The Hammersmith Odeon became one of rock music’s most storied rooms, and fans still use that name decades after it disappeared from the building’s marquee.
The Art Deco venue opened in West London in 1932 as the 3,487-seat Gaumont Palace cinema and became the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962, just as British pop was exploding. The Beatles soon played 40 performances there, David Bowie retired Ziggy Stardust at the theater in 1973, and Bruce Springsteen made his first concert appearance outside North America there in 1975.
Queen’s Christmas Eve 1975 concert became a landmark BBC broadcast, Kate Bush ended her 1979 Tour of Life there before returning for a 22-show residency in 2014, and Motörhead turned the venue’s name into the title of No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. The marquee now reads Eventim Apollo, but the building’s long list of historic performances has kept its Hammersmith Odeon identity alive among musicians and fans.