According to the timeline on Duran Duran’s Wiki, on this date in 1986, The Demolition Party was held at the Rum Runner, which was indeed torn down in order to make room for the Hyatt Hotel. Was anyone at this party? Did anyone go to the Rum Runner before it was no more?
As we all know, the Rum Runner was the club that was owned by Michael and Paul Berrow, Duran’s first managers. When John and Nick brought them a demo tape, the Berrow brothers like them so much that they became their managers, gave the band members’ jobs there and made Duran the resident band of the club. It was Duran’s home. Here is a clip, which is featured as an Easter Egg clip on Duran’s Greatest that shows Duran playing at the club:
Of course, there are other clips about the Rum Runner available to see on YouTube. Here is another one that I found:
BBC One Show featured Rum Runner in a clip in 2011:
Do you think that you would have attended such a club if you were in Birmingham then????
-A
I could only wish. No way to ever get there from here for me. I still hope some day to make that trip, even if it is to see the spot where it once stood.
Yeah, definitely. I was too young, otherwise I would of been there. By the time I was old enough, it had indeed been knocked down. I did get married up on Broad St (nothing to do with Duran) and a lot of photo’s outside the Hyatt. Also I have a photo of the Rum Runner from the outside from when it was still standing
Very cool about the photo! We would love to see it sometime!! -A
I’ll dig it out!
Yay! I look forward to seeing it! -A
No, for age reasons and even if I lived in B’ham, I wish I could be there (and older… LOL)
The huge changes happening back then in music were serious and interesting.
There were some huge changes happening then and it would have been so cool to be a witness to them! -A