On 5 September 2002, one of the most storied names in British live music reopened in an unlikely place. The Marquee Club, which began in a basement on Oxford Street in 1958 and spent its most celebrated years on Wardour Street in Soho, was relaunched at a purpose-built venue in Islington's N1 Centre, with a launch party that drew a cross-section of London's music, art and television worlds.
The name carried a great deal of history. The Rolling Stones played their first billed gig at the Marquee on 12 July 1962, and over the following decades the Wardour Street stage hosted the Who, Led Zeppelin, Queen, Iron Maiden and a young Metallica. After a final spell on Charing Cross Road, the club closed in 1996, and the Islington relaunch was an attempt to give the brand a new home.
Behind the new venture stood Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, who arrived with his wife, the photographer Anoushka Fisz. Among the guests were Noel Gallagher, photographed with a phone raised in the crowd, and the artist Damien Hirst, who posed with his arms folded against the Marquee branding.
The couple who drew most attention were Gwen Stefani and Gavin Rossdale. The No Doubt singer and the Bush frontman were nine days from their wedding at St Paul's, Covent Garden, on 14 September, and were photographed arm in arm on their way in. Atomic Kitten's Jenny Frost and the model and presenter Lisa Snowdon completed the arrivals.
The Islington Marquee did not last. It ran into financial difficulty and closed in 2003, less than a year after this party, and the building reopened later that year as what is now the O2 Academy Islington. The Marquee name would surface again in Leicester Square in 2004 before finally fading in 2008, which leaves these photographs as a record of a brief, hopeful moment for a famous name.
