I’ve spoken about my experiences in the Limelight here a couple of times (most recently here, but also here, here and here), but a gentleman named Piero posted the photograph above on Facebook, and it kinda blew a new part in my hair.
This is the Church of the Holy Communion circa 1845, the same venerable house of worship that would, about a century and a half after this image was captured, become deconsecrated and …well… degrade into the notorious den of naughty hedonism that was the Limelight.
Technically, in my era, the Limelight was first and foremost a dance club, but they did host live music as well. I’m sure I’ve rattled the list off before, but bands I recall seeing there – performing in the apse of the old church – include New Model Army, Foetus, Vent 414, the Lords of Acid, Gene, the Mall-era Gang of Four and, … wait for it … my all-time heroes in Killing Joke and Cop Shoot Cop (albeit not the same show, however awesome that would have been).
In fact, here’s a shot from the Cop Shoot Cop show, appended with the flyer beneath. Notice the name of the night? Communion. That never clicked before, but I’m evidently slow on the uptake, sometimes.
Here's the ad for the Killing Joke gig, tastefully preserved for posterity by my rock-archivist pal Greg Fasolino. I remember getting tickets for this show and telling my then-employers at TIME Magazine that I had every intention of attending it, despite being scheduled to work the News Desk that evening, and that if I couldn't go, I would "fuckin' quit, maaan." Mercifully, they accommodated me.
And here is footage of the Foetus show. My friend Rob and I watched this from the upper-catwalk, as I recall. Look for us in there.
The last time I looked, the space which had formerly been both the Church of the Holy Communion and the Limelight – after the Limelight closed for good in 2003 – briefly became a short-lived club called Avalon, before that, too, closed in 2007. From there, it became an ersatz shopping mall, then a gym but now only plays host to a Grimaldi’s brick-oven pizza and a pricey modern Chinese eatery called the Jue Lan Club. I haven't eaten at either.
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