London is a city overflowing with music history. It's the place where seminal bands like the Rolling Stones made their debut (in 1962 at what was formerly the Marquee Jazz Club), where American punk rockers the Ramones famously played wild back-to-back nights in Camden in the '70s, where the Smiths played their farewell gig in 1986 at Brixton Academy. And this without mentioning the slew of historic recording studios, record stores, and guitar shops that line both sides of the legendary Denmark Street.
With so much history to be explored, you might be wondering where to start and what to check out if you're a musician with an upcoming trip to London. Hopefully, the video above can give you some great ideas for your itinerary.
We at Reverb flew to London with our pal Andy Martin and one goal in mind: explore the city as a musician—specifically, as a guitarist. We only had a little bit of time, so to help make sure Andy hit all of the best places in town, we enlisted the help of our friend Dan Steinhardt from That Pedal Show—a London local by way of Australia, who was eager to take us to the best spots in London.
Be sure to check out the full video above. Browse the list below to see all the places that Andy and Dan visited. If you're not planning on traveling to the U.K. yourself anytime soon, you can still click on any of the highlighted shops to see what they have on offer right here on Reverb.
- Denmark Street
- Handel & Hendrix
- Carnaby Street
- Hoxton & Shoreditch
- Sister Ray Records
- Reckless Records
- Sounds of the Universe