The Marquee is a legendary music club first located at 165 Oxford Street, London, England when it opened in 1958 with a range of jazz and skiffle acts. It was also the location of the first ever live performance by The Rolling Stones on 12 July 1962.

The 1960s: Rock roots
Although never a seminal punk venue, the Marquee embraced the burgeoning punk rock movement of the late 1970s regularly promoting punk and new wave nights into the 1980s. Bands such as The Sex Pistols, The Boys, Eddie and the Hot Rods, The Stranglers, Generation X, London, The Police, The Sinceros, Buzzcocks and The Jam all trod the famous Wardour Street stage.

'Secret' gigs
In 1988, the Wardour Street site was sold for redevelopment (it is now Meza and Floridita with a cigar retail shop Spanish restaurant and Cuban restaurant and some flats) and the Marquee Club moved again to a larger venue at 105 Charing Cross Road. During this period, American progressive metal band Dream Theater recorded their first live album, Live At The Marquee, at the venue. The move was unsuccessful, however, and the club closed in 1996.
In 2001, the Marquee name was bought by entrepreneurs (including Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics who owned the brand rights) and affixed to a new club, located in a purpose-built space in Islington, now the Islington Academy. It hit financial difficulties and closed in 2003, less than a year after it opened.
The name was then used for a new venue at 1 Leicester Square in the heart of London's tourist district, opening in 2004. But that venture also folded after less than 18 months.
In August 2007, the Marquee re-opened yet again, this time on Upper Saint Martins Lane in Covent Garden.