Concert posters in London 1979

A wonderfully vivid snapshot of London’s late-70s music scene, captured in the wild on a city hoarding plastered with upcoming gigs and club nights. By 1979, the capital’s live-music landscape was an eclectic mix of jazz greats, reggae pioneers, rock heavyweights, soul groups and emerging new-wave sounds — and this single stretch of posters reflects that diversity perfectly.

Front and centre are the bright yellow bills for The Heptones and Blackstones at the legendary 100 Club on Oxford Street — a venue that had become a crucial home for reggae and lovers rock as well as punk. Next door, Ronnie Scott’s advertises an extended residency from celebrated jazz pianist Ahmad Jamal, underscoring the club’s status as Britain’s premier modern-jazz venue.

Rock fans are catered for with a massive plug for Status Quo at the Odeon Hammersmith — then one of London’s main mid-size rock venues. Meanwhile, bright red posters promote The Real Thing, one of Britain’s most successful soul groups of the decade.

On the far right, you can just make out artwork for Van Halen, signalling the rise of American hard rock across the UK.

Scenes like this — rows of mismatched posters, pasted thick over old layers and peeling at the corners — were once a defining part of London’s streetscape. Today they serve as a brilliant time capsule of the city’s musical energy in 1979, just on the cusp of the 1980s.