REVIEW: Van Dike Plymouth book review

There are many revered nightclubs and bars that have been celebrated for a historic performance or night of celebration from years past. I’m thinking of The 100 Club/ The Marquee London, Rock City Nottingham, Hacienda Manchester or even The Birdcage Portsmouth, to name but a few.

Add to this list VanDike Plymouth. Detailing from 1968 – 1980 are 2 stunningly detailed books and 2 like wise equality fascinating brochures chronicling live gigs that shook the walls of the venue between these years. As you can imagine every man and his dog not only attended the gigs but also played within the squalid walls. There is a tireless list of everyone who features in the books on their eBay page, to name drop some of the bands featured are: Abba, Adam And The Ants, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, Love, Mighty Baby, Rolling Stone, Sly and the Family Stone, XTC and Zoot Money.

The books are hardback make the grazing experience even more compelling, first published in 2018 this new book devotes the first 68 of its 240 pages to entirely new material on the VAN DIKE CLUB itself featuring dozens of illustrations and hitherto unpublished photos, notably from young Plymouth photographers Chris Davis and Pete Martin. Of the photos adorning the books there’s some outstanding moments, a demon like Keith Emerson straddling his Hammond organ like he’s some bucking bronco, double drum kitted Nick Mason of Pink Floyd waist deep in psych, Eric Clapton looking cool in green sweatshirt plain in Derek and the Dominoes, The Sex Pistols looking demonized and ready to cause as much mayhem as possible, Paul Rodgers from Free looking as cool as ever, these selections only scratch the surface of the content available in the book, most of the shots are in colour which is even more pleasing to see.

There’s a tireless array of gig posters, flyers, complete gig guide, personal reviews and expounding’s on gigs attended by fans and attendees alike, personal tape recordings and details of the recordings that came to fruition, along with the 2 brochures that are as equally jam packed full of content, this easily equals anything detailed of any venue every assembled. The quality of all the content in these selections are of unbelievable quality considering the age of the content, the rich vibrant type faces from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s are eye catching especially an Afro clad lady in vision of a poster featuring Pink Floyd, John Martyn and The Moody Blues, another poster looks like the side of Princess Leia with another stella line up of acts featuring including Caravan, Mott The Hoople and Status Quo with a Bio Tapestry type drawing displaying Can, Roxy Music and Genesis.

Whilst some might see artists of this genre only playing the likes of Wembley Stadium, its very easy to forget its venues like VanDike that gave these bands the wings to take flight and reach the lofty peaks they attained to. These are must purchases for any lover of music, no matter the genre.

Van Dike Plymouth books and brochures can be purchased via the following link