many great shots of the bands who played the Apollo.

Apollomemories Second Newsletter

We have emailed our second Newsletter to all our visitors who have registered on the Forums section.  This months edition features news, exclusive pictures and fans stories. There is even something for all you Glasgow Rangers fans out there!