Jun 3: Lost venues at the V&A

Earlier in the year, John Medd kindly provided a guest post on lost music venues, based on a poster for a band called 'Girl' - go and read it now if you haven't already.

There is now an exhibition on at the V&A in South Kensington on the same theme.

This Rolling Stone piece explains:

More than 150 objects are showcased in the display, with a large proportion being obtained after the V&A put out a public call for items last year.

As per NME, the exhibition is split into four different sections. 

The first explores how dance halls and cinemas became purpose-built music venues in the 1980s. Featured items in this section include artefacts linked to the iconic Manchester club The Haçienda, fashions from brands like Dr. Martens and Converse, and even the original 1985 sign for the Astoria, which has been loaned by Damon Albarn.

I plan to visit next Monday as I'm in the V&A anyway for a meeting ahead of the RGS AGM and Awards and summer reception.

Update

Some photos are in a Flickr album here.

I like this collection of back stage passes...

Jun 2: The Music is Black

As featured on 'The One Show' earlier today.

A new exhibition at V&A East which I shall have to try to get to befor the end of the year.

Details here.

From the exhibition guide.

Music reflects and feeds emotions. It inspires, comforts, offends and entertains. Music awakens memory and punctuates our present. The Music is Black: A British Story traces the roots and routes of music that has descended from African musical practices and gone on to influence and transform British identity over the past 125 years. It explores where Black music in Britain since 1900 has come from - tracking an ever-evolving sound shaped by British colonialism, transatlantic enslavement and voluntary migration. From lovers rock and Brit funk, to 2 Tone, jungle and grime, this exhibition reveals the creation of British­born Black music genres and how they have impacted lives across the country and beyond - how we speak, dress and view the world. The Music is Black is a story of Black struggle, resilience, creativity and joy. It is a story of us all.

Someone has made a playlist on Spotify.

Here's Channel 4 news.

May 17: Met - Musical memorabilia

In April 2019 I had the experience of heading for New York. We were going to go for my daughter's 21st but decided to go a year earlier - and it was just as well that we did.

It's just as well that we did, as if we had waited for the following year, COVID would have cancelled it.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art had an exhibition called 'Play it Loud'.

I have some excellent pictures from this exhibition.

Here are details of the galleries and a good list of the items.

Who played this guitar and for a bonus point, what was it called?

There was a Spotify playlist for the exhibition:

Feb 27: British Music Experience - Liverpool

This is a museum in Liverpool. It is located in the old Cunard building on the Pier Head.

As the UK’s only museum dedicated to celebrating British music, the British Music Experience boasts an unrivalled collection of memorabilia, stage outfits, instruments, images and footage. 

The museum charts the beginnings, rise and influence of British pop from 1945 to the present day and includes outfits worn by artists from Mick Jagger, Freddie Mercury and Dusty Springfield, to Adam Ant and The Spice Girls and musical instruments played by some of the world’s most renowned artists from Queen's Roger Taylor and Marc Bolan, to Ian Curtis and the Sex Pistols. 

You can even find the original statues from the Brits and the Apple Corp front door from Saville Row.

The Museum includes galleries, interactive zones, audio visual experiences and hologram performances. You can get hands-on in the Interactive Studio by learning to play guitar, drums or keyboards, dance your way through the eras in the Dance the Decades studio and get your voice studio-ready in the Vocal Booth.

The BME was initially spearheaded by renowned music promoter, Harvey Goldsmith, CBE, best known for the ground breaking Live Aid concert of 1985 which raised over £140m to fight world poverty. Harvey Goldsmith and the Trustees recognised a void in the music and cultural sector and wanted to give people the opportunity to both learn and celebrate the history of British popular music.

To fulfil the Museum’s charitable purposes, the BME through the support of bands, estates and management has amassed an unrivalled collection of rock and pop artefacts used to curate the rich history of popular British music alongside a social and political backdrop including:

• 600+ stage outfits, instruments, hand- written lyrics, and other objects brought to life with interactivity
• 6000 images, artwork & video clips embedded in a digital timeline and archive
• Musical timeline mirroring social history, politics, geography and technology in the UK

The BME has the only collection in the world to chart the rise of British Popular Music from its roots in Jazz to the present day and archive the successes of one the UK’s most creative and successful industries. After a 5 year run at The O2, London, the BME is now permanently resides in Liverpool, a UNESCO City of Music.

Has anyone been? 

Your reviews are welcome.

I will try to get over to Liverpool sometime this year.

Feb 8: V&A: The Music is Black

The latest V&A development finally opens in April 2026, and alongside the permanent exhibition spaces, there is a temporary exhibition space.

The first exhibition will be about Black British Music.

Here's a trailer:

And a description from a while back:

The Music Is Black: A British Story will span from 1900 to the present day, celebrating everyone from pioneers such as Winifred Atwell and Janet Kay to today’s generation including Stormzy and Little Simz, and explore how artists from Fleetwood Mac to the Beatles adopted elements of the music created by the UK’s Black community.

Drawing on BBC archives, photographs, artefacts, ornaments, paintings, prints, playbills, film and more, the curators promise “immersive AV and large-scale installations” where attenders can walk through different eras and experience multi-sensory modes of storytelling.

The Music is Black: A British Story will look into how migration has influenced music, including how the Windrush movement brought a wave of new sounds from the Caribbean to the UK, birthing the sound system culture which informed the massively successful British clubbing scene and beyond. It will also look at how influences from Black communities in the global south are being heavily featured in today’s chart toppers – such as west African highlife in pop songs, and drum patterns stemming from Caribbean reggae in dance music.