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The 100 Club Punk Festival was a two day event held at the 100 Club, a (usually) jazz-oriented venue in Oxford Street, London, on the 21st and 22nd of September 1976. Arranged by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren, the gig showcased not only the aforementioned band, but a number of other acts aligned to the at the time very new UK punk rock movement. For many, it was their first opportunity to play before a live audience. It also marked a watershed for the movement, when punk began to move from the 'underground' to being recognised by the 'mainstream'. Partly this was due to very positive and extensive coverage of the event by Melody Maker journalist Caroline Coon.
The full line up for the festival was:
Now the stuff of legends, many who became involved in the punk scene claimed to have been there (unlikely as the venue has a capacity for no more than 600 persons), although amongst those 'faces' that definitely were, were Shane MacGowan (later of The Pogues), Chrissie Hynde (later of The Pretenders), Vivienne Westwood (McLaren's then partner and co-manager of the Chelsea boutique SEX), Gaye Advert and TV Smith (later of The Adverts), as well as members of the Bromley Contingent, the punk fashion avant garde.
The event was unfortunately marred by violence when a glass, reputedly thrown by then Banshees drummer and later Sex Pistols bass player Sid Vicious, shattered against a pillar during The Damned's set, blinding a young girl in one eye. Vicious also notoriously attacked NME journalist Nick Kent with a bicycle chain at the same event.
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