the round and roundhouse

between 1967 and 1975 this was the place to see alternative grungy hippy bands, mc5, the pink fairies and proto punks like the new york dolls and hawkwind. a sweaty smoky stygian space with a crescent gallery curving around the central stage and thin cast iron columns shafting the overhead gloom. I got my first blotter here and grinned all the way home. the roundhouse was built in 1847 by r.b. dockwray with a central turntable and surrounding berths for trains. it became an arts centre in the mid 1960s after almost a century as a gin warehouse, and remains so after many refurbishments have cleaned its mouth out with soap. very much under new management.