A gig presented by London Borough of Southwark under their ‘Southwark Pop Scene’ entertainment programme. A council promoting Pop gigs seems alien to modern audiences. Particularly when you had to purchase tickets from the Council’s Entertainment Department situated on 29 Peckham Road on Mondays to Friday’s between 9am and 5pm.

But at that time, and particularly in a society in which the reach of both Council and official authority had seen significant expansion caused by the exigencies of the Second World War, such Council activity would not have seemed uncommon.

Beat Group royalty at the time, Spencer Davis Group were a well-established outfit which had secured two number ones in 1965 with ‘Keep on Running’ and ‘Somebody Help me.’ Coming at the tail end of 1966, this performance would have been just before the band began to work with producer Jimmy Miller and take an experimental direction somewhat at odds with what a typical pop group should do. They recorded seminal tracks such as ‘I’m a Man’ with Miller, tracks which are quite rightly recognised as ground-breaking works of music production.

Taking place at The Manor, Newington Town Hall, Newington is an area of South East London which it is now difficult to recognise as a distinct entity. It now be considered as an adjunct of Elephant and Castle. But this gig was pre-housing development, development which saw the building of High-Rise housing such as the Heygate Estate, and the widespread demolition of the Victorian Housing stock which would have characterized the Newington Area.

67cm X 48cm

Peckham Soul Prints

Designed by Craig Jamieson, these prints explore the unique diversity of South London’s cultural and social history. Focusing on archive research, and as well as re-discovering original prints, they often draw on contemporaneous listing material to create completely original artwork

All designs are silk screen lithographic printed and use 100% recycled and sustainable paper.