Launched on 14th September 2006 after 11 months graft and still a live 'work in progress', KinemaGigz aspires to help give The Kinema Ballroom in the historic City of Dunfermline the recognition it deserves as one of the more important venues in the history of live music performance in Scotland. At their most popular there were more than 600 such Dance Halls / Ballrooms all over Scotland and Dunfermline is proud to still have hers intact and still performing the same function.
"Important?" I hear you say - Just take a look at some comparative statistics for Glasgow's Green's Playhouse/Apollo for instance, against The Kinema Ballroom.
No of acts: Green's Playhouse/Apollo - 686 Vs The Kinema - 1,170+ (1.7 times more and counting)
No of gigs: Green's Playhouse/Apollo - 1,439 Vs The Kinema - 10,000+ (6 times more and counting)
No gig years: Green's Playhouse/Apollo - 19 Vs The Kinema - 65+ (3 times more and counting)
The Kinema Ballroom was never even in the same league as the Apollo, however I reckon it's relative importance has been overlooked.
It has been known variously as 'The Kinema Ballroom', 'Night Magic', 'Hollywood Boulevard', 'The Ballroom', 'Velocity' and now 'The Ballroom' once more. I will refer to it as simply 'the ballroom'.
The following pages contain the only known record of every live music performance in the ballroom from its opening night in 1938 to the present day, together with artist biographies, photographs and recollections from the people that were there. Were you?
I believe I've nailed almost all of the 10,000+ dates and 1,170+ acts spread over 70+ years! (and counting). I've written around half of almost 970 biographies that I've listed so far, and reproduced the rest with permission. There's still about 200 to find & with your help I believe many will be found. Additions and improvements are appearing frequently, so check out my 'Wot's New' page from time to time. (I recommend you bookmark this page for future reference).
Pop, Jazz, Big Band, Rock, Gospel, Soul, Punk, Folk, Dance, Swing, New Wave, Heavy Metal, Mod, Ska, Electronic, Reggae, Blues, Country, Rock 'n' Roll, Progressive, Funk, New Romantic, Disco, it's all here.
Matt Monro, Elton John, Cliff Richard, David Bowie, Cream, Billy Connolly, Acker Bilk, N-Trance, The Damned, Atomic Kitten, Thin Lizzy, Boney M, Bucks Fizz, The Dubliners, The Who, Rolf Harris, The Skids of course and hundreds of others some of which neither you nor I have even heard of! They've all played the ballroom!
If you're interested in who built this site and why, there's a piece about me and why / how I built the site here.
75th Year! 
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