Star Spotting At The Limelight Nightclub in the 1980s

“Some photos become instantly ‘iconic’ and this sums up the 80s for me. The zenith of pop culture captured in a frame.”

– David Koppel on being at London’s The Limelight nightclub

 

 

In 1985, around 100 years after the Welsh Presbyterian church opened on Shaftesbury Avenue, just off Cambridge Circus, the place hosted The Limelight, the London outpost of Canadian promoter Peter Gatien’s nightclub chain.

In his book, Limelight, David Koppel takes us back to the venue’s 1980s glory days when he was The Limelight’s house photographer, capturing regulars like Boy George, George Michael, John Lydon, Leigh Bowery, Nile Rodgers, Kim Wilde, Iggy Pop, Jeff Beck, Lemmy from Motörhead, Billy Idol and Shane MacGowan

‘[It was] a rare picture of the two Georges,” says Koppel of the picture above to George Michael and Boy George at The Limelight. “The VIP room was overcrowded and I could barely squeeze in. As soon as I saw them talking together I knew I had to get the frame. I took a photo immediately so I knew I had it in the bag, and then asked them to pose. George Michael just ignored me at which point Boy George turned and gave me the ‘look’. It was just a split second and the timing was perfect. I couldn’t have posed them any better myself. Some photos become instantly ‘iconic’ and this sums up the 80s for me. The zenith of pop culture captured in a frame.”

 

“What a character Leigh Bowery was. It’s one thing dressing up and having fun but he lived this. He loved having his photograph taken. He didn’t hold back. His pose, his grin, his identifiable teeth lost in his black stained mouth, his wig, his makeup and the look of his companion, lost and staring into the middle distance … the perfect couple!”

– David Koppel

 

“Every newspaper and most pop magazines hadn’t yet discovered colour. There was no internet, no mobile phones, no digital cameras. It seems unthinkable now.”

– David Koppel

 

“I said I didn’t like nightclubs, I didn’t drink, I wasn’t interested in celebrities, and I was a ‘serious’ photographer. They said, ‘We’ll pay you for one night.’ That one night lasted a year and paved the way for a decade on Fleet Street.”

– David Koppel

 

“If everybody is dressed in Armani, it’s boring. If everybody is super-sequins, it’s boring. The most important thing you can do in a club is to draw an eclectic crowd. In the end, they entertain each other.”

– Limelight proprietor Peter Gatien

 

“I only managed to get one of the [Beastie] Boys to pose inside the club, the others refused. They were massive when they visited London and a crowd had gathered outside. As the group got into a black cab there was an almighty scrum. I had to focus the lens using the light created from other photographer’s flashguns, and my flash hit the glass of the cab and burnt out Mike D, only adding to the drama. It also helped to highlight the tongue, the finger, the attitude. One of those enormously lucky ‘decisive’ moments.”

– David Koppel

 

Via: Limelight by David Koppelis published by PAP ARTRRP and RRB books. An accompanying exhibition is showing at Zebra One Gallery, London, from 10-20 October.