The day the music died – remembering the Palais

MEMORIES: Cherished city venue which played host to David Bowie and the Bee Gees still recalled with great affection 40 years after it was destroyed by fire

A legendary Dundee venue which hosted stars such as David Bowie and the Bee Gees is being remembered by music fans four decades after it was engulfed by flames.

Generations of Dundonians mourned the passing of the old Palais when it burned to the ground following a ferocious blaze exactly 40 years ago.

Fire broke out shortly before 11pm on February 20 1980 but attempts to save the building were in vain.

Sparks and cinders soared into the sky as it was reduced to ash and rubble.

Fire crews from all Dundee stations, Broughty Ferry, Monifieth and Carnoustie attended the blaze.

Dundee was swept up in a dancing boom after the Palais opened in the 1920s and crowds streamed up South Tay Street for tea dances which went on from 3 to 5.30pm.

In the 1960s some of the UK’S top pop stars and bands regularly appeared at the venue which became known as “Dundee’s top pop spot” following the opening of the Top Ten Club.

Andy Lothian and Freddie Saunders started the club, which ran once a week from the Palais, and it soon garnered a reputation as the place to see top chart stars.

The first show at the Top Ten Club took place on October 14 1962, with guest stars on the opening night Emile Ford and the Checkmates, Robby Hood and his Merrie Men, Johnny Washington, Johnny Hudson and the Hi-four, and Clint and the Tornadoes.

David Bowie played there in 1966 with his new band The Buzz before the Bee Gees also performed at the venue in 1967 and played songs such as Massachusetts and To Love Somebody.

It was also the gig that played a part in the early romance between Maurice Gibb and Lulu.

Gibb invited Lulu’s brother Billy to the Dundee show during their early courtship and he was “bowled over” and told his friends that night that “whatever happened” he was going to marry Lulu.

Dundee DJ Pat Kelly said: “It was a sad day when the venue went up in smoke.

“A few years ago I did some research for BBC Radio Scotland’s Past Lives series and Andy Lothian Junior and well-known drummer Donnie Coutts were interviewed for the broadcast.

“It was clear just how much the venue meant to them. All that is left on the street is the Palais entrance.

“Many bands still remember it with great affection.”

The Palais was also the setting for the famous Dundee “monkey parade” which was a Sunday night highlight for teenagers in the 1960s.

Dancing was banned on the Sabbath night and instead the youth of the time went along to listen to the resident band and singers invited from the audience.

For the entire night the patrons walked round and round the hall in a snaking chain which became known as the monkey parade.

When the dance hall shut down for the night the parade continued down South Tay Street and along Nethergate into Murraygate where the walking hundreds patrolled back and forth between Panmure Street and the old Thorter Row for at least another 90 minutes.

Although the Palais continued for many years, the Top Ten Club finished just before the start of the 1970s.

The Palais eventually closed its doors and became Samantha’s, then Bloomers, before burning to the ground in 1980.