* “SPARKS” – at the ‘Eventim Hammersmith Apollo’ (formerly the Hammersmith Odeon) – London W6 (19/06/2025)

This week’s Shoes publication concerns an event that actually took place a couple of weeks back – but I’ve been away on me hols and so have only just got around to putting it ‘out there’.

The topic involves London Shoes visit to the famous “Hammersmith Odeon” venue (now known as the Eventim Hammersmith Apollo) over in London W6 for the purpose of finally getting to see legendary US band “Sparks” perform ‘live’ on stage.

The ‘Eventim Hammersmith Apollo’ building, opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace Cinema – with seating for 3,500 punters at a time when ‘going to the pictures’ was an extremely popular pastime for ordinary folk.

The venue’s stunning art-deco architectural features also include its original ‘Compton Pipe Organ’ which still remains in situ – although is very rarely used these days.

It became the ‘Hammersmith Odeon’ in 1962 – and has had several name changes since then.

In 1992 it closed for major refurbishment, then opened again as the Labatt’s Apollo – then in 2002 it became the Carling Apollo – then in 2009 it was the HMV Apollo – and since 2013 it’s been called the Eventim Apollo …..but it will always be the Hammersmith Odeon to me.

When this legendary building became the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962 – it became famous for hosting ‘live’ music – and it has gone down in rock music history, with some highly acclaimed performances having been staged there throughout recent decades.

In 1958 Buddy Holly did 2 shows there – he died one year later.

In the 1960’s Tony Bennett / Ella Fitzgerald / Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong all headlined the Hammersmith Odeon.

In 1964 the Beatles played there many times.

In the early 1970’s a performance by Elton John was televised ‘live’ from the Hammersmith Odeon – on the popular weekly rock music prog ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’.

In 1973 David Bowie, at the end of the final concert of his Ziggy Stardust world tour – announced from the Hammersmith Odeon stage, that this was the last concert he will ever do!!!

What Bowie really meant was, it would be the last Ziggy tour he would ever do – because as we now all know, he went on to record a further 20 odd albums, all with him adopting different persona’s.

This final Ziggy tour gig was captured on camera by legendary US rock music film director D A Pennebaker and released as a film under the title “Ziggy Stardust:The Motion Picture”

In 1975 a relatively unknown in the UK, American group called ‘Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’ – played 2 nights at the Hammersmith Odeon – and the rest, as they say, is history.

In 1976 Thin Lizzy recorded some of their successful ‘Live & Dangerous’ album at one of their Hammersmith Odeon gigs.

In 1981 the ‘metal’ band ‘Motorhead’ released their ‘No Sleep til Hammersmith’ album – recorded ‘live’ at the Hammersmith Odeon.

In 1982 heavy metal band Iron Maiden recorded their ‘live’ album ‘Beast over Hammersmith’ at the Odeon.

As well as Bowie and Springsteen, loads and loads of ‘live’ albums have been recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon by artists/bands such as:- Queen / Black Sabbath / Iron Maiden / Tears for Fears / Dire Straits / Duran Duran / Paul McCartney & Wings / The Who / The Police.

Between 1990 and 2011 Bob Dylan appeared at the Hammersmith Odeon 24 times!!!

In 2014 the great Kate Bush did a 22 date residency at the Hammersmith Odeon – her first ‘live’ performances in 35 years.

In 2016 the ‘Royal Variety Performance’ was hosted at the Hammersmith Odeon – and bringing things right up to date ‘Britain’s got Talent’ was televised ‘live’ from the Hammersmith Odeon in 2018 / 2019 / 2022.

So – this now leads me on to why my London Shoes found themselves down at the Hammersmith Odeon a couple of weeks ago.

The reason for being there was to see a performance by legendary US group “SPARKS”.

From mid 2025 through to 2026, Sparks are scheduled to play around 30 gigs across the UK / Europe & US – and my bruv-in-law Vince was fortunate enough to get us a couple of tickets for Sparks performance at the Hammersmith Odeon on 19^th June 25.

Now – neither myself or Vince had ever seen Sparks play ‘live’ before – although we did get very close to seeing them just over half a century ago!!!

Back in 1973 I had seen a clip on the Old Grey Whistle Test tv prog, where ‘Whispering Bob Harris’ introduced this totally wacky band from the US who were fronted by 2 weird behaving brothers ‘Russell and Ron Mael’. On the ‘Whistle Test’ they performed this song called ‘Girl from Germany’ – from an album entitled ‘A Woofer in Tweeters Clothing’  – a tune that was just a little bit ‘out there’ and different from the ‘pop’ music of that time.

Anyway – back in 1973 I was an avid reader of both the Melody Maker and the New Musical Express weekly music papers – and I just happened to notice that this band ‘Sparks’ were playing a gig at the legendary (but now gone) Marquee club in Wardour Street down in Soho, in the west end.

So, way back in 73 I suggested to Vince that we leg it down there to check out this ‘Sparks’ band that I’d seen on tv. However – when we got there, we discovered that the scheduled Sparks appearance had been cancelled – I think it was to do with work visa’s or something like that.

I can remember us being very disappointed at having come all that way, only to find that Sparks wouldn’t be playing. I’m not too sure, as it was over 50yrs ago – but I think the ‘stand-in’ act for that night was an acoustic trio called ‘America’ who went on to have massive hits like ‘Horse with no Name’ and ‘Ventura Highway’.

Anyway – in 1973 Sparks signed to Island Records and relocated to the UK and that same year had a massive worldwide hit “This Town Aint Big Enough For The Both Of Us” followed by a million selling album “Kimono my House” which spurred a batch of hit singles.

To date – Sparks have released over 20 albums with numerous hit singles – and as a band, their music and theatrics has influenced many bands and songwriters throughout the past few decades.

Prior to their current world tour, they released their latest album ‘Mad’ – which, incidentally, went straight in at no.2 in the UK Album Chart.

Through a family connection involved in the music business, Vince managed to get hold of a couple of tickets for Sparks  Hammersmith Odeon event on 19/06/2025– and so we drove over to London W6 and parked up in some underground car park under a hotel, that was literally only a few hundred yards away from the iconic Hammersmith Odeon venue (now called Eventim Apollo of course!!).

The venue was sold out, with a majority of the punters being around the same age and yearning the same musical nostalgia from a once happier time and place.

Sparks eventually took the stage at around 8:30 pm and treated the audience to a non-stop bombardment of numbers from their entire repertoire of 28 albums and 76 singles– with a couple of tracks from their new album thrown in to the mix……all delivered at pace and maximum volume.

The energy that 76 yr old Russell Mael and 79 yr old Ron Mael put into their 2.5hr performance was incredible – and the completely sold-out Hammersmith Odeon audience lapped up every minute of the event and thoroughly enjoyed themselves

To think that the Mael brothers, at the ages they are – are touring right the way through to 2026 is unbelievable.

The event was certainly up there in the top 20 of gigs that I’ve attended throughout my 68 years on this planet – the performance far exceeded my expectations for the evening.

What was also a bit special about the event, for my London Shoes was that – as I mentioned earlier – through a family connection of my bruv-in-lawVince’s, involved in the music industry, we were also invited to the after-show party/drinks held in the upstairs bar of the venue. Although we didn’t personally get to speak to Ron & Russell Mael, we did manage to sneak a couple of photos of them chatting away to others – which you’ll see in the gallery of photos accompanying this blog article.

An enjoyable and memorable night of nostalgia and musical entertainment – which I felt was certainly worthy of capturing as a Shoes blog – hope you enjoyed the read and its accompanying photos/images.

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See below the full gallery of photos and images supporting this blog article