Chancellor Hall Chronology
Contemporary Press Evidence · Flickr Primary Sources · A working chronology of Chancellor Hall material that is already represented in the Chelmsford Rocks archive. It is intentionally narrower than a claimed complete gig list: a date appears here because the current site has a dated event record or a surviving source artefact that identifies it.
1977
27 May 1977 — The Clash / White Riot Tour
The event record is now dated 27 May 1977, following the surviving ticket and Maurice Hyde’s Flickr source titled 27 May 1977. The older 29 May date in the legacy event/source index is retained only as a provenance note and is no longer the site’s event date. The surviving ticket and Flickr recollection identify the White Riot Tour line-up with Subway Sect, The Slits and The Prefects.
26 June 1977 — The Vibrators
The current event record links the appearance to the wider Chancellor Hall archive and to surviving poster/ticket evidence.
26 June 1977 and 7 July 1977 — The Vibrators
Two separate Chancellor Hall appearances are now supported by contemporary Record Mirror tour/listing evidence. The archive does not merge them into one date.
30 October 1977 — Bethnal
Established secondary evidence lists Bethnal at Chancellor Hall on this date. The surviving personal Where and When list records the memory more broadly as “Bethnal - Chancellor Hall - 1977 or 78”, so the personal source is preserved separately from the documentary date.
27 November 1977 — Fabulous Poodles
Strong contemporary Record Mirror tour evidence names Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford on this date; the band chronology independently agrees. No matching Chelmsford ticket has yet been found.
1977 — The Damned + 999
Surviving ticket: 90p, No. 187, with the printed wording “Playing for free”. Maurice Hyde’s Flickr source independently documents the same 90p Chancellor Hall ticket story and is now linked as an external primary-source lead.
1978
22 January 1978 — Tyla Gang
Strong contemporary Record Mirror tour evidence names Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford on this date. The site owner remembers being there. No ticket currently matched.
5 February 1978 — Tonight
Strong contemporary Record Mirror tour evidence names Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford on this date. The site owner remembers being there. No ticket currently matched.
20 February 1978 — British Lions
Strong contemporary Record Mirror tour evidence names Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford. The site owner remembers being there. This is a Monday booking and shows why the Sunday pattern is only a research clue.
26 February 1978 — The Radiators from Space
Strong band-source evidence; no local ticket currently matched.
28 February 1978 — The Enid
Strong contemporary Record Mirror booking evidence. No Chelmsford ticket currently matched.
28 April 1978 — Whirlwind
Strong contemporary Record Mirror tour evidence.
18 June 1978 — Johnny Cougar
Strong contemporary Music Week tour-advertisement evidence names Chelmsford Chancellor Hall on this date. No ticket currently matched.
1979
14 Jan 1979 — The Angelic Upstarts / The Invaders — Pursey's Package. Strong contemporary Record Mirror booking evidence; not ticket-backed. Evidence page.
May 1979 — Essex Live research thread: a contemporary Record Mirror notice records a planned Chancellor Hall recording concert on 6 May, while separate advert and oral-history evidence records an Essex Live event on 20 May. These are deliberately kept as separate research threads. See the date reconciliation.
20 May 1979 — Modern English / AD3 / Anorexia / The Lost — advert-backed / local oral-history corroborated record. See the Essex Live oral-history evidence.
18 March 1979 — Bethnal
Strong contemporary date evidence points to 18 March, while a later Bored Teenagers listing gives 25 March. The site owner remembers seeing Bethnal at Chancellor Hall but cannot now confirm the exact date. The archive therefore records the attendance memory without using it to choose between the conflicting dates.
4 February 1979 — Adam & The Ants
Established photographic / secondary record: dated Chancellor Hall photographs credited to Jo Gahan, independently matched by a concert-history listing. No surviving ticket has yet been matched in the Chelmsford Rocks collection.
11 March 1979 — The Undertones + Deep Throats
Contemporary tour cutting and Ken Wrigley’s first-hand recollection support this appearance.
13 May 1979 — Penetration
Surviving ticket-backed appearance; the other Penetration Chancellor Hall listings remain unconfirmed research leads.
3 June 1979 — The Undertones + support
Surviving ticket and contemporary corroboration support this second Undertones appearance.
1978–1979
12 January 1978 — Penetration / Cyanide
Surviving ticket evidence is now supported by a first-hand report from the site owner that a friend attended this show and that the ticket is genuine. This is treated as a separate Penetration appearance, not confused with the later 12 November 1978 advert or the 13 May 1979 ticket.
9 October 1977 — Generation X / The Crabs
Independent Generation X and Chancellor Hall research sources document this appearance.
2 April 1978 — Generation X / The Jolt
A separate later Chancellor Hall appearance, independently documented in the 1978 tour chronology.
12 March 1978 — Buzzcocks / The Slits / John Cooper Clarke
Surviving punk/new-wave event record.
17 September 1978 — Tanz Der Youth
Contemporary Record Mirror tour notice names Chelmsford Chancellor Hall on the Sunday of the run; independent venue chronology agrees. No ticket currently matched.
4 June 1978 — X-Ray Spex
Disputed secondary venue record. A first-hand Chelmsford memory says this is not remembered as a local appearance; the archive therefore does not count it as confirmed and retains it only as a research lead.
3 September 1978 — Radio Stars
The surviving ticket No. 333 explicitly prints the full date, venue, time and “Radio Stars plus support”.
24 September 1978 — The Lurkers
Strong research record: contemporary Sounds listing plus Steve Lamacq first-hand recollection. No surviving Chelmsford ticket matched yet.
8 October 1978 — The End / Enid discrepancy
Contemporary Record Mirror lists The End at Chancellor Hall; a later venue chronology lists Enid. The archive keeps the conflict visible rather than choosing without local evidence.
22 October 1978 — Sore Throat / The Deep Throats
Contemporary Record Mirror names Sore Throat at Chelmsford Chancellor Hall on 22 October, while independent venue evidence pairs Sore Throat with The Deep Throats. The site owner also records first-hand attendance.
3 December 1978 — Pere Ubu / Human League
Contemporary Record Mirror names a Pere Ubu booking at Chelmsford Chancellor Hall. The Human League pairing remains a later venue-list detail awaiting local confirmation.
12 November 1978 — Penetration
A separate surviving advert is explicitly dated Sunday 12 November 1978. It is kept separate from the May ticket.
5 March 1978 — Penetration (external research lead)
An external Chancellor Hall venue index lists Penetration on 5 March 1978. This is retained as a separate research lead and is not used to reinterpret the surviving May ticket.
26 February 1978 — The Radiators from Space
The Radiators from Space’s own published 1978–79 history records Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford on 26 February. Strong band-source evidence; no surviving local ticket currently matched.
28 April 1978 — Whirlwind
Evidence: strong contemporary. Record Mirror 8 April 1978 gives Chelmsford Chancellor Hall on April 28 in Whirlwind's tour schedule. No ticket currently matched.
7 May 1978 — Rikki & The Last Days Of Earth
Evidence: strong contemporary. Record Mirror dated 25 April 1978 gives Chelmsford Chancellor Hall on May 7 in the band's tour schedule; the band's gigography and venue chronology agree. A separate 30 April Rikki listing remains uncertain.
21 May 1978 — Wilko Johnson's Solid Senders
The surviving advert contains the spelling “Solid Spenders”. The archive records the band as Solid Senders while preserving the printed wording as an artefact detail.
13 May 1979 — Penetration
The surviving pink ticket is printed for Sunday 13 May. The ticket is yearless, but independent Chancellor Hall venue evidence corroborates 13 May 1979. The source-sheet label “Penetration Ticket 1978” is retained only as a legacy catalogue label.
11 March 1979 — The Undertones + The Deep Throats
Contemporary Record Mirror tour notice and independent listings document this first 1979 Chancellor Hall appearance.
3 June 1979 — The Undertones
Plug the LP Tour; Shake is listed as support and original ticket No. 021 survives. This is a separate appearance from 11 March.
Bethnal — two appearances
30 October 1977 — Bethnal
Established secondary evidence from the Bethnal chronology and Chancellor Hall catalogue. Not ticket-backed in the surviving Chelmsford archive.
18 March 1979 — Bethnal
Strong contemporary evidence from Record Mirror and Smash Hits. The site owner remembers seeing Bethnal but cannot now confirm which date he attended.
1986–1990
19 June 1986 — Primal Scream
Wallflowers / Barroom Fear material and a ticket survive in the later Chancellor Hall archive.
7 November 1990 — Dr Feelgood
Later Chancellor Hall material includes Dr Feelgood and associated memories.
1978 research sweep
Open the 1978 Sunday Sweep — a working list of remaining Sunday venue-list entries, separating established records from research leads.
What is deliberately not claimed
Not a complete programme
This page does not claim that these are every Chancellor Hall show. The surviving source catalogue contains additional acts and artefacts without always supplying a securely reconstructed date.
Artefacts stay visible
Tickets, adverts, flyers and photographs remain part of the archive even when the site cannot yet turn them into a complete event record.
Next research layer
The next useful step is to match the undated Chancellor Hall artefacts in the source catalogue against surviving tickets, posters and independent listings without collapsing separate appearances.
Related evidence
Chancellor Hall Source Catalogue · Artefact Research Board · Flickr Primary Sources · Tickets & Admissions · Memorabilia Evidence Register · Event Evidence Register · Event ↔ Venue Source Crosswalk
Chancellor Hall Artefact Research Board
Chancellor Hall Ticket Matching Board
Chancellor Hall Ticket Transcription Register
Undertones — two Chancellor Hall appearances in 1979
Radio Stars — one confirmed Chancellor Hall appearance
Deep Throats — two Chancellor Hall appearances
X-Ray Spex — 4 June 1978 research