Hippodrome / Coventry Theatre / Apollo show archive

n attempt to list all the shows ever performed at our Hippodromes, beginning with the temporary circus buildings, which from 1884 were specially erected on Pool Meadow for each visit - then, in 1903, to the first permanent, but short-lived, 'Tin' Hippodrome on the Priory Street side of Pool Meadow facing the old Swimming Baths. The popularity of these shows created the demand for a theatre worthy of our city, and so in 1906 began the construction in Hales Street, next to Swanswell Gate, of what we now regard as the Old Hippodrome.
Again, the success of this theatre meant that barely three decades later a greater capacity was required, and so we come to our lovely art-deco New Hippodrome in Hales Street, once known as the Showplace of the Midlands. Opening on the 1st November 1937, it was renamed Coventry Theatre in 1955, then from 1979 became The Apollo, giving its final performance in June 1985. After a short spell as a bingo hall it was eventually realised that such a building could not be put to any practical use, so, sadly, it was demolished in 2002. If anyone still has any tickets or programmes and would like to see them used to illustrate a show, please contact me.

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1980	Apollo Theatre, Hales Street
Date(s)	Show	Notes	Images
Sun 13th Jan 1980	Lynda Lewis	One night only.
Sun 27th Jan 1980	UFO	One night only.
Sun 10th Feb 1980	The Barron Knights	One night only.
Sat 16th Feb 1980	The Spinners	One night only.
Tue 19th Feb until Sat 23rd Feb 1980	English National Opera North	Different Opera each night - Carmen, Hansel & Gretel, Merry Widow, etc.
Mon 25th Feb 1980	Joe Jackson	From his "I'm The Man" tour. One night only.
Tue 11th Mar until Sat 15th Mar 1980	Coventry Scout's Gang Show	Huge cast of Scouts and Leaders - reportedly the only Gang Show to still use an all-male cast.
Tue 18th Mar 1980	Herman Van Veen	One night only.
Sat 22nd Mar 1980	David Soul	Singer, also know from the Starsky & Hutch TV show. One night only.
Thu 3rd Apr 1980	Sad Cafe	One night only.
Sun 6th Apr 1980	Blood, Sweat & Tears	Supported by War. One night only.
Tue 8th Apr 1980	George Hamilton IV	One night only.
Sun 13th Apr 1980	Genesis	From their "Duke" tour. (Tickets £2, £3, £4)	Image(s) courtesy of Gray Forster
Thu 17th Apr 1980	The Osmonds	One night only.
Sun 20th Apr 1980	Jack Jones	One night only.
Tue 22nd Apr until Sat 26th Apr 1980	London Festival Ballet	La Sylphide, Rosalinda, Romeo & Juliet, Sleeping Beauty.
Mon 12th May 1980	Eric Clapton	One night only.	Image(s) courtesy of John Packer
Tue 13th May 1980	Sky	Band, comprising John Williams, Kevin Peek, Herbie Flowers, Tristan Fry and Francis Monkman.
Sun 18th May 1980	David Gates	From the original band "Bread". One night only.
Sat 31st May 1980	Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Fri 6th Jun 1980	Saxon	"Wheels of Steel" tour. One night only.
Tue 10th Jun 1980	David Essex	One night only.
Thu 12th Jun 1980	Thin Lizzy	Part of their "Black Rose" tour. One night only.
Sat 14th Jun 1980	Joan Armatrading	One night only.
Mon 16th Jun until Sat 21st Jun 1980	D'Oyly Carte Opera	A different Gilbert & Sullivan Opera each night.
Tue 24th Jun 1980	Steve Hackett	Part of the "Defector" tour. One night only.
Sat 28th Jun 1980	1980 Wrestling Spectacular	Tag Clash of the Year, starring Big Daddy, Kid Chocolate, Giant Haystacks, Crawler Rollerball Rocco, plus supporting bouts.
Sun 14th Sep 1980	Daryl Hall and John Oates	One night only.
Mon 22nd Sep 1980	Gary Numan	One night only.
Wed 24th Sep 1980	Ozzy Osbourne	"Blizzard of Ozz" show featuring guitarist Randy Rhoads.
Thu 25th Sep 1980	Budgie	One night only.
Fri 26th Sep 1980	Rick Wakeman	One night only.
Sun 28th Sep 1980	Billy Connolly	One night only.
Sat 4th Oct 1980	The Dooleys	One night only.
Tue 7th Oct until Sat 11th Oct 1980	Glyndebourne Touring Opera	Different Opera each night.
Sun 12th Oct 1980	Gillan	One night only.
Tue 14th Oct 1980	Rory Gallagher	One night only.	Image(s) courtesy of John Packer
Thu 16th Oct 1980	Darts	(Band) One night only.
Sun 19th Oct until Tue 21st Oct 1980	Jasper Carrott	Three nights.	Image(s) courtesy of Paul Wilkinson
Wed 22nd Oct 1980	UFO	One night only.
Thu 23rd Oct 1980	The Pretenders	One night only.	Image(s) courtesy of Paul Wilkinson
Sun 26th Oct 1980	The Crusaders	Plus special guest Randy Crawford.
Thu 30th Oct 1980	The Shadows	One night only.
Sun 2nd Nov 1980	Elkie Brooks	One night only.
Mon 3rd Nov until Sat 8th Nov 1980	Macbeth & The Merchant of Venice	With The old Vic Theatre Company. Peter O'Toole in Macbeth and Timothy West in Merchant of Venice.
Tue 11th Nov until Sat 15th Nov 1980	Welsh National Opera	Different Opera each night.
Sun 16th Nov 1980	Oscar Peterson	One night only.
Mon 17th Nov 1980	Hot Chocolate	One night only.
Wed 19th Nov 1980	Motorhead	Part of their "Ace of Spades" tour. One night only.
Thu 20th Nov until Sun 23rd Nov 1980	Shirley Bassey	Complete Sell-Out.
Tue 25th Nov until Sat 29th Nov 1980	Fiddler On The Roof	By The Coventry Amateur Operatic Society.
Sat 6th Dec 1980	Jon Anderson	And The New Life Band. One night only.
Sun 7th Dec 1980	Vince Hill	His first appearance at Coventry Theatre. One night only.
Wed 17th Dec 1980 until Sat 17th Jan 1981	The Two Ronnies	Their first stage show together.

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1884 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985

Also of interest might be A short history of Coventry's Theatres and Cinemas, by Bill Birch.