The Limit Sheffield address was 70-82 West Street
In many respects it's a case of what bands didn't. The management had a stranglehold on live music but in terms of what bands played at the Limit in Sheffield it’s a good idea to start with local acts.
The venue itself played host to a whole load of local acts: Artery, Cabaret Voltaire, Comsat Angels, Clock DVA, Def Leppard, Disease, The Extras, I'm So Hollow, Flexible Penguins, The Human League, Mirror Crack'd, Peter and the Wolves, Pulp, Treebound Story and Vice Versa.
Their gig roster was pretty much a who’s who of punk/new wave alternative from the late 1970s/early 1980s era – Siouxsie and the Banshees, Adam Ant, the Specials, Killing Joke, UK Subs, Cockney Rejects, the Selecter, the Cramps and scores more.
One of their most famous gigs was the UK debut of the B-52’s. One of their most infamous was U2 – only 14 turned up. Robert Plant performed with most of Led Zeppelin; Wham! did a dinnertime show and the Bay City Rollers turned up as punters.
As well as their base - the Limit Sheffield address was 70-82 West Street – the management also promoted gigs at the sprawling Top Rank and then turned Sheffield Lyceum, then a derelict former bingo hall, into a live music venue.
Acts including The Clash, Joe Cocker, The Damned, Human League all packed the Lyceum under the Limit's watch. The management also put acts like the Ramones and the Police on the Top Rank stage.
Many say The Limit Sheffield address deserves a blue plaque. It was certainly an icon.
The subterranean venue provided a safe haven for the burgeoning punk movement that was already into its second year when it first opened in 1978.
The Limit was at the forefront of a group of regional independent venues that opened in Northern England around the same time and went on to help shape the UK music scene in the eighties. Other venues included the Warehouse in Leeds, Eric’s in Liverpool and the Hacienda in Manchester.
The Limit survived and thrived through times of major political and social unrest that proved to be the undoing of many venues.
It saw off the Winter of Discontent in 1978-1979 and the Miners’ Strike of 1984.
So when did the Limit close in Sheffield? The venue lasted 13 years. It shut for the last time in 1991. Much of the Limit crowd had previously gone to the Crazy Daizy venue on High Street, the Wapentake rock bar and, previously, the Buccaneer where future Limit co-owner George Webster was a DJ.
The Limit opened alongside pubs, bars, Working Men's Clubs, nightclubs, cabaret clubs, rock clubs, out-of-town clubs – it was Sheffield’s first dedicated punk venue. Other notable names from the '70s include TurnUps, Tiffany's, Genevieve, Fanny's, Shades, and many, many more.
Our hand-printed Limit T-shirt has become one our most iconic items in recent times. Based on the original logo, it details the venue’s original address and its enduring status as a ‘Sheffield rock’n’roll legend’.
