Rock Goes To College

"Rock Goes To College" (RGTC) was a BBC series that ran between 1978 and 1981 on British television. A variety of up-coming rock oriented bands were showcased live from small venues and broadcast simultaneously on television and radio during a 40-50 minute live performance.

Concert Venues

The venues were small University, Polytechnic or College halls holding a few thousand persons which gave a more intimate atmosphere than larger venues and often tickets were given to the Students' Union to distribute for free (to ensure that the concert halls were full) - effectively an invited audience. The bands chosen were also bands which did not have a mainstream following at that time although many went on to be very successful.

A BBC DJ would also be present to introduce the band for the television audience.

Innovation

The original broadcasts were transmitted on television as well as Sight and Sound in Concert; a BBC initiative to provide simultaneous pictures on BBC2 and stereo radio broadcasts on BBC Radio 1 (as stereo television broadcasts and receivers did not exist at the time). It allowed rock enthusiasts to enjoy the event with an improved sound quality.

Recordings

Original recordings of at least some of the "Rock Goes To College" series still exist and some legal releases have been made available, on DVD or CD, either as the concert in its entirety or as part of a compilation. UK Gold has re-broadcast some of the programmes (in stereo on television) in 2006 as has BBC Four and UK Arena in the late 1990s.

In some cases, the radio broadcasts contained additional songs to those broadcast via the television including pre-broadcast/warm-up tracks.

Concert listing

Many performances have been bootlegged from the original tapes or from public television/radio broadcasts. All references to availability on DVD here refers to legally produced and sold articles.

Performances 1978

*The Boomtown Rats, September 22, Middlesex Polytechnic, Hendon
#Mary Of The 4th Form
#Introduction - Peter Drummond
#Me & Howard Hughes
#I Never Loved Eva Braun
#Don't Believe What You Read
#Rat Trap
#Kicks
#Joey's On The Street Again
#Living On A Island
#She's Gonna Do You In
#Like Clockwork
#She's So Modern
#Looking After No. 1

*Crawler, September 29, University of London Union

*The Crusaders, October 10, Colchester Institute, Essex

*The Stranglers. October 20, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey. (Walked off after 15 minutes, smashing their equipment and verbally abusing the audience.) [http://www.sewer.uklinux.net/rgtc.php Production footage] .
#Ugly
#I Feel Like a Wog
#Bring on the Nubiles
#Burning Up Time
#Hanging Around

*Rich Kids, October 27, University of Reading - with Midge Ure & Glen Matlock
#Only Arsenic
#Hung on You
#Rich Kids
#Burning sounds
#Holy Holy
#12 Miles High
#Forever & Ever
#Marching Men
#Lovers & Fools
#Strange One
#Empty Words
#Ghosts of Princes in Towers

*The Climax Blues Band, November 3, City of Birmingham Polytechnic.

*AC/DC, October 28, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex. "Whole Lotta Rosie" available on the AC/DC compilation DVD "Family Jewels". "Problem Child", "Sin City", "Bad Boy Boogie" available on the compilation DVD set "Plug Me In". Introduced by Pete Drummond.
#Live Wire
#Problem Child
#Sin City
#Bad Boy Boogie
#Whole Lotta Rosie
#I'm A Rocker
#Let There Be Rock

*John Martyn, October 20. Available on DVD.
#May You Never
#One World
#One Day Without You
#The Dealer
#Certain Surprise
#Big Muff
#Anna

*Lindisfarne, December, University of Essex, Colchester, Essex.
#Court In The Act
#Lady Eleanor
#Winter Song
#Make Me Want To Stay
#Kings Cross Blues
#Meet Me On The Corner
#Run For Home
#Brand New Day
#We Can Swing Together

*Cheap Trick
#Hello There
#Come On, Come On
#Stiff Competition
#Guitar Solo/Jam
#Ain't That A Shame
#Need Your Love
#I Want You To Want Me
#California Man
#Surrender

*Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Queen's University Belfast

*Be Bop Deluxe, Oxford
#New Precision
#Superenigmatix
#Possession
#Dangerous Stranger
#Islands of the Dead
#Lovers are Mortal
#Panic in the World

*George Thorogood, Middlesex Polytechnic, Hendon
#Ride On Josephine
#Cocaine Blues
#It Wasn't Me
#I'm Just Your Good Thing
#Madison Blues
#New Hawaiian Boogie
#Who Do You Love
#No Particular Place To Go
#Johnny B Goode

*Tom Robinson Band

Performances 1979

* Bethnal January 6 University of London Union

*The Cars, January, University of Sussex, Brighton
#Just What I Needed
#Good Times Roll
#I'm In Touch With Your World
#My Best Friend's Girl
#Moving In Stereo
#All Mixed Up
#Night Spots
#Bye Bye Love
#Don't Cha Stop
#You're All I've Got Tonight

*The Rubinoos, January 20, University of Reading

*The Police, February 21, Hatfield Polytechnic
#Can't Stand Losing You
#So Lonely
#Fall Out
#Hole In My Life,
#Truth Hits Everybody
#Message in a Bottle (first live performance and not released as a single)
#Peanuts
#Roxanne
#Next To You

*Steve Hillage, February 28, University of Kent at Canterbury (broadcast March 10)
#Salmon Song
#Unzipping The Zype
#Hurdy Gurdy Man
#1988 Aktivator
#Unidentified (Flying Being)
#It's All Too Much

*Bill Bruford, March 17, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxfordshire (feat. Allan Holdsworth: Guitar and Annette Peacock: Vocals). Available on DVD.
#Sample and Hold
#Beelzebub
#The Sahara of Snow (part one)
#The Sahara of Snow (part two)
#Forever until Sunday
#Adios a la Pasada (Goodbye to the Past)
#5G

*Rory Gallagher, Middlesex Polytechnic

*Average White Band, University of Surrey, Guildford
#When Will You Be Mine
#Atlantic Avenue
#A Love Of Your Own
#I'm The One
#Walk On By
#Feel No Fret

Performances 1980

*Joe Jackson, January 14, Hatfield Polytechnic
#Look Sharp!
#Baby Stick Around
#Sunday Papers
#One More Time
#Friday
#It's Different For Girls
#Don't Wanna Be Like That
#Happy Loving Couples
#I'm The Man
#Got The Time
#Is She Really Going Out With Him?
#Come On

*The Specials, January 21, Colchester Institute, Colchester, Essex
#Do the Dog
#Monkey Man
#Rat Race
#Blank Expression
#Rude Boys Outta Jail
#Doesn't make it Alright
#Concrete Jungle
#Too Much Too Young
#Guns of Navarone
#Nite Klub
#Gangsters
#Longshot Kick de Bucket
#Madness
#You're Wondering Now

*Live Wire, February 4, Brighton Polytechnic

*Secret Affair, February 11, University of Bristol, Bristol

*Spyro Gyra, February 18, University of Leeds, Yorkshire

*Joe Ely Band, February 20, Middlesex Polytechnic

*Robin Trower, February 25, University of London Union, London
#Day Of The Eagle
#The Ring, Bridge Of Sighs
#Too Rolling Stoned
#The Shout/Hannah
#Daydream
#Victims Of The Fury
#Little Bit Of Sympathy

*April Wine, March 10, University of Reading

*Tom Petty, March 24, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford
#Shadow Of a Doubt
#Anything That's Rock 'n' Roll
#Introduction - Peter Drummond
#Even The Losers
#Here Come's My Girl
#I Need to Know
#Luna
#Stories We Could Tell
#Refugee
#Breakdown
#American Girl

*Steve Forbert, March 31, Lancaster University

*The Blues Band, May 22, Keele University

*After the Fire, November 7, City University, London (broadcast March 16, 1981)
#Sailing Ship (instrumental)
#Wild West Show
#Can You Face It?

Performances 1981

*Q-Tips, January 12, Hatfield Polytechnic

*UB40, January 19, Keele University

*The Motels, January 26, University of Bradford

*John Martyn, February 2, Chelsea School of Art

*The Roches, February 9, Loughborough University of Technology
#Bad For Me
#We
#Nurds
#The Troubles
#My Sick Mind
#Hallelujah Chorus
#Hammond Song
#Mr. Sellack

*U2, January 23, Queen's University Belfast
#The Ocean
#11 O’ clock Tick Tock
#Cry - The Electric Co.
#Out of Control

*Stiff Little Fingers, January 23, Queen's University Belfast

*B. A. Robertson, February 16, Preston Polytechnic, Lancashire

*Ian Gillan Band, February 23, Oxford Polytechnic, Oxford

*John Martyn. March 2, University of Stirling. Available on DVD.
#Big Muff
#Some People Are Crazy
#Grace And Danger
#Save Some (For Me)
#Eibhil Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail
#Couldn't Love You More
#Amsterdam Rock
#Johnny Too Bad

*Siouxsie and The Banshees, March 19, Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick, Warwickshire
#Israel
#Spellbound
#Arabian Knights
#Halloween
#Christine
#Night Shift
#Red Light
#But Not Them
#Voodoo Dolly
#Eve White/Eve Black

Performances 1983

*Level 42, February 16, The Regal Theatre, Hitchin
#Heathrow
#Turn It On
#Love Meeting Love
#Eyes Waterfalling
#The Pursuit Of Accidents
#The Chinese Way
#Love Games

Bootlegs

In general, many of these performances will have only have been shown a very limited number of times on TV and in some cases only once. Very few of these concerts seem to have made it to legal DVD (such as the Bill Bruford, both John Martyn and a sample of AC/DC).

Bootlegs exist created from original TV (although very few domestic Video recorders were around at the time) and radio broadcasts (through cassette tapes) as well as subsequent repeats. In particular, the AC/DC, Specials, Robin Trower, Ian Gillan, cars, Police and U2 DVDs, CDs and tapes are commonly found advertised on trader's sites.

Some of the shows, such as AC/DC and The Police, have been recently broadcast on VH1 Classic on the show "BBC Crown Jewels."

External links

* [http://www.whom.co.uk/dora/rockgoes.htm Partial listing of RGTC concerts]