Live: David Bowie and the Lower Third, Golf-Drouot, Paris, France

David Bowie and the Lower Third had ended 1965 with a show at the Golf-Drouot in Paris, France. The following afternoon they played a matinee show back at the venue.

They returned to the Golf-Drouot for a third and final performance on 2 January 1966.

The Golf-Drouot could almost have been the Marquee when the lights were on us up on stage. It had such a similar vibe about it and it made great sense that there was this close bond between the clubs. Like the Marquee, the Golf-Drouot was a very popular teenage club and is still revered by those that remember it, as is the Marquee by those who used to go there regularly. No doubt this was down to a mutual admiration between the two skilled club proprietors behind these establishments, the Marquee’s Harold Pendleton and the Golf’s aforementioned local legend, Henri Leproux.

Golf-Drouot opened in 1955 as a tea room with a miniature golf course, and in 1961 became a nightclub. It closed in 1981.

It was the very first place I tried out something that was pretty much like a kind of punk thing. His club was very inspirational for me, it really was, because we were trying out, at that time, what we considered was fairly exciting music. We had a chance to play somewhere, and he let us work with it.