London: Sex, Drugs and Rock'n'Roll

Rock music was born and raised in the tiny backstreets and alleys of Soho. It’s here you find basement clubs, rehearsal rooms, pubs and recording studios where the bands made their first tentative steps towards stardom. You’ll see and hear about the Marquee, Knuckles, 100 Club, the Roxy, Ronnie Scott’s Club, The Vortx, the Scene and legendary UFO. Then, there are the studios like Trident and De Lane Lea where Queen, Genesis, Bowie, Bolan and others made seminal albums. Beatle fans will enjoy seeing Macca’s Golden Disc covered office, the flat where he wrote ‘Yesterday’, early show sites, the theatre they owned, the early NEMS office, where Ringo brought his famed Ludwig kit, and the only flat shared by all Fab Four. On ‘Tin Pan Alley’, you’ll hear about the Stone’s first recording session, Elton’s ‘Woolworth’ albums and how Bowie lived in a caravan. You’ll see where the Sex Pistols rehearsed and lived, where Bob Dylan played his first London gig, and where Hendrix and Phil Lynott, amongst many past and present guitar heroes, bought and continue to buy their instruments.

Among many seminal locations on this tour, you’ll see where Bill Haley launched rock’n’roll onto London and where Cliff Richard, Tommy Steel, Marty Wilde, Billy Fury and others followed his lead; you’ll see where Pink Floyd cut ‘The Wall’ and Joy Division made ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’; where U2 played one of their first London gigs in front of 8 people; where the Sex Pistols made ‘Nevermind…’ and Clash ‘London Calling’; where Hendrix first burnt his guitar and Floyd premiered DSOM. You’ll see where Jimmy Page cut his first disc in the home studio where Joe Meek (the ‘Telstar’ man) killed his landlady, and where Elton John tried to commit suicide. You’ll see apartments and homes of Bob Marley, Pete Townsend, Elton, the Sex Pistols, Ritchie Blackmore, Bowie, Syd Barrett, the Gallagher brothers, and where Amy Winehouse ended her short and problem-filled life.

The tour culminates with time at Abbey Road where you'll walk in the footsteps of the Fab Four across that famed crosswalk!