An official archive of Play Dead live performances. Amendments and additions will be made regularly but only from reliable and/or verifiable sources. If there is any info out there that can help improve the accuracy of the list, please feel free to get in touch with admin@companyofjustice.com your input will be very welcome. Special thanks go to both Daz for fact checking and correcting from his personal diary (and for supplying support band details where possible) and the blog maintained by Dimitroy Paneuropean for supplying details of gigs outside the UK.
1980
21st December London Pied Bull (with UK Decay)
1981
28th March London Clarendon Basement (with Elgin Marbles)
11th April Bletchley Youth Centre
20th April London Rock Garden
7th May Birmingham Ceder Ballroom (with UK Decay)
8th May Liverpool Bradys (with UK Decay)
9th May Northampton Roadmenders (with UK Decay)
11th May Oxford Scamps (with UK Decay)
12th May London 100 Club (with UK Decay)
14th May Leeds Warehouse (with UK Decay)
15th May Retford Porterhouse (with UK Decay)
16th May Bedford Bunyam Centre (with UK Decay)
17th May Cheltenham Eves (with UK Decay)
18th May Bristol Granary (with UK Decay)
19th May London Venue (with UK Decay)
20th May Manchester Mayflower (with UK Decay)
21st May Preston Warehouse (with UK Decay)
22nd May Scarborough Taboo (with UK Decay) *see note 1 below
8th August Oxford Caribbean Club (with Judy & The Shades)
20th August Preston Warehouse
1982
6th Feb London Musicians Collective (with 5or6 & Orange Cardigan)
13th March Northampton Roadmenders (with Wasted Youth)
22nd March Oxford Scamps (with Theatre Of Hate)
31st March London Marquee (with UK Decay)
28th May Bristol Trinity Hall (with 23 Skidoo)
22nd October Retford Porterhouse (with Sex Gang Children)
16th December London Clarendon (with GBH)
1983
16th Feb- London Pied Bull
17th March London Brixton Ace (with Sex Gang Children)
14th March- Bradford Manhattan (with The Room)
15th March- Leeds Brannigans (with The Room)
17th March- London Brixton Ace (with Sex Gang Children)
24th March London Cage Club
4th May Swansea Marina (with Sex Gang Children)
5th May Dartford Flicks (with Sex Gang Children)
6th May Digbeth Civic Hall (with Sex Gang Children)
7th May Manchester Poly (with Sex Gang Children & Inca Babies)
9th May Glasgow Nightmoves (with Sex Gang Children)
10th May Newcastle Dingwalls (with Sex Gang Children)
11th May Lancaster Sugerhouse (with Sex Gang Children)
12th May Leeds Warehouse (with Sex Gang Children)
13th May Norwich Gala (with Sex Gang Children)
14th May Brighton Poly (with Sex Gang Children)
15th May London Lyceum (with Sex Gang Children)
8th July Brighton Alhambra (+ Ghost Shirts)
12th July London Marquee (+ Skeletal Family)
14th July Birmingham Golden Eagle
16th July Coventry General Wolfe (+ Third Circle)
21st July Sheffield Leadmill (with Killing Joke)
22nd July Glasgow Nightmoves (with Killing Joke)
23rd July Durham Dunhelm Ballroom (with Killing Joke)
24th July Ashton Under Lyme Metro Club (with Killing Joke)
26th July Cardiff Top Rank (with Killing Joke)
27th July Nottingham Rock City (with Killing Joke)
28th July Hull Spring Street Theatre (with Killing Joke)
29th July Dunstable Queensway Hall (with Killing Joke)
30th July Digbeth Civic Hall (with Killing Joke)
31st July London Hammersmith Palais (with Killing Joke + Box & Sex Beat)
7th Sept Wakefield Hellfire Club
11th Sept London Hammersmith Palais (with The Damned + Beast & Flesh For Lulu)
18th Sept Leeds Queens Hall (Futurama Festival)
6th Oct Newport Stowaway Club (+ Crazy Trains)
7th Oct Liverpool College Further Education (+ Lavolta Lakota)
8th Oct Retford Porterhouse
11th Oct Leeds Tiffanys/Dungeon Club (+ Lavolta Lakota)
12th Oct Manchester Jillys (+ Lavolta Lakota)
13th Oct London Clarendon/Klub Foot (+ Flesh For Lulu & Geschlecht Akt)
14th Oct Birmingham Golden Eagle (+ Lavolta Lakota)
15th Oct Coventry Polytechnic (+ Lavolta Lakota)
16th Oct Brighton Pavilion (+ Bone Orchard)
22nd Oct Retford Porterhouse (+ Resistance)
2nd Dec Glasgow Night Moves (+ Twisted Nerve)
5th Dec Leicester Psykik Club (Spectrum Studios)
6th Dec Sheffield Leadmill (+ Curse & Dachau Choir)
7th Dec Wakefield Hellfire Club
8th Dec London Clarendon/Klub Foot (+ 1919 & Geschlacht Akt)
9th Dec Birmingham Tin Can (+ Balaam and The Angel)
10th Dec Manchester Polytechnic (+ Inca Babies & Dancing Tarantulas).
1984
Jan 7th Paris (FR) Forum Des Halles (+ Schock Corridor)
4th June London Lyceum (with Nick Cave + Carcrash International & Scientists)
13th June Leeds Warehouse
14th June Manchester Hacienda (+ Chatshow)
15th June Keele Uni (+ Chatshow)
16th June Birmingham Tin Can (+ Chatshow)
17th June Sheffield Leadmill (+ Chatshow)
20th June London Venue (+ Balaam and The Angel & Chatshow)
13th Sept Paris (FR) Eldorado (with Dead Can Dance & Flesh For Lulu)
22nd Sept Geneva (CZ) Salle des Fates du Lignon
25th Sept Grenoble (FR) Magic Drac West
27th Sept Paris (FR) La Sébale
26th Sept Lyon (FR) West Side Club
?? Oct Florence (IT) Malina
2nd Oct Hamburg (DE) Kir *see note 2 below
5th Oct Jonkopping (SE) Kulturhuset
6th Oct Karlstad (SE) Dorhuset
7th Oct Stockholm (SE) Kolingsborg
9th Oct Norkopping (SE) Olympia
10th Oct Örebro (SE) Rock Magasinet
11th Oct Copenhagen (DK) Musikcafeen
13th Oct Berlin (DE) The Loft
18th Nov Sheffield Leadmill
24th Nov Aylesbury Friars (with The Cult + Balaam and The Angel)
25th Nov London Lyceum (with The Cult + Balaam and The Angel & The Bolshoi)
7th Dec Saint-Brandan, Saint Brieuc (FR) La Mèche Bleue
10th Dec Paris (FR) L’Hypogee (+ Ausweis)
12th Dec Nice (FR) Pub Saint Laurent
14th Dec The Tube TV Show, Newcastle
20th Dec Liverpool Planet X (+ Dementia)
1985
3rd Feb London Hammersmith Palais (with Killing Joke)
13th Feb Preston Clouds (+ Chatshow)
14th Feb Liverpool Planet X (+ Chatshow & Dementia)
15th Feb Manchester Uni (+ Chatshow)
22nd Feb London ULU (+ Balaam and The Angel & Chatshow)
23rd Feb Oxford CFE (+ Chatshow)
25th Feb Newcastle Tiffanys
26th Feb Whitehaven Whitehouse (+ Chatshow)
27th Feb Nottingham Rock City (+ Chatshow)
1st March Brighton Pavilion
2nd March Retford Porterhouse
5th March Leeds Warehouse * see note 3 below
7th March Lancaster Sugerhouse * see note 3 below
8th March Wishaw Heathery Bar
9th March Aberdeen Victoria Hotel
10th May Rennes (FR) Ubu
12th May Tournai (BE) Masure 14 (+ Pink Spirits)
13th May Brussels (BE) Scharebeek
14th May Amsterdam (NL) Paradiso (+ Basic Scream & Black Thor & Performance)
15th May Utrecht (NL) Vrije Vloer (+ Scream Therapy)
22nd May Bradford Bier Keller (+ Bomb Party)
23rd May Bristol Granary (+ Bomb Party)
27th May Nottingham Rock City (+ Gene Loves Jezebel & Bomb Party)
29th May Stourport Mount Olympus Hotel (+ Dies Irae)
30th May London Clarendon/Klub Foot (+ Sunglasses After Dark & Bomb Party & Shadowland)
1st June Brighton Poly (+ Bomb Party & Funeral Of Fools)
2nd June Southampton Riverside (+ Bomb Party)
3rd June Stoke Shellys (+ Bomb Party)
8th Aug London Electric Ballroom (with The Chameleons + Colenso Parade)
28th Sept- Wolverhampton Polytechnic (+ Black Comedy)
29th Sept Birmingham Powerhouse
22nd Oct Nottingham Rock City (+ Rose Of Avalanche)
23rd Oct Croydon Underground (+ Shadowland)
24th Oct Brest (FR) Salle Cerdan- Euro Rock Festival
26th Oct Manchester Owens Park (+ Rose Of Avalanche)
13th Dec Tournai (BE) Masure 14 (+ Beeter Laat Dan Nodit & The Hair Mary)
14th Dec Namur (BE) Chapelle Des Bateliers (+The Breath Of Life)
18th Dec London Penthouse (+ The Bolshoi & Blyth Power & Kindergarten)
20th Dec Preston Paradise
21st Dec Retford Porterhouse (+ Chatshow)
22nd Dec Stevenage Bowes Lyon House (+ Chatshow)
Notes:
- Although there was one further date on this tour (23rd May at Middlesborough Rock Garden) Play Dead did not appear due to unavailability.
- A fan over on the Play Dead Appreciation Society Facebook page stated that although this gig did happen in October 1984, Ian Astbury and Billy Duffy from The Cult appeared onstage with PD after their own gig at the Markthalle (another Hamburg venue). However, the online gigography for The Cult does not list a Hamburg gig during this month, it is listed as 16th June 1984- and at this time PD were touring the UK, in fact 16th June was the date of the infamous Tin Can gig. However, Duffys own website is claiming this happened on the second of october http://www.billyduffy.com/memorabilia/t … burg-1984/ so we will go with that.
- A gig at Chester Monroes was orginally supposed to take place between these two dates. It was cancelled on the afternoon of the 6th March, before the band’s soundcheck, when the venue PA system was found to be not functioning correctly.
