Early dates
Paddy McAloon perfomed with Tony Coyle as part of a duo and sometime trio known as “The Doubles” and also as a band at University known as the “Happy Alberts”
(As “Avalon“)
1976/1977
Avalon line up was Tony Coyle, Vocals; Paddy McAloon, Guitar; Leo McCabe, Guitar and Bass; Roy McCalvey, Bass; Johnny Darmo, Drums
Sunday Nights, Bay Hotel, Cullercoats
Prudhoe Hospital
Unknown Dates
The earliest incarnation of Prefab Sprout was Paddy and Martin McAloon, with Mick Salmon on drums
St Leonards RC School Sixth Form Dinner Dance
“Ill-matched gigs were a feature of that post-punk era. I once saw Prefab Sprout supporting NWOBHM’s Samson in Durham, and Paddy McAloon was hit on the head by a cooking apple thrown by a local rock fan whom we just knew as ‘Reggie Mental’. ‘Reggie’s down the front’ someone muttered before the gig even started. ‘Has he got his cookers with him?’ ‘Yes’ At that point, we all knew that trouble was inevitable…” – Andy Darling quoted from a comment in the Guardan online.
Honeysuckle Pub on Coatsworth Road. Gateshead
“Saw The Eastside Torpedoes with Bren Healey, Toy Dolls, Prefab Sprout”
1980
Rixy’s Nightclub, Durham City
Castle Inn, Durham
Spectro Arts Lab Newcastle (Supporting Dem-Cox)
January 30th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
February 9th: Dunelm House, University of Durham, supporting the Revillos
February 16th: Dunelm House, University of Durham, supporting the Members
June 29th: Durham Domefest
July 2nd: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
October 8th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
October 15th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
October 22nd: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
October 25th: Kings Head, Stanley
November 4th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
November 18th : Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank Durham
November 19th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
November 25th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
December 6th : Langley Park St Joseph’s Parish Hall
December 11th: Durham Q Ball Club
December 16th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham
1981
March 27th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab, with Green Eyed Children (later to become Hurrah!)
March 28th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab
April: Tom Minney’s Party
May 7th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab
June 18th: Newcastle Balmbra’s, with Reptile House
July 21st: Jesmond, The Lonsdale
June 25th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham.
August 11th: Jesmond, The Lonsdale
September 7th: Annabels, Sunderland
October: Le Metro, Sunderland
October 24th: Green Machine Disco, Dunelm House, Durham University, supporting Punching Holes
1982
Wendy Smith started performing at live dates about February 1982
January 6th: Washington Biddick, Farm Arts Centre
August 26th: The Soul Kitchen, Newcastle
1983
March 17th: Night Moves, Glasgow, supporting Aztec Camera. The Kingfishers were also on the bill
March 18th: Edinburgh University, supporting Aztec Camera
March 24th: Newcastle Soul Cellar at Grey’s Club
March 31st: Newcastle Soul Cellar at Grey’s Club
April 16th: Darlington Arts Centre
June 29th: El Hacienda, Tiffany’s, Newcastle
Michael Salmon left the band about July 1983. A Spinal Tapesque succession of drummers followed, including Daniel James (pseudonym for Graham Lant), Steve Dolder, Louis Connolly, David Ruffy and others, with Graham Lant being employed on the Swoon recordings and some gigs around this period including El Hacienda and Liverpool Poly.
December 7th: Liverpool Polytechnic
December 12th: Monday Club, Newcastle
December 15th: Sunday Drum Club, Sunderland
December 19th: Birmingham Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Wednesday 21st December: HMV Hammersmith Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions
Thursday 22nd December (early and late shows): HMV Hammersmith Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions
1984
The “New Way of Life” Tour
January 4th: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) with Hurrah! and the Daintees
January 17th: Reading University
January 18th: Goldsmith College, London
January 19th: Kingston Polytechnic, London
By this time David Ruffy had joined as a regular drummer for live dates
January 20th: Kings College, London
January 21st: Brunel University
January 25th: Hacienda, Manchester with the Daintees
January 27th: Birmingham University
January 28th: Alcuin (University of York) with the Daintees
February 8th: Leicester Polytechnic (Arena) with the Daintees
February 9th: London Savoy at the Boston with Hurrah! and the Daintees
February 10th: Manchester University (announced at Hacienda gig, seems unlikely from geography of preceding and next shows)
February 11th: Portsmouth Polytechnic
February 13th: Upstairs at Erics, Bournemouth
February 24th: Night Moves, Glasgow
February 25th: Nite Club, Edinburgh
February 26th: Dance Factory Dundee
March 17th (broadcast): Saturday Live Session
All dates between April 27 to May 18 include Hurrah! as special guests.
March 1984: “Swoon” released. The lineup for successive dates included Virginia Astley of the Ravishing Beauties, with Neil Conti on drums.
UK and Ireland Tour:
April 27th: The Buttery, Trinity College, Dublin
April 28th: McMordie Hall, Queen’s University Belfast
May 3rd: Hacienda, Manchester
May 4th: Lancaster University
May 5th: Mountford Hall, Liverpool University
May 7th: Lyceum London
May 8th: Leadmill, Sheffield
May 9th: Victoria Hall, Hanley
May 10th: Polytechnic, Leeds
May 12th: Essex University Students’ Union
May 13th: Studio, Bristol
May 14th: Upstairs at Eric’s, Bournemouth
May 15th: Rock City, Nottingham
May 16th: Birmingham Odeon
May 17th: Mayfair, Newcastle
May 19th: University, East Anglia
German Tour:
May 21st: Cooky’s, Frankfurt
May 22nd: Luxor, Koln
May 23rd: Musiktheater Bad, Hannover
May 24th: KIR, Hamburg
May 25th: Odeon, Munster
May 26th: Loft im Metropol, Berlin
May 27th: Alter Bahnhof, Hof, Germany
May 28th: Media-Werkstatt, Stuttgart
Festival Dates:
May 31st: Pallieterhall Lier, Belgium
June 1st: Brielpoort, Deinze, Belgium
July 27-29th: Elephant Fayre, Port Eliot Estate, Cornwall
1985
The “Great Escape” Tour:
June 1985: “Steve McQueen” released. Virginia Astley left the live lineup at this point, being replaced by Michael Graves, and Kevin Armstrong joined on guitar, leading to a much harder edged rock sound.
July 16th: Triangle Arts Centre, Birmingham
July 17th: Manchester International
July 18th: Leeds Warehouse
July 19th: Porterhouse, Retford
July 20th: Leadmill, Sheffield
July 21st: Underground, Croydon
July 22nd: Dominion Theatre, London
July 27th: Saturday Live Session
August 7th (Broadcast 23rd October): Hold Tight, Alton Towers
August 18th: John Peel Session, Maida Vale
August 23rd (Broadcast): Bliss Channel 4
August 24th (Broadcast): Graham Bannerman Session
Piccadilly Radio Session around this date – referenced in Acrylic Daze Fanzine.
The “Two Wheels Good” tour:
Kevin Armstrong had left the live lineup by this point but was not replaced. Wendy was absent for a considerable number of early dates, between at least October 19th and 31st. She had laryngitis. Dates where she was confirmed absent are noted below, noting she was pretty much certainly absent for the dates in between! Hurrah! were almost certainly the support throughout: noted in a couple of places were they were confirmed as playing.
UK Tour:
October 17th: Ritzy, Aberdeen
October 18th: Dundee University
October 19th: Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow (without Wendy who was sick)
October 21st: Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (switched from Coasters, and without Wendy who was sick)
October 22nd: Newcastle City Hall (without Wendy who was sick)
October 23rd: Rock City Nottingham (without Wendy who was sick)
October 24th: Leicester University (without Wendy who was sick)
October 26th: Salford University (without Wendy who was sick)
October 27th: Liverpool Mountford Hall (without Wendy who was sick)
October 28th: Powerhouse, Birmingham (without Wendy who was sick)
October 29th: Sheffield University (without Wendy who was sick)
October 30th: Victoria Hall, Hanley
October 31st: Warwick University (without Wendy who was sick)
November 2nd: Riley Smith Hall, University of Leeds
November 3rd: Norwich LEA with Hurrah!
November 4th: Oxford (may have been rearranged to the 15th)
November 6th: Guildhall, Portsmouth
November 7th: Cardiff University with Hurrah!
November 8th: Gloucester Arts College
November 9th: Essex University
November 11th: Top Rank, Brighton
November 12th: Studio, Bristol
November 13th: Exeter
November 14th: Coliseum, St Austell, Cornwall
November 15th: Apollo, Oxford
November 16th: University of Reading
November 18th: Hammersmith Palais
European Tour:
December 2nd: Alabamahalle, Munich, Germany
December 3rd: Lyon, Salle Moliere, France
December 5th: Eldorado, Paris (Moved from Le Palace)
December 6th: Rouen-Exo 7, France
December 8th: Vredenburg Hall, Utrecht, Holland
December 9th: Noordersingel, Borgerhout, Belgium
December 10th (broadcast): Old Grey Whistle Test
December 11th: Mannheim, Germany
December 12th: Frankfurt,Germany
December 13th: Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany
December 15th: Errol’s, Gothenburg, Sweden
December 16th: Circus, Oslo, Norway
December 18th: Ghetto, Stockholm, Sweden
1986
January 31st: ‘Red Wedge Tour’, Newcastle City Hall
February 8th (Broadcast): The Tube Channel 4
February 18th: Milan Rolling Stone, Italy
February 20th: Camelot, Bari, Italy
February 21st: Teatrotenda Partenope,Naples, Italy
February 22nd: Rome, Italy
February 24th: Padova, Italy
February 25th: Bologna, Italy
February 26th: Teatro Tenda, Florence, Italy
February 27th: (originally scheduled for the 17th, but snow prevented the equipment from arriving): Teatro Colosseo, Torino, Italy
March 5th: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Gary Hughes joined the line up for the Japanese dates, standing in for Michael Graves who was not available.
July 2nd: Kousei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan
July 7th: Osaka, Japan
1988
July 4th: KCRW Interview with brief solo performance
1989
January: Midem Festival, Cannes, France
February 19th: Brixton Academy (broadcast March 19th)
March 1st (Broadcast): The Hippodrome Show
1990
August 1990: “Jordan the Comeback” released. Joining the core band of Paddy, Martin, Wendy and Neil for the tour were Jess Bailey on keyboards, Paul Harvey on guitar, and Karlos Edwards on percussion.
UK Tour:
October 5th: Portsmouth Guildhall
October 6th: Birmingham AVLC
October 7th: Cardiff, St. Davids Hall
October 9th: Cambridge Corn Exchange
October 10th: Bradford, St George’s Hall
October 12th: Edinburgh Playhouse
October 13th: Barrowland Ballroom,Glasgow
October 14th: Newcastle City Hall
October 15th: Sheffield City Hall
October 17th: Manchester Apollo
October 18th: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
October 19th: Liverpool Royal Court
October 21st: Oxford Apollo
October 22nd: HMV Hammersmith Odeon , London, with Trash Can Sinatras
October 23rd: HMV Hammersmith Odeon , London, with Trash Can Sinatras
European Tour:
November 14th: Amsterdam
November 16th: Nighttown Rotterdam
November 18th: Modena, Italy
November 19th: Teatro Olimpico, Rome
November 20th: Teatro Orfeo, Milan, Italy
November 22nd: Montpellier, France
November 23rd: Palau d’Esports de Montjuic, Barcelona, Spain
November 24th: Pabellon de Real Madrid, Madrid
November 26th: Lyon, France
November 27th: La Cigale, Paris
November 28th: La Cigale, Paris
November 30th: Vooruit, Gent, Belgium
December 2nd: Copenhagen, Denmark
December 4th: Rockgarden, Gothenberg, Sweden
December 5th: Daily’s Melody, Stockholm, Sweden
December 6th: Kjellern Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway
December 8th: Belfast
December 9th: Dublin, The Point Depot
1991
February 5th: BBC2 Late show performance.
March 16th: Ricard Festival, le Zenith, Paris
September 24th (Broadcast October 20th): “An Eye on the Music” , Paddy McAloon with Jimmy Webb
2000
The 2000 tour saw Wendy leave the band, and a stripped down line up with Jess Bailey on keyboards joining the three remaining core members.
March 30th: Nottingham Royal Centre
March 31st: Bristol Colston Hall
April 1st: Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick
April 3rd: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall
April 4th: Philharmonic Hall Liverpool
April 5th: Corn Exchange, Cambridge
April 6th: Southampton Guildhall
April 8th: Newcastle City Hall
April 9th: Leeds Town and Country Club
April 11th: Manchester Bridgewater Hall
April 12th: London Shepherds Bush Empire
April 13th: London Shepherds Bush Empire
April 15th: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Eire
April 16th: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Eire
June 10th: Fleadh Festival, Finsbury Park, London
2007
December: PTA Fundraiser
