BIRMINGHAM is a music city - some heavy rock fans would say THE music city.

For decades bands spawned in the Midlands such as Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, Duran Duran, Ocean Colour Scene and UB40 have struck out to find worldwide fame and success, and in return the greatest artists from across the globe have come here to make their mark on a scene noted for its legendary venues and passionate fans.

But what makes a great gig a great gig? Some are remembered because they feature long-gone legendary performers at the height of their powers playing in OUR town, accessible to all for the price of a few shillings - and fondly remembered by double or treble the number of people who could actually fit in the venue, all proudly saying "I was there."

Some are great because they took place in a run-down club or pub back room and were witnessed by only a few friends, family and curious strangers who wandered in to find out what the racket was - but who then witnessed the birth of a band that would go on to conquer the world.

And some only gain greatness in retrospect. What may have been a good but uneventful gig at the time achieves greater significance when it is released on record, still thrilling fans decades later who dream of what it might have been like to see their heroes at the height of their powers.

Or more poignantly, that run-of-the-mill show sometimes turns out to be a group's last hurrah with a final bust-up in the dressing room afterwards or the sudden death of a performer giving the event a bittersweet significance that could never have been felt at the time.

Birmingham - and the West Midlands - has seen them all many times over. Here are just a few of them.

THE BEATLES: Odeon Cinema, Birmingham, December 9, 1965

The Beatles had been regular visitors to Brum, with two shows at the Hippodrome and a date at the Town Hall with Roy Orbison in 1963 and an gig at the Odeon in 1964, but this concert saw the loveable moptops at the height of their international fame and only months away from their last-ever live concert at Candlestick Park, in San Francisco. They would never play in Birmingham again.

After battling through torrential rain to reach the city, the Fab Four played two sets at the venue, treating fans to a host of classics including Help!, Nowhere Man, Yesterday, and Day Tripper .

The band also visited Birmingham in 1965 to appear on the TV show Thank Your Lucky Stars.

PINK FLOYD: Mothers, Erdington, April 27, 1969

By 1969 Pink Floyd were at a crossroads - founder member and singer Syd Barrett had left and the band were about to unveil a radically new sound. Nervous as to how the next album Ummagumma would be received, the group decided to release it with a live album featuring the old psychedelic songs they were planning to drop from their set once it came out.

The gig at Mothers, a club above a shop in Erdington High Street and the former Carlton Ballroom, was recorded along with concerts in Bromley and Manchester for the live album. Keyboard player Richard Wright said, "The first time, at Mothers in Birmingham, we felt we’d played really well, but the equipment didn’t work." Sections of the other gigs were added to complete the album, and the sound of Mothers was preserved for posterity.

Music guru and DJ John Peel recalled: "People are amazed to hear that for a few years the best club in Britain was in Erdington."

BLACK SABBATH: Mothers, Erdington, February 6, 1970

Local boys Black Sabbath - until recently named Earth -  made their first appearance at Erdington's high church of psychedelia just a week before their debut album was unleashed on the world. Within weeks they would be touring America and starting along the road to international stardom.

But the band stayed close to their roots and regularly played the city venue. Club regular CJ Stone remembers: "We saw a string of bands. Black Sabbath were virtually the resident band there."

Sabbath offered a typically psychedelic experience for the time. An advert in the Birmingham Evening Mail advertising the gig listed other attractions: "Head sounds by Hairy Rod, poster stall conducted by Fancied Fred."

SEX PISTOLS: Bogart's, Birmingham, October 20, 1976

A typically anarchic and vitriolic performance at Bogart's in New Street was the second and final appearance by The Sex Pistols in Brum (the first was at Eddie Fewtrell's Barbarella's Club on August 14 that year).

The Pistols became public enemy number one after a foul-mouthed performance on Bill Grundy's Today programme on December 1, and the ensuing outrage saw many of the gigs on the band's Anarchy tour cancelled, including a date at Birmingham Town Hall on December 20. A year later the band imploded.

Fan Paul Apperley, who was at the Bogart's show, remembers: "I went to both the Barbarellas and Bogarts gigs. Me and my brother Alan got inspired by them and ended up forming the Prefects after seeing these shows. Barbarellas was a great gig and like nothing we had seen before, the Pistols were great.

"The band turned up late about 9ish and carried their gear in, set it up and played almost immediately (no sign of any contrived swindle b******t that Malcolm McLaren later tried to make out). Just a band that wanted to play. Seeing the Pistols before the Grundy thing happened and it exploded was a really memorable experience and having seem them later when Sid had joined, the earlier gigs were so much better in comparison."

UB40: Hare and Hounds, Kings Heath, February 9, 1979

The world's most successful Reggae band was first exposed to the world at a small private event - Suzy Varty's birthday party.

She had asked UB40 to play because her boyfriend at the time Tope ‘Yomi’ Babayemi, now an African prince, was the band’s drummer.

“It was a private gig, a friend’s birthday party, but it was our first in front of strangers,” recalled guitarist Robin Campbell. “I remember being paralysed with fear and thinking we would never get through it. Then I was massively relieved they loved us and it turned into a proper party. The gig was brilliant and we played our entire repertoire, which was about ten songs. We knew then that we were a band.”

UB40 played the tracks which would later make up their first album and were joined on stage by Blues guitarist Steve Ajao. Thirty-two years later the band returned to the venue to play an acoustic set celebrating the unveiling of a special commemorative plaque at the pub.

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