Brighton to host the biggest-ever collection of The Jam memorabilia
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The exhibition will be on Brighton beach.
Spokeswoman Luigia Minichiello said: “The biggest ever collection of The Jam memorabilia – About The Young Idea – launches in its spiritual home of Brighton on August 1 and runs through August 31, situated on the iconic beach location made famous by the 1979 cult film Quadrophenia and as featured on the cover artwork of seminal Jam album Setting Sons.
“A must-see exhibition for The Jam fans, music aficionados and lifestyle curious, this huge collection of rare, mainly unseen material and fan memorabilia, will be accompanied by acoustic performances from bands from the Mod revival era, film screenings and guided talks.
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Hide Ad“It will be in a pop-up location on Brighton beach with a modernist bar and a selection of street and locally sourced food to create a month-long place of homage for The Jam fans and lovers of UK culture alike.
“The exhibition takes its title from their debut hit single In The City and charts the trio’s journey from Woking to superstardom until their split six years later following 18 consecutive UK top 40 singles and over 14 million global album sales, before passing into the era of The Style Council with an additional room of never-seen before memorabilia.
“The personal archives of all three members of the band, Paul Weller, Rick Buckler, Bruce Foxton, the Weller family and music archivist Den Davis have shared their extensive collections for this show.
“It has been curated by Nicky Weller frontman Paul’s sister and former head of The Jam’s fan club, together with music archivist Den Davis following hugely successful exhibitions in London and Liverpool.
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Hide Ad“Discover hand-written lyrics, original stage outfits, personal photographs, rare footage, unreleased music videos, early scrapbooks, letters, postcards, posters, fanzines, and the band’s instruments. It’s a completist’s dream.”
Nicky Weller said: “We want the fans to be involved in this exhibition and to include their memories and special items from The Jam days and will be curating a new area of the exhibition to showcase these. Anyone interested, please do get in touch with pictures of what you would like to include in the exhibition at [email protected].”
Luigia added: “Expect to wander through an Underground station to witness the band’s formative years in the Stanley Road room, including Paul’s own school books and archive family photos from the early years.
“Each room will include iconic items from each year of the band’s career with the ultimate vinyl collections together with a mass of memorabilia and the band’s instruments, including Paul’s iconic Whaaam! guitar and stunning mod-wear flanked by customised Jam scooters.
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Hide Ad“Elements of this exhibition were previously shown on a smaller-scale at Somerset House, London in 2015 and the Cunard Building in Liverpool 2016. Since then, the collection has expanded with generous contributions from fans and collectors around the world.”
Nicky added: “If you’re a Jam fan there’s every single thing you can possibly imagine. If you’re not a fan it’s still interesting as far as social history goes. If you’re just a music fan it’s just a noisy fun exhibition.
“I’m so excited that we will be taking About The Young Idea to Brighton this year with the biggest collection of Jam memorabilia on show – just a stone’s throw from the last ever live gig at the Brighton Centre in 1982.”
August 1-31, Brighton Beach, Volks Halfway Station, BN2 1DE. Exhibition open daily from 11-7pm. Evening entertainment and special events, food and drink only from 7pm-11pm.
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