It was 1973 and I was in Wax Records at the Junction in Southampton and Marc behind the counter was playing 'Sebastian'. I was blown away and couldn't wait for the album to come out. (see attached photo) CR played at Southampton Uni halls of residence on Sat 17th Nov 1973 .. the gig was advertised as a disco! I can't remember who the support was, probably one of the local bands, but when CR came on the power went off! They did the whole gig acoustically. Tickets cost 40p! They came back to Southampton on Thurs 17th Oct 1974 and by that time they were SH and CR and tickets were £1! supported on that gig by a band called 'Life' but I don't know anything about them and can't remember what they were like. Was anyone else at either of those gigs?

I saw Life support Black Sabbath at the Cov Theatre in '74.....about June.

I know the Coventry Lanchester Poly gig was recorded, as said recorder said so in a Facebook comment a few years ago. I asked to do a trade for a copy.....was totally ignored ! ! !
Also, Nektar's gig at the Roundhouse, Dec 73 was officially recorded. Was Cockney Rebel recorded that night too...........? ? ?

Hi, I first saw Cockney Rebel on Sun 2nd September 1973 at the Woodville Halls, Gravesend, Kent, opening for Suzi Quatro.
I haven't seen this show listed anywhere.

Life were the support for Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel at the Rainbow 1974.
They had just released an album called "Life After Death". The Keyboard player was Ian Gibbons (R.I.P.) who went on to play and record with The Kinks, Ian Hunter, Roger Chapman and many sessions.

I thought I'd re-emphasise this thread, firstly because it identifies the possible earliest gig of Cockney Rebel - as the 23rd July 1972.

Just a potential qualification. The Roundhouse has a capacity of just over 1500...In 2017 (years after Mr Raffles post) Steve stated that Cockney Rebel was born in The Three Tuns at Beckenham (my 'The Human Menagerie of Cockney Rebel' thread in the Welcome Forum refers). I've no idea what the capacity was of that pub for gigs.

Has anyone been to a gig there, back in the 70's? If it was a hundred or two (?), then my point is subjective/ academic. Steve confirmed that he once was paid £15 for hosting the Beckenham Arts Lab at the Three Tuns! He also said that Cockney Rebel continued gigging there for a while after Bowie & The Spiders had made it (1972).

'Starman' by David Bowie & The Spiders From Mars, was released in April 1972 but was a slow burn until the legendary TOTP July 1972 performance...From Steve's comments, one possible implication is that Cockney Rebel were already performing at The Three Tuns before early July 1972, when Starman went stratospheric.
.

Whatever, 1972 was definitely the year...

Further, diehard fans may enjoy reading all these posts, so good to have to hand, not forgetting new fans, that may fancy a bit of their own research...

P.S. johnoshea02's thread at the top of this General Discussion forum (closed), 41.6K views currently, is packed with relevant data and it's clear that Mr Raffles has huge early knowledge. We now have 23 July 1972 as the earliest date for a major venue (though the very earliest date for the band probably occurred in the first six months of 1972). We would need someone to respond that was at one of those Three Tuns gigs. The last known gig for Steve, with the Acoustic Band, was 30 June 2023, Newark. Steve told Barry Wickens, that he'd played more gigs (with Steve), than any other band member. I wonder if Steve used some of [your] data, in arriving at that!? Whatever, it's great work! Well done all...

P.S.3 Yeah, on the associated thread, 12 years and 11 months ago (at this time of writing), Pandorah has referred to The Beckenham Arts Lab! She was probably amongst the first fans to see and hear Cockney Rebel!!! With such a venue, doubtful there would have been tickets - so almost impossible to recall a date...I stand to be corrected, if anyone knows better...X

P.S.4 Realised that Pandorah may have seen Cockney Rebel from 1974? So I apologise to her, if I've got it wrong. But it may depend when Cockney Rebel stopped playing the Three Tuns (and if she did see and hear them there)? Looking at both threads I can't see Cockney Rebel playing there beyond the end of 1972, because larger venues were becoming the norm from 1973...The Speakeasy was where Janet Street Porter once shouted 'rubbish' at the band. I've seen that written on a compilation LP from '80 or '81...Stuart Elliott may be the best person to ask about when Cockney Rebel stopped playing the Three Tuns...I may do one day...but it is now unlikely that the very earliest Cockney Rebel gig date could be identified without input from one of the three surviving members of the original line-up X