X-Ray Spex — 4 June 1978
A disputed Chancellor Hall research lead for X-Ray Spex. The date appears in surviving secondary venue/gig listings, but first-hand Chelmsford memory now points the other way and no Chelmsford Rocks ticket or contemporary local advert has been matched to it.
Sunday 4 June 1978
X-Ray Spex — Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford
Southend Punk Rock History's 1978 gig chronology does not currently show this date, while 45cat records X-Ray Spex at Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford on 4 June 1978. Punk Music Catalogue also does not currently establish the date in its Chancellor Hall chronology. The date therefore remains a lead rather than a confirmed Chelmsford appearance.
Status: disputed research lead; secondary listing only, with contrary first-hand local memory. The archive does not count this as a confirmed Chancellor Hall appearance.
What we do not yet know
No surviving Chelmsford Rocks ticket, poster, newspaper advert or first-hand memory has yet been matched to the 4 June entry. The archive therefore does not create a full event record from this listing alone.
This is deliberately kept as a disputed research page. The secondary listing is preserved so that it can be revisited if a primary source turns up, but it is not treated as a confirmed Chelmsford appearance.
First-hand memory — contrary evidence
The Chelmsford Rocks researcher remembers loving X-Ray Spex and says he would have gone to see them at Chancellor Hall if they had played locally. He has no memory of an X-Ray Spex Chelmsford show and remembers seeing them in London instead. Because this is a direct personal recollection from someone actively following the band, it is important contrary evidence against promoting the 4 June listing to a confirmed event.
Archive decision: do not add X-Ray Spex to the confirmed Chancellor Hall chronology unless a ticket, contemporary local advert, photograph or another independent primary source resolves the discrepancy.
Why it is worth keeping
X-Ray Spex are already part of the wider Chancellor Hall research picture, and the 4 June date sits in the same run of 1978 punk/new-wave bookings as the ticket-backed Buzzcocks, Generation X and Wilko Johnson shows. The point of this page is not to inflate the chronology, but to preserve a specific conflicting lead that can later be tested against tickets, adverts, photographs or memories.
Evidence rule: a secondary venue listing is a research lead, especially where first-hand local memory conflicts with it. It becomes a stronger historical event record when a surviving primary artefact or independent contemporary source can be matched.
Sources checked
- 45cat — Chancellor Hall, Chelmsford live venue listing — records X-Ray Spex at Chancellor Hall on 4 June 1978.
- Southend Punk Rock History — 1978 gigs — useful independent Chancellor Hall chronology for comparison; its current list does not include the 4 June X-Ray Spex entry.
- Punk Music Catalogue — Chancellor Hall — broader surviving Chancellor Hall punk chronology used as a cross-check; the current page does not establish a ticket-backed X-Ray Spex record.
Next evidence target: a 4 June 1978 ticket, poster, local-paper advert, photograph or first-person Chelmsford memory.