Legendary bands playing to tiny audiences...

Whitecat

Not quite the same thing but fits the thread title - back in 1996/1997 iirc in the US & Canada the massive beer giants Miller & Molson held a series of “Blind Date” gigs all over their respective countries. The idea is you’d enter via ballot at pubs and bars that sold Miller or Molson and if you won they would fly you all expenses paid to a gig at a tiny venue (usually a club, sometimes a small theatre) but you wouldn’t know the band you were going to see until showtime. 

The list of acts that participated:

David Bowie, Foo Fighters, Bush, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Stone Temple Pilots, Def Leppard, Rush, Metallica, Lenny Kravitz, Goo Goo Dolls, Sex Pistols, INXS, Sheryl Crow

Can’t remember the breakdown by country but I know Rush played The Phoenix Club in Toronto, current capacity 1350, may have been less at the time. They did an abridged version of the Test For Echo tour setlist they were then midway through. 

hollywoodrox

CaseOfAce said:

Beatles playing to 18 people in '61...


and these lucky boys and girls enjoying Abba at a funfair:

ABBA - Waterloo (BBC Seaside Special 1975) (youtube.com)

I’ve not looked but I’m assuming that’s Abba playing at Paignton green 

dano

7th Sep 1962 (62 years ago today) The Beatles played at irby village hall, a small Merseyside town where I live.

https://beatlesliverpoollocations.blogspot.com/2015/05/newton-dancing-school-irby.html?m=1

There's a plaque and picture in there about it, there is a new stage in there build over the original stage.

rsvmark

Hothouse flowers, Sunday night at the Leadmill in Sheffield, just about the same time they released t(eir debut single (Don’t go)

2-300 people there but to this day, one of the best gigs I ever went to.

Stuckfast

I saw Chris Hillman (of the Byrds, Flying Burrito Bros, etc) at the Junction in Cambridge, which holds 800+. There were fourteen people in the audience. To his credit he did a blinder of a show even so.

markv

I saw a few bands at fairly early stages in their careers, all courtesy of a friend of mine who was good at keeping his ear to the ground!

We saw Suede at the launch gig for their first single "The Drowners", one afternoon in the Rough Trade shop in Neal's Yard in Covent Garden - which was itself only the basement of a skate shop iirc. It was tiny but there must have been a couple of hundred people rammed in - fire safety be damned! They were awesome.

Smashing Pumpkins at their first UK gig, at the Camden Underworld - capacity 500 apparently, but it wasn't particularly full. Reputedly Kurt 'n' Courtney were in the audience. The gig was OK - I didn't really get into the Pumpkins until a few years later. (We were on the guest list for this one ...)

Also Boo Radleys, probably around the time of Giant Steps, playing in a tent at a festival somewhere around Brighton, to a largely disinterested couple of hundred people. They were scorchingly loud and I thought they were great, although I seemed to be in a minority in that opinion.

viz

mudslide73 said:

Radiohead at Lichfield Arts Centre in early 93. I met my girlfriend of that time that evening so didn't pay attention to Thom and co. I wished I had. Some great bands went through there on the way up.

I believe 2 is the smallest audience Thom has played to, and that includes my friend Gus with the camera. 

rlw

Saw Asleep at the Wheel at Dingwalls.  Thunderstorms led to massive power cuts so no tubes running.  Audience of between 50 to 100 at the very most.

Probably the most professional act I've ever seen, they played like it was a stadium in Texas and we were all locals, pissed on Lone Star.

boogieman

I saw Jennifer Batten at the Half Moon in Putney. She was promoting her solo album and played over backing tracks with accompanying videos projected onto a screen. There were 14 of us in the audience and I think even one of those was her video assistant. She was actually very cool about it and said it was like playing for friends in her living room. She came out to chat with people in the half time break… I used to make stained glass bits and pieces as a hobby and she makes fused and slumped glass things, so we talked about that. Nice lady. 

Offset

rsvmark said:

Hothouse flowers, Sunday night at the Leadmill in Sheffield, just about the same time they released t(eir debut single (Don’t go)

2-300 people there but to this day, one of the best gigs I ever went to.

I think I saw them play in the UEA bar around the time Don't Go became a hit.  Great live band as I recall.

Funkfingers

cm01 said:

I’ve seen a ton of bands at Clwb Ifor Bach in Cardiff which is pretty compact and bijou - 

I went there to see a double headliner gig by The Gavin Harrison Band and Stickmen. Several of the musicians involved later convened in the seven-piece incarnation of King Crimson.

ewal

A fair few bands back in the day in Glasgow, mostly because it was early in their careers. Probably the one that stands out is REM at Night Moves, on the Reckoning tour - 300 max there.

Others - Sonic Youth at Daddy Warbucks (300 or so) on the EVOL tour and Night Moves on Sister tour. Primal Scream at Daddy Warbucks round 1986. Manic Street Preachers at King Tuts. Mogwai at 13th Note pub on Glassford Street, etc, etc.

viz

boogieman said:

I saw Jennifer Batten at the Half Moon in Putney. She was promoting her solo album and played over backing tracks with accompanying videos projected onto a screen. There were 14 of us in the audience and I think even one of those was her video assistant. She was actually very cool about it and said it was like playing for friends in her living room. She came out to chat with people in the half time break… I used to make stained glass bits and pieces as a hobby and she makes fused and slumped glass things, so we talked about that. Nice lady. 

She’s so nice! She did a class at a little gymnasium in Durban in 93 and also chatted for ages afterwards, and was also very funny during the class. And then a friend of mine had his jennifer batten guitar stolen and I asked her to help spread the word, which she did.