On 1 September 1977, a pale youth billed as a ‘snarling punk prophet’ glowered at Penzance Promenade.

To some, Johnny Rotten was the figurehead of a thrillingly primitive three-chord revolution. To others, he was a symbol of vulgarity and nihilism. Whatever your opinion, most would agree it was deeply surprising that the carrot-topped contrarian – at the sneering peak of his infamy – was playing a gig in a tiny venue in Penzance.

Or was it?

Penzance, way down in the wild, wild west, was miles away from the established gig circuit.  Bands coming down in the Transit from ‘up country’ could flip the c90 cassette multiple times and still not catch sight of the Tamar.

But, still, they came. And continue to come. Rock gods. Pop stars. Ravers. Beat poets. And, of course, the crème-de-la-spot-crème of the punk generation. Something about our artistic, bohemian town draws the world’s top talent to our tiny clubs and pubs in droves.

We thought it was time someone put together a comprehensive document – a ‘rockument’, if you will – of Penzance’s musical past and present. So, without further ado, as Joey Ramone almost certainly said in one small but perfectly formed Penzance venue, ‘Hey! Ho! Let’s go!’

Are You Ready to (Progressive) Rock?

The legendary centre of Penzance’s live scene – arguably Cornwall’s scene – for a good decade and a half was the Winter Gardens, just off the Promenade on Alexandra Road. (The Thai Moon restaurant currently sits above the former venue.)

Proprietor John Adams began to build a following for the venue in the early to mid-Sixties, capitalising on the beat and folk booms. In terms of big names, things really hit their stride with the progressive rock movement. Jethro Tull, fronted by nimble flute maniac Ian Anderson, led the charge. They were followed by progressive geniuses Genesis and a band that clearly couldn’t say no to John – Yes.

This era of live gigs at the Winter Gardens (‘the Wints’ to its friends) culminated in not one but two performances by progressive/pop pioneers Queen. The first time they came as an up-and-coming support act in 1971. On their second outing, in 1974, Freddie and the boys were in their regal pomp, but still found time, remarkably, for the Wints and Penzance. This was, partly at least, because of gentleman John’s reputation for treating his travelling talent with such kindness and courtesy.

During this era, John also said ‘come down and see me sometime’ to Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel. And the boys did come down… and then refused to play because the stage was too small.

This, according to kernowbeat.co.uk, which has published a superb, detailed account of The Winter Gardens’ history, was the only band that John could recall refusing to play.

Your loss, chaps.

Enter Johnny and Joey    

If the venue was too small for Steve Harley, you wonder how other prog rock giants might have coped if the movement continued to grow. There are, after all, only so many capes and double-neck guitars you could fit on the Wints’ tiny stage. (And Rick Wakeman-esque ice shows were surely out of the question.)

So perhaps it was serendipity that a stripped-back musical genre ripped the doors off the music scene. One that needed nothing more than a modest stage and the brutal simplicity of three major chords.

Punk was arguably the greatest era for the Winter Gardens. The roll call of bands – both punk and younger sibling New Wave – that played in this era is staggering. The Stranglers, Elvis Costello, The Damned, the Vibrators, the Adverts, Sham 69, Buzzcocks, Wire, Wreckless Eric and Generation X, to name just a few.

Stateside came the Ramones, who, incidentally, also visited the Land’s End sign, captured in a surprisingly sweet photo of the rake-like rockers. Even Talking Heads showed up. (David Byrne, allegedly pulling up to the Wints with the line, ‘This Must Be the Place.’)

Oh, and then there was a little-known band called the S.P.O.T.S. This was actually a lot of known band called – in this iteration – ‘Sex Pistols on Tour Secretly’. The group was banned from many venues in the UK and was billed on a Winter Gardens poster, created by John Adams himself, as ‘A Mystery Band of International Repute.’

Social media groups reminiscing about the Winter Gardens report that the boys opened with Anarchy in the UK. Then, the power briefly cut out and the crowd picked up the iconic tune for Johnny, who was visibly moved. (Clearly, he wasn’t so demonic, after all.) Here’s some footage from the Sex Pistols at the Winter Gardens.

The after party, legend has it, was at the genteel Union Hotel in Chapel Street. This is a venue more typically known as the spot where Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar was first proclaimed. It could also, according to reports, claim to be the Penzance venue where the Sex Pistols threw chips at each other. Anarchy, indeed!

The gig and the Sex Pistols’ visit has gone down in Penzance history. In fact, for years to come, the town had a way-above-per-capita share of mohair jumpers and haircuts held up with sugar and water solution.

Handbags and Hawkwind

If the 1970s live scene in Penzance read like a discography of every band that mattered, the Eighties was a quieter affair. In its last few years before finally closing, the Wints did host Dexys Midnight Runners, UB40 and Jamie Wednesday, the precursors to Carter (The Unstoppable Sex Machine).

One Eighties live event that does deserve a namecheck is the Blowinghouse Fayre at the Princess May Recreation Ground. Hazy memories recall that in 1988, the local council was duped into believing this quaintly named show would feature parping brass bands.

What Penzance got instead was an invasion of dreadlocked crusties and the psychedelic / metal extravaganza of Hawkwind. The Silver Machine was in full throttle that night – strobe lights turned up to 11, alien dancers on podiums and a weird swirling noisescape that rocked Penzance into a new plane of consciousness.

Which, incidentally, looked a lot like Middle Earth with added clapped-out camper vans. Dotted across Penzance and congregating en masse in Long Rock, travellers gathered around fires and stayed for days, months and, in some cases, years.

The Biggest Little Rave in the UK

By the 1990s, samplers, turntables and vinyl had become the instruments of choice and DJs had emerged as the rockstars.

Just like the punk era, the rave era saw Penzance punch above its weight in superstar performances. And just as the Wints had become the venue of choice back in the Sixties and Seventies, so another small venue dominated the scene in the Nineties and dragged the world’s biggest DJs – and flagrant hedonists – into its orbit.

The Bosun’s Locker is now the site of an attractive little restaurant called The Boatshed, situated opposite Penzance docks.  But back in the Nineties and 2000s, when everywhere else was playing cheesy tunes, the venue was playing host to the progressive musical scene and serving up a tasting menu of DJ superstars. Think Jeremy Healy, DJ Yoda, Scratch Perverts, Dave Spenceley, co-founder of Love Riot Ry Spenceley, Mint Royale, Krafty Kuts and many more.

Again, the appearance of star talent in a small PZ venue was deliciously incongruous. One night, many of these DJ ledges were communing with mega crowds in ‘Beefa’ hotspots in San Antonio, the next getting up close and dancy with wild-eyed Cornish punters. And it wasn’t all DJs and dance, either. The Bosun’s also served up its fair share of legendary local guitar bands including Fukkas, Bugga, Sacrificial Three (who became the Sandy Acre Seven), Haven and Bogfiller.

 

It’s almost impossible to mention the Bosun’s to PZ folk of a certain age and not see them sigh and even get teary-eyed at the thought of this iconic venue. Speaking to former revellers, we gathered a few hazy tales of the dance floor. Some mentioned wading through crushed cans of Red Stripe. Others recalled the ever-present pea-souper of Marlboro Light smoke. Everyone talked about waking up the next morning with their shoes and jean bottoms covered in Bosun’s’ ‘disco mud’ (which insider info tells us had something to do with the varnish on the dancefloor).

Ah, those indeed were the days…

Bigger Venue, Massive Names

Meanwhile, the Nineties also saw some big-name gigs from guitar, bass and drum merchants. Much of this action happened a bit further up the road at a more spacious spot known variously as The Venue and Club 2K, now the site where Premier Inn lives.

The Fall played in the early 2000s. To be honest, though, lead singer and professional grump Mark E Smith spent most of the gig mumbling and interfering with his band’s instruments, like a curmudgeonly Captain Beefheart. Meanwhile, just checking that the kids were alright in PZ, punk survivors Sham 69 ‘Oi!’d’ their way into old punks’ hearts.

Oh, and then there was that gig by GZA from the Wu-Tang Clan. Yes, you heard that right. The star of New York’s legendary rap crew – and genius behind one of the genre’s greatest albums, Liquid Swords, flew in from Barcelona, as you do, to play Penzance’s The Venue. GZA was accompanied by ‘Wu-Tang Affiliates’ Dreddy Kruger and DJ Mathematics in a night that included bangers such as Duel of the Iron Mic and Living in the World Today.

Reviews at the time were ecstatic – and disbelieving. Things like this didn’t happen in Penzance.

Only they did – again and again.

Pretty Small, Decidedly Sweaty, Totally Magnificent

While the Venue had its moment, the story of live music in Penzance is predominantly (and thrillingly) about the smallest, unlikeliest venues attracting the biggest names. By the 2000s, it was the Studio Bar that picked up the Winter Gardens’ and Bosun’s’ mantle.

The venue was founded by Alex Rutherford, a sound engineer who, in a previous avatar, looked after the sound at Wimbledon. Accessed through an unassuming door in Bread Street, this higgledy-piggledy tucked-away venue had the vibe of a speakeasy.

But, from the early years of the Millennium and into the 2010s, a relentless lineup of local talent and up-country names made this the most well-known live gig secret in Penzance.

Some of the local ledges that played at the venue included singer songwriter Amy May, who later relocated to California, Thirteen Senses, Petite Debauche, Sinpusher, Small Town Doggers, Mine Miners, Jolly Roger, Work’us and Hanterhir.

In 2016, at a now-famous gig, Slaves was one of the biggest bands to play the venue. With thunderous riffs, Moe Tucker-esque stand-up drumming and the kind of shouty vibe PZ hadn’t heard since 1977, this was the spirit of punk reborn. Only with less gobbing and more perspiration, because the walls of this bijou sauna of rock ran with sweat.

The Slaves gig, incidentally, was no see-them-before-they-get-huge affair. The duo were already playing venues the size of Hall for Cornwall but, like so many, couldn’t resist a trip to the last town in the west.

And the live music pilgrimage to PZ continues…

The Live Scene in Penzance Today

In the mid 2020s, Penzance continues to deliver an aural smorgasbord of three-chord energy, funk-infused grooves and pub rock stalwarts.

The Farmers Arms in Causewayhead ploughs its own furrow of musical exploration, hosting an eclectic mix of talent. On any night, you might hear singer-songwriter Louella Jade Eke, post-punk industrial goth noise-makers Night Motor, or modern European folkists Pendans. Then there’s the Alabama 3. Continuing the PZ tradition of big names playing small venues, the group responsible for that famous The Sopranos theme song (‘Woke up this morning…’) headlined The Farmers on more than one occasion.

The Admiral Benbow in historic Chapel Street hosts Groove Lounge, billed as Penzance’s longest-running club night. With the Benbow’s nautical décor and piratey vibe, this night is an epic voyage to the deep, beating heart of funk, soul, jazz and Latin-inflected tunes.

The Lugger on the Promenade, just down the road from the old Wints, brings live gigs to the great outdoors. Watch and listen as names from the PZ scene play against the most iconic bay in the UK as a backdrop.

Meanwhile, the Crumb in Bread Street has become the natural heir to the Studio Bar, serving small plates of food and main courses of afro beats, soulful house and disco.

And Finally… the Acorn

One venue we’ve saved for last is Penzance’s The Acorn. While most venues rise and fall like the Mount’s Bay tides, the Acorn – a robust old granite chapel-turned-theatre-and-venue – is an enduring rock of the Penzance live music scene.

For years now, this gorgeous playhouse on Parade Street has hosted theatre, talks, comedy and some of the finest cover bands in the land.

It’s also hosted some bona fide rock and pop giants.

For instance, sardonic, surrealistic rockers Half Man Half Biscuit treated PZ to several hits – including this beauty, Joy Division Oven Gloves.

Nasal bard and punk original John Cooper Clarke chanted classic urban verses such as ‘Twat’, ‘Evidently Chickentown’ and ‘Kunk Fu International’

Other well-known acts who have played the venue include The Bluetones, John Otway and Newton Faulkner.

Oh, and in 2014 a guy called George Ezra rocked up. With his mellifluous, croony hit Budapest high in the charts, it was a coup for a mere 200 folk to cram into the venue and see a contemporary hitmaker well on the way to global stardom.

It was like Johnny in 1977 all over again.

Albeit with less snarling and fewer chip fights at the afterparty…

 

 Thanks to the following for their help with this article:

🎸 Cornwall-gig diehard Scott Abraham for a rundown of legendary live dates

🥁 Bosun’s proprietor Nigel Waller for pics and insider info

📸 Richard Prest and David Quixley for background information about images

To find out more about gigs in the progressive rock and punk era in Penzance, visit:

Kernow Beat!’s Winter Gardens page for a staggering archive and write-up of the Winter Gardens from the 1960s-1980s.

The Wints Gig Archive page on Facebook for personal reminiscences from People Who Were There at some legendary nights.

Finally, ‘PZ77: A Town, a Time, a Tribe’ by Penzance local boy and all-round Cornish prose and poetry-meister Simon Parker is THE definitive account of punk in Penzance.

 

We’ve mentioned only some of the venues hosting live gigs in Penzance today. You’ll also find more at our pub and bar listings page.

 

Photo credits:

Inside The Wints – Nicky Penrose and Kernow Beat!

Queen at The Wints – Karen Silverlock and Kernow Beat!

Wints Poster – The Wints Gig Archive Facebook page

Johnny Rotten –  Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Bosuns Locker photos – Nigel Waller

Slaves photo – Lee Trewhela

Hedluv & Passman – Old Bill Trevaskis