SecretLeeds - History, culture and architecture in Leeds

Yes, I remember going to se The Selecter (twice, I think) and also Ash at the Duchess.BTW, you could always walk into Hugo Boss & shout "You made SS uniforms with slave labour!"

You've given me a vision now of a whole bunch of us marching into Hugo Boss and singing 'Do you believe in the westworld'

Or Liberator!

purplezulu wrote: O the duchess!! Much missed. One of the best bands I ever saw there was Last of the Teenage Idols.Mad bunch altogether, was a comedy show as well as a music gig. The singer - Buttz - was just so funny.I'll never forget the chant of 'Terry Waite, your're supposed to be kidnapped' - refering to their manager or something, who bore a striking resemblance to the unfortunate Mr Waite.I don't think I've ever seen such an entertaining band since - in the laughs department anyway, I wonder what happen to them? Oh yes, the Idols. PHENOMENAL band - great songs, hysterically funny stage show, maniac frontman. Saw them about a dozen times, mostly at the Duchess. Still wear my Idols t-shirt with pride! It was always an ambition of mine to drum for them, but never did. I was a bit disappointed with their album, it was a bit too keyboardy and overproduced for my liking, but live nobody could beat them. I still have a tape of the gig with the Terry Waite chant...As for what they're doing now - Buttz moved back to Cornwall and has his own business selling antiques and collectables (www.cloudcuckooland.biz); Shuff (bass) runs a nightclub in London; Daniele (guitar) returned to Italy and now plays in a "rock noir" band called Belladonna; Vom (drums) lives in Germany and plays in Dusseldorf punk legends Die Toten Hosen. Don't know what happened to keyboardist Hovis Presley, or late-period guitarist and drummer Taz and Franco Bianco though.Buttz has his own channel on YouTube under the name BUTTZBABY, there's a few clips of the Idols and his previous band The Babysitters on there. Great stuff.

Like many others I spent tons if time and money inside that wonderful place. The late 80's and early 90's was pure gold in terms of music and the bands the duchess managed to book.Too many to remember let alone repeat in text but a favourite has to be this night in 1991HOLETHERAPY?DAISY CHAINSAW3 if my then favourite bands, in a pub, for what was probablyPeanuts in terms of ticket pricing. The music aside, my fondest memories of this night are of the 'security' guys who weren't your usual meatheads. The duchess didn't really have any, the stage was a free for all. But this night, it was so rammed down the front these guys who nay have been part of the crew that night, kept everything spot on. Encouraged stage diving but kept everything safe from being destroyed.And Courtney. Before the drama that became her whole life was amazing. Proper rock girl, stage diving, crowd surfing. Had her t shirt ripped off, someone threw her a Nirvana t shirt which she put on in side out! One of the finest nights of music I've had ever.

Just booking a night out in Leeds and suddenly a blast from the past hit me in the face. The Duchess of York!!! I used to go here in 1990/91 when I was 17/18 with an old (young) b/f. We used to love it and think we were so cool, sat on the backs of the settees (me secretly smoking), his dad used to drop us off in his scooby doo van!!! I am sure I saw PJ Harvey here?????? And also TOP and Kingmaker? I might be getting mixed up with Party in the Park in Manchester as we saw quite a few bands that were becoming big at those times, but what good time they were!!!!. Anyways I stopped going when the young love ended but have many happy memories of the place, also of trawling the old record shop just down the road and the one in the (Merrion)? centre (cannot remember the names) - its an age thing. I will look out for the Hugo Boss building and give it a secret finger as I pass!!!!!

Hello Duchess of York fans,

I am working on the authorised feature documentary charting the rise of Oasis from their beginnings in the basement of the Boardwalk to their landmark concerts at Knebworth in 1996. We have the full support and involvement of Noel and Liam.

I am currently looking for footage or photos of The Duchess of York in 1993, in particular the infamous night when no one turned up to see Oasis play. I would love to see any photos of footage anyone has of the inside the of Duchess around that time, in particular when the venue is either empty or not very busy.

If you think you can help, or could give any leads, then please do get in touch!

My email is hannah.oasisfilm@gmail.com.

Thank you very much!

according to this poster from September 1993:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lensofdan ... otostream/
the date would be September 8th for the gig concerned.

Dunno if I've already mentioned this on here but one of the last bands I saw at The Duchess of York was Mickey Finn's T-Rex in the late 1990s. Obviously minus Mark Bolan! But the line up involved the titular Mickey Finn on bongos a few years before his death. Jack Green one of the original T-Rex's guitarist was doing the vocals. It was a pretty good gig as I remember. I went to some classic gigs here from great bands - The Wedding Present, Porcupine Tree etc.

I didnt see Nirvana there although if you were to believe the amount of people who claim they were there then the Duchess would have needed more capacity than the Leeds Arena! I did see Nirvana at the Reading Festival though in 1992 which was a very muddy affair due to the awful weather. I was at the front and people were hurling mud balls onto the stage and at one point the compere came out to announce that if the mud slinging didnt stop then the band were refusing to play!

Tragic that the Duchess closed down to be replaced by the Hugo Boss store.

Rolling up one day to see the grandmothers of invention (zappa's band) with Jimmy carl black "the Indian of the group" leading the show and supping tetleys was quite surreal. Total legends. On Another day it would be acid reign and mountains of kids crammed in front of def jefs desk with tony mcphee booked in the middle. You have to give it up for Johnny Keenan he had a gift for eclectic booking. Great days and cheap as chips. Nil pretence