1981-02-14 The Rainbow, London, England, UK

Notes

Ex-Blitz kids Steve Strange and Rusty Egan organised a "People's Palace St. Valentine's Ball" at the Rainbow. Vince Clarke managed to secure this gig, and Depeche Mode were paid £50.. Depeche Mode was the opening act, followed by Ronny, groups Shock and Metro, and Ultravox was the main act. Naked Lunch was also supposed to perform, but cancelled due to some kind of stage accident that happened before. Marc Almond from Soft Cell was in attendance.

Rusty Egan said to Trevor Baker:

"I met Depeche Mode at that gig and thought they were new and original and brilliant and went mad and tried to sign them, make them stars. So I started this bit about, 'I love you, I want you to play for me, I want you to do this, I want you to do that.' They were the loveliest, sweetest, nicest guys you could meet. Dave was attached by a pair of handcuffs to his girlfriend (not literally). She went everywhere with him and they were in love. It was all, 'I can't answer that one, you'll have to let me talk to my girlfriend.' It wasn't like four young kids who were all up for it and ready, 'Let's go back to your flat and talk' or 'Let's go out all night', it was more like, 'No, I have to talk to my girlfriend'."

According to Baker, Egan then invited DM to play at his club Flicks in Dartford.

An uncredited DM member said in fanzine "Stand & Deliver", published in June 1982:

"We played at the People's Palace thing in London a while ago which was supposed to be a futurist thing. We thought the idea was really good, to have all these people into the same thing, under one roof for a night but with Ultravox as the surprise guests, it turned into just another Ultravox concert."

Andy Fletcher said to Trouser Press in May 1982, "When we supported Ultravox at the Rainbow, they were soundchecking for about five hours."

Ticket scans

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  Credit to unknown.

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  Credit to unknown.