Rainbow Theatre, Finsbury Park, History

15/09/2026

15th September 1979...........Nils Lofgren, supported by Live Wire play the second of two nights at The Rainbow. Part of a sixteen date UK tour promoting his album "Nils".
The set list was: Cry Tough, Keith Don't Go (Ode to the Glimmer Twin), Heart on Fire, Like Rain, No Mercy, A Fool Like Me, You're So Easy, Goin' Back, I came to dance, Beggars Day, It's Not a Crime, Shine Silently, Believe, Rock 'n' Roll Crook
Encore: Incidentally… It's Over, Back It Up, Moon Tears
For some crazy reason he had taken to having the trampoline on stage so that he could do body flips, while playing his guitar

14/09/2026

14th September 1973............Chicago plays the second of two nights at The Rainbow. This was their only British dates on this visit. They were promoting their album Chicago VI

11/09/2026

11th September 1980.....The Allman Brothers Band play the second of two nights at The Rainbow. Featuring four of the original members, Greg Allman, Dicky Betts, Jaimoe & Butch Trucks.
The Set-lists was: Don't Want You No More, It's Not My Cross to Bear, Can't Take It With You, Blue Sky, Need Your Love So Bad, I Got a Right to Be Wrong, Angeline, From the Madness of the West, One Way Out, Jessica, Whipping Post. Encore of: Pegasus, Southbound, Ramblin' Man

08/09/2026

8th September 1973...............Commander Cody & The Lost Planet Airmen, supported by Albert Hammond and Quicksand play The Rainbow. This is the first date of their European tour which finshed on the 15th September.
They Were promoting their fine album "Country Casanova"

07/09/2026

7th September 1973.........Chuck Berry accomanied by The Memphis Bend and supported by Fumble play The Rainbow.
The performance started late as Chuck Berry had demanded that he was paid in cash before he performed! much searching and visit to the box office for cash followed, however once he recieved the money he walked onto the stage, to a tumultuous roar. “Hey Rainbow, I Love You” (another tumultuous roar).

05/09/2026

5th September 1964..............The Rolling Stones kick off their 4th UK tour of the year at The Astoria, Finsbury Park. This 32-date tour also included Charlie & Inez Foxx, Mike Berry, The Mojos, Billie Davis, Simon Scott, The LeRoys and The Innocents. The Compere was Don Spencer
The Stones set list included: "Not Fade Away," "I Just Want to Make Love to You," "Walking the Dog," "If You Need Me," "Around and Around," "I'm a King Bee," "I'm Alright," and "It's All Over Now, lasting around 20–30 minutes infact the whole show lasted under an hour!!

03/09/2026

3rd September 1977..............Harry Chapin is at The Rainbow. This concert was the first night of an 8-night UK tour, it was recorded for FM radio.
The Set-list was: I wonder what happened to him, Mercenaries, My old lady, Mr Tanner, W.O.L.D., Halfway to Heaven, I wanna learn a love song, Tangled up puppet, Taxi, Sniper, There was only one choice, Cat’s in the cradle, Odd job man, Bluesman, Dogtown, Mail order Annie, Let time go lightly, 30,000 pounds of bananas, Dance band on the Titanic, Circle.
His band were: Big John Wallace, Steve Chapin, drummer Howard Fields, guitarists Clark Wallace and Jonathan Chapin and cellist Arlen Hlusko.
He was promoting his new album ‘Dance band on the Titanic’
A lovely guy who sadly died in a car accident in 1981

26/08/2026

So sad to hear of the passing of Dolly Parton. She played the Rainbow on 28th May 1977 during a short 4-date UK tour. I had only been working there 5-months and still coming to terms with meeting so many World class artists. She was a really lovely person, totally accessible, very warm personality and a wicked sense of humour, she certainly left an impression on me.
RIP Dolly

21/08/2026

21st August 1979.....Just 3 days after supporting The Who at Wembley Stadium, Nils Lofgren is at The Rainbow for two days of rehearsals for his 16 date UK tour, which includes 2 nights at The Rainbow. A lovely guy, he has his two brothers with him, one one 2nd guitar and the other as stage manager.

19/08/2026

19th of August 1972. Mick Rock shoots the promotional video ‘John, I’m Only Dancing’ at the afternoon rehearsal for the concert at Rainbow Theatre, London. The video shows Bowie and the Spiders performing on the stage of the Rainbow Theatre. Bowie wears a black leather jacket and sports an anchor tattoo on one cheek. Bowie stated that the idea for the tattoo came from Bewitched tv series where the lead character Samantha occasionally wore tiny tattoos on her face.
The scenes alternate between shots of the band and of Bowie to shots of the fish-net clad Astronettes dancing off-screen and behind back-lit silhouette screens. Reportedly Lester Bangs has called this "the very moment the modern idea of a video was born."
Mick Rock has said that this video was a last-minute decision on Bowie's part and that he had only a $200 budget for the film. Rock managed to find a cameraman at short notice and states that due to the low budget - Bowie and The Spiders were filmed simply miming to the song (played on the Rainbow theatre's record player) which caused Rock some lip-synch problems later on. Editing took Rock eight or nine hours in just one night with the editor reported by Rock as having an epileptic fit in the morning after such a long session.
The promotional film was played on prime network TV in several large US cities during Bowie 1st US Tour. However, when the song was played on BBC's Top of the Pops it was instead accompanied by a film of butch bikers at a London gas works and a dancing girl on a hill. This may have been because Top of The Pops at first refused to show it (telling Tony DeFries that it wasn't to their taste), but presumably also because of the radical (at the time) "gender-bending" dimension.
"David apologizes to his appreciators that the BBC refused to show the "John, I'm Only Dancing" film on Top of The Pops recently. David's new single "JEAN GENIE" was released 24th November. It would be nice if you could write to the BBC requesting them to show the film which David has had made for showing on Top of The Pops." - Fan Club newsletter (December 1972)
The "Gay bikers and Dancing Girl" segment was broadcast again in 1991 on BBC2 during a 'Gay Rock n Roll Years' documentary (Also included were "Starman" clips, with some gay men saying how it made them realise their sexuality). The on screen text pointed out the irony that the BBC deemed the original too overtly gay to show, replacing it with the even 'gayer' bikers.
The Mick Rock shot promo was eventually shown on Top of The Pops to promote the 1979 John, I'm Only Asking (Again) reissue single. Recently surfacing amongst Bowie collectors is a 16mm film by Mick Rock (which was transferred to video by Mainman in 1995) which contains additional "John, I'm Only Dancing" out-takes.

The official music video for David Bowie - John, I'm Only Dancing ...