Been reading this thread with interest. Hopefully I can help a little with the Black Sabbath question. Saw quite a few gigs at the capitol after moving to the North East from Leicester in 1975 as a 7 year old.
My dad was friends with a few of the members of Showaddywaddy from his teen years and we saw them on 17th May 1975 and spent time with them at the Station Hotel across from the train station (Gulid Street? I think) and the next time they toured they had had several hits by then and had upgraded to what was called the Holiday Inn (Bucksburn) latterly but at the time (1st December 1977) was called the Sheraton Hotel I believe. After that show in 1977 my family went back to the Sheraton while my Dad had a few drinks with them and sat in the bar, absolutely out of his mind, was Ozzy and, I believe, Tony Iommi. Looking back, Ozzy was smashed on something and wearing a shirt open to the waist and the biggest gold cross around his neck that I have ever seen (even to this day). So, they either played the capitol in December 1977 or that was the cancelled gig people on here are referring to.
I also saw Motorhead there on 17th March 1982 and also in 1981, though I don't know the date. In one of these, the 1981 gig I think, the curtains opened and the stage descended from the ceiling with them playing the song Bomber. As a 12 year old, I'd never seen anything like it. I distincly remember seeing Lemmy spit into the crowd from the front of the stage but not a lot else, other than it was unbelievably loud.
I also saw Thin Lizzy, Black Crowes, Simple Minds and the Average White Band there and whilst I have loads of ticket stubs from concerts over the years (mainly 1990's onwards) sadly none from the 1980's capitol gigs remain though I do have the Simple Minds stub from 1995 which I would post on here if I knew how to (it was 7th Sept 1995 and cost 16.50). I used to go to the Playhouse and the Apollo a lot with my brother too and can't remember where I saw some acts though they may have been at the capitol (maybe not) including Ian Gillan, Saxon, Ronnie James Dio and a few others.
Apologies for the length of this post, just thought I'd spew out all the info I remember in one go.
I'll speak to my brother, who now lives in New York and if he remembers anyone else we saw at the Capitol I'll post them.
