John Peel Day gigs honour late DJ

More than 300 concerts have taken place around the world to mark John Peel Day in honour of the late radio presenter.

BBC Radio 1 broadcast a six-hour tribute programme on Thursday to mark one year since his final show. Peel died on 25 October last year.

Gigs were held in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Italy and Canada.

Some of Peel's favourite acts, including New Order, The Fall and Super Furry Animals, played at the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday.

Last Updated: Friday, 14 October 2005, 08:01 GMT 09:01 UK

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John Peel Day gigs honour late DJ

John Peel was renowned for championing new bands


Peel remembered
More than 300 concerts have taken place around the world to mark John Peel Day in honour of the late radio presenter.
BBC Radio 1 broadcast a six-hour tribute programme on Thursday to mark one year since his final show. Peel died on 25 October last year.

Gigs were held in countries such as the UK, New Zealand, Italy and Canada.

Some of Peel's favourite acts, including New Order, The Fall and Super Furry Animals, played at the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday.


New Order headlined the first tribute gig in London on Wednesday
New Order frontman Bernard Sumner told the crowd at the Queen Elizabeth Hall the band's former incarnation, Joy Division, would have got "nowhere" without Peel's support.

And Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker said Peel provided his musical education and inspired him to "make music my life".

New and established acts took part in concerts on Thursday, reflecting the fact that Peel championed new music.

Performers included punk band The Anti-Nowhere League at Trillians Rock Bar in Newcastle and members of indie bands Mogwai and The Pastels at Glasgow venue Mono.

Dance act Dreadzone played at Salisbury City Hall, Mercury Music Prize nominee KT Tunstall performed at Sheffield Octagon and new act Supersmash Monkeyhouse played at Staples Pub in Limerick, Ireland.

Radio 1's six-hour show paid tribute to Peel and the music and bands he discovered.

Peel worked at Radio 1 for almost 40 years on his own late-night show. He also became presenter of BBC Radio 4's Home Truths in 1998.

His career was marked by discovering and championing new artists, from Joy Division to the White Stripes.

John Peel Day is followed by a Radio 1 documentary, Keeping It Peel, on 17 October and a week of tribute shows on BBC digital radio station 6 Music from 24 October.

Meanwhile Roger Daltrey, Sir Elton John, Robert Plant, David Gilmour and Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks are due to appear on a tribute single alongside newer acts.

The single is the brainchild of Peel's son Tom Ravenscroft.

Ravenscroft is also a researcher on John Peel's Record Box, a TV programme exploring Peel's musical tastes to be broadcast on Channel 4 in November.

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