Shepherds Bush Empire
Encyclopedia
The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire (the first word is sometimes spelled Shepherd's) is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush
, London
, England
, run by the Academy Music Group
. It was built in 1903, as a music hall
, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre. Since 1991, it has operated as a music venue.
, designed by theatre
architect Frank Matcham
. Ashly's Circus performed at Shepherd's Bush empire theatre and presented to George Strong a trophy for riding The Bucking Mule "Sloper' on 8 September 1905. The first performers at the new theatre were The Fred Karno
Troupe incl. Charlie Chaplin (1906). The Empire staged music-hall
entertainments, such as variety performances and revues, until the early 1950s, by which time the popularity of these forms of entertainment was declining.
In 1953, the Empire was sold to the BBC
, which put it to use as a television studio–theatre, renaming it the BBC Television Theatre. Among the programmes produced there were Crackerjack, Hancock's Half Hour
, The Old Grey Whistle Test, That's Life!
, The Generation Game
, The Basil Brush Show, Juke Box Jury
, This is Your Life
, Jim'll Fix It
, almost all the BBC
's light entertainment music shows, such as those starring Cliff Richard
, Lulu
, Cilla Black
, Shirley Bassey
, Vera Lynn
, Harry Secombe
, Petula Clark
, as well as the UK's Eurovision Song Contest
preliminary heat, A Song For Europe
. In 1985, the theatre was turned over for exclusive use by Wogan
, which was broadcast 3 nights a week from the theatre.
The BBC vacated the building in 1991. It was taken over and, in 1994, again became the Shepherds Bush Empire. Since then, it has become best known as a music venue.
Live performances filmed at the venue and released on DVD include a 2002 performance by punk rock/goth band The Damned, Opeth's
first live DVD (Lamentations
) recorded at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Thursday 25 September 2003, and a November 2005 concert by indie band The Wedding Present
. In addition to this, Transatlantic
's third live release, "Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London
", was recorded and filmed at the venue.
In the dance music community it is also known to host raves and hard dance events, such as Frantic or Heat.
The Empire has a capacity of only 2,000, but it has been chosen as a venue for small gigs.
The Dixie Chicks
singer Natalie Maines
made a famously controversial remark about George W. Bush
at the club, in 2003.
Shepherd's Bush
-Commerce:Commercial activity in Shepherd's Bush is now focused on the Westfield shopping centre next to Shepherd's Bush Central line station and on the many small shops which run along the northern side of the Green....
, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, run by the Academy Music Group
Academy Music Group
Academy Music Group is a leading owner-operator of music venues in the United Kingdom. They operate a number of medium sized venues, the majority of which took the name Carling Academy after their sponsor Carling. Some of these academies also contain smaller venues used for less well known acts...
. It was built in 1903, as a music hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre. Since 1991, it has operated as a music venue.
History
It was built in 1903 for impresario Oswald StollOswald Stoll
Sir Oswald Stoll was an Australian-born British theatre manager and the co-founder of the Stoll Moss Group theatre company...
, designed by theatre
Theater (structure)
A theater or theatre is a structure where theatrical works or plays are performed or other performances such as musical concerts may be produced. While a theater is not required for performance , a theater serves to define the performance and audience spaces...
architect Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham
Frank Matcham was a famous English theatrical architect. He is buried in Highgate Cemetery.-Early career:...
. Ashly's Circus performed at Shepherd's Bush empire theatre and presented to George Strong a trophy for riding The Bucking Mule "Sloper' on 8 September 1905. The first performers at the new theatre were The Fred Karno
Fred Karno
Frederick John Westcott , best known by his stage name Fred Karno, was a theatre impresario of the British music hall. Karno is credited with inventing the custard-pie-in-the-face gag. Among the young comedians who worked for him were Charlie Chaplin and Arthur Jefferson, who later adopted the...
Troupe incl. Charlie Chaplin (1906). The Empire staged music-hall
Music hall
Music Hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment which was popular between 1850 and 1960. The term can refer to:# A particular form of variety entertainment involving a mixture of popular song, comedy and speciality acts...
entertainments, such as variety performances and revues, until the early 1950s, by which time the popularity of these forms of entertainment was declining.
In 1953, the Empire was sold to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, which put it to use as a television studio–theatre, renaming it the BBC Television Theatre. Among the programmes produced there were Crackerjack, Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour
Hancock's Half Hour was a BBC radio comedy, and later television comedy, series of the 1950s and 60s written by Ray Galton and Alan Simpson. The series starred Tony Hancock, with Sid James; the radio version also co-starred, at various times, Moira Lister, Andrée Melly, Hattie Jacques, Bill Kerr...
, The Old Grey Whistle Test, That's Life!
That's Life!
That's Life! was a magazine-style television series on BBC1 between 26 May 1973 and 19 June 1994, presented by Esther Rantzen throughout the entire run, with various changes of co-presenters. The show was generally recorded about an hour prior to transmission, which was originally on Saturday...
, The Generation Game
The Generation Game
The Generation Game was a British gameshow produced by the BBC in which four teams of two competed to win prizes...
, The Basil Brush Show, Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury
Juke Box Jury was a musical panel show which originally ran on BBC Television from 1 June 1959 until December 1967. The programme was based on the American show Jukebox Jury, itself an offshoot of a long-running radio series....
, This is Your Life
This Is Your Life
This Is Your Life is an American television documentary series broadcast on NBC, originally hosted by its producer, Ralph Edwards from 1952 to 1961. In the show, the host surprises a guest, and proceeds to take them through their life in front of an audience including friends and family.Edwards...
, Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It
Jim'll Fix It was a long-running British television show, broadcast by the BBC between 1975 and 1994. It was presented by Jimmy Savile. It was produced by Roger Ordish, who also worked on other BBC shows, including A Bit of Fry & Laurie...
, almost all the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's light entertainment music shows, such as those starring Cliff Richard
Cliff Richard
Sir Cliff Richard, OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor, and philanthropist who has sold over an estimated 250 million records worldwide....
, Lulu
Lulu (singer)
Lulu Kennedy-Cairns, OBE , best known by her stage name Lulu, is a Scottish singer, actress, and television personality who has been successful in the entertainment business from the 1960s through to the present day...
, Cilla Black
Cilla Black
Cilla Black OBE is an English singer, actress, entertainer and media personality, who has been consistently popular as a light entertainment figure since 1963. She is most famous for her singles Anyone Who Had A Heart, You're My World, and Alfie...
, Shirley Bassey
Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, Vera Lynn
Vera Lynn
Dame Vera Lynn, DBE is an English singer-songwriter and actress whose musical recordings and performances were enormously popular during World War II. During the war she toured Egypt, India and Burma, giving outdoor concerts for the troops...
, Harry Secombe
Harry Secombe
Sir Harry Donald Secombe CBE was a Welsh entertainer with a talent for comedy and a noted fine tenor singing voice. He is best known for playing Neddie Seagoon, the central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show...
, Petula Clark
Petula Clark
Petula Clark, CBE is an English singer, actress, and composer whose career has spanned seven decades.Clark's professional career began as an entertainer on BBC Radio during World War II...
, as well as the UK's Eurovision Song Contest
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest is an annual competition held among active member countries of the European Broadcasting Union .Each member country submits a song to be performed on live television and then casts votes for the other countries' songs to determine the most popular song in the competition...
preliminary heat, A Song For Europe
A Song for Europe
A Song for Europe may refer to:*A Song for Europe, former name of British pre-selection competition for the Eurovision Song Contest, now known as Eurovision: Your Country Needs You...
. In 1985, the theatre was turned over for exclusive use by Wogan
Wogan
Wogan was a chat show on British television, hosted by Terry Wogan. It followed the format of a series broadcast in 1980 entitled What's On Wogan?, which failed to gather viewers. The Wogan show was initially broadcast on Tuesday evenings on BBC1 in 1981 and from 1982 to 1984, it moved into the...
, which was broadcast 3 nights a week from the theatre.
The BBC vacated the building in 1991. It was taken over and, in 1994, again became the Shepherds Bush Empire. Since then, it has become best known as a music venue.
Live performances filmed at the venue and released on DVD include a 2002 performance by punk rock/goth band The Damned, Opeth's
Opeth
Opeth is a Swedish heavy metal band from Stockholm, formed in 1990. Though the group has been through several personnel changes, singer, guitarist, and songwriter Mikael Åkerfeldt has remained Opeth's driving force throughout the years...
first live DVD (Lamentations
Lamentations (Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire 2003)
Lamentations is Opeth's first live DVD, released under the Music For Nations label in 2004. This live recording at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Thursday 25 September 2003, features Opeth playing the album Damnation in its entirety, followed by some of the band's songs from Blackwater Park and...
) recorded at the Shepherd's Bush Empire on Thursday 25 September 2003, and a November 2005 concert by indie band The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present
The Wedding Present are a British indie rock group based in Leeds, England, formed in 1985 from the ashes of the Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, Buzzcocks and Gang of Four to more varied forms...
. In addition to this, Transatlantic
Transatlantic (band)
Transatlantic is a progressive rock supergroup consisting of Roine Stolt of The Flower Kings, Pete Trewavas of Marillion, Mike Portnoy formerly of Dream Theater and Neal Morse formerly of Spock's Beard. They formed in 1999 as a side project to their full time bands until 2002...
's third live release, "Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London
Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London
Whirld Tour 2010: Live in London is the third live album by the progressive rock supergroup Transatlantic. Released in 2010, it documents the May 21, 2010 show by the band at Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, England...
", was recorded and filmed at the venue.
In the dance music community it is also known to host raves and hard dance events, such as Frantic or Heat.
The Empire has a capacity of only 2,000, but it has been chosen as a venue for small gigs.
The Dixie Chicks
Dixie Chicks
The Dixie Chicks are an American country band which has also successfully crossed over into other genres. The band is composed of founding members Martie Erwin Maguire and Emily Erwin Robison, and lead singer Natalie Maines...
singer Natalie Maines
Natalie Maines
Natalie Louise Maines Pasdar is an American singer-songwriter who achieved success as the lead vocalist for the female alternative country band, the Dixie Chicks...
made a famously controversial remark about George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
at the club, in 2003.