favourite venues

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spinning off from the concert venue thread, what are you favourite venues. i like small to medium best.

duchess of york, leeds (RIP)
cockpit, leeds (leeds isnt bad for venues. it is bad for bands though)
highbury garage. (not amazing, but most venues in london are pretty poor, this is probably the best of the bunch)
derby wherehouse (only went here once, but i liked it. may have closed down now)
hull adelphi (ditto)
windsor old trout (ditto)

Worst:
the spitz, e1 (too HOT!)
any seated venue

― gareth, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Highbury Garage. Hope and Anchor (Upper Street). Used to like the ICA, but haven't been to anything there in years.

― Dr. C, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

...agree with Gareth on Hull Adelphi - an end-terrace house - utterly unique. I think my all time fave has to be the Derby Dial Club, a '30s building with original Art Deco features.

― Jez, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ICA has godawful sound, tho. But so does everywhere.

― mark s, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My vote would have to go to the Old Trout in Windsor as well... I went past there for the first time in years last year and discovered it'd been turned into a Yuppie Eatery....

The Wellhead Inn in Wendover was a great little venue.. A tiny pub in the middle of nowhere which held most of the great groups of the time... but it got shut down after being caught having strip shows on Friday afternoon (or that's what we heard)...

― Baxter Wingnut, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

fav's
anything in a field on a hot day, smaller the better.
worst
why is brixton academy so nasty, they must be raking it in, very bad sound sytstem, very expensive warm beer, usually 20 quid to get in, the finest crack head taxi drivers to take you home, but hay, its brixton so it must be cool...

― jk, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like the Royal Festival Hall, and the Shepherds Bush Empire, and the Hammersmith Apollo. Primarily because they have seats, if I can't sit down I ain't going.

Worst: All standing venues :)

― jel --, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like Cargo- best sound system in London, though it needs another entrance to the main room. The Academy might be a hovel (although it's a thousand times better than Wembley Arena), but it doesn't have a sound system. The bands/promoters bring it with them (or, in the case of B and S last week, they don't bother, charge £17.50 and pocket the difference, the shameless cunts)

― Snotty Moore, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Always enjoyed: Sheffield Leadmill/Leeds Duchess of York/Highbury Garage/Manchester Boardwalk/Camden Dingwalls/Night and Day Manchester.

Outside UK: Seattle Showbox/Seattle Sit n' Spin/ NYC Irvin Plaza/L.A Siverlake Lounge/Spaceland/Troubadour/Knitting Facotry

― vantasma, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I enjoy that Cat's Cradle in Carborro, if by no other reason than it's proximity. Good shows, but it is at the end of a strip mall, which might kill some of the mystique.

I also like 40 Watt in Athens. Mainly because it reminds me a lot of the cradle, but has better bars.

― Jeff, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

My favourite is the Kitchen nightclub in Dublin and it's fucking closing down. That prick Bono is turning it into a celeb hangout. GRRRRRRR.

― Ronan, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I'd say the sound at the Garage is much worse than at the ICA (tho' its been years since I went to a gig at the ICA...) Shepherd's Bush Empire is a nice building, but also has a REALLY crappy sound system.

Is The Forum in Kentish Town still going? I once saw Mark Stewart and various other On-U-Sound types play a mega-loud gig there once, and the sound system seemed to cope ok w/ the bass rumble. I quite like the Barbican main stage - sound isn't too awful there. Ditto the Royal Albert Hall, The Queen Elizabeth Hall, and even The Royal Festival Hall, although classical music types bitch abt the latter's acoustics.

― Andrew L, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I hate 93 feet east but there is a lot of good stuff on there. After saturday night I'd say that The Premesis is a v.good venue.

― Tom, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

best: manc. boardwalk, sheffield the grapes

worst: ica....close down dammit!

― ambrose, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Didn't go there as often as I should but Santa Ana's Koo's was a beaut. The Wiltern in LA captures a certain movie-palace feeling I like, while Irvine Meadows (regardless of its current name) has a view across the Saddleback Valley that I just always love. Beyond that, no strong feelings.

― Ned Raggett, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Probabably my favorite is Colchester Arts Centre, a converted church with amazing acoustics for the right sort of bands, like Union Chapel but on a much smaller scale.

I've always thought Camden Dingwalls is a pretty good venue, I'm surprised no-one has mentioned it.

Least favorite: Chelmsford's 'Y Club

― Chewshabadoo, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I Like anything that looks like a broken down factory or very industrial looking. The KillTime in Philadelphia is good. There's a giant head behind the bands.

― A Nairn, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Sounds like a Danzig show.

― Dave225, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Q club B'ham, huge ex methodist hall marble staircases & organ still in situ! in need of decoration but i feel cheated by techno in any other/smaller venue

― el wanko, Monday, 8 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Barrowland Ballroom(aka The Barras) in Glasgow.

― Stewart, Tuesday, 9 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Good ones? I'll second Sheffield Leadmill, and I'll add the Bristol Bierkeller for good measure. I really enjoyed a Durutti Column gig (superb sound, intimate setting) at the Manchester Royal Exchange many years back but it got blown up by the IRA so it's no longer there. South Wales has a dearth of good venues - don't let anyone tell you TJs in Newport is good. Er... what was it... the Swinging Sporran in Manchester? Another good one there... a room on top of a pub. Marvellous place, and I never did buy Harvey a drink there in '92 like I should have done... Oh, and the Notting Hill Arts Club or whatever was quite good, a tiny place which was briefly hip when Alan McGee took it over for Radio4, but before that was even nicer, saw the Trembling Blue Stars / Harvey Williams / Clientele gig there and it was perfect, intimate, happy, great sound and a good bar (if you avoid the absinthe).

Bad venues? How long have you got? Any university really. Anywhere in Cardiff or Newport (especially anyone who put on the Cloud Minders and gave us a shite sound). Will that do?

― Rob M, Tuesday, 9 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the paradise, the rat, tt the bears, the middle east - the best

fleet center, worcester centrum, great woods, axis, avalon - the worst

― Poops Mcgee, Tuesday, 9 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I really like the Great American Music Hall in San Francisco. Most of the rest of the venues here are less thrilling or too expensive.

― Alex in SF, Tuesday, 9 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Worst = the Ilford Island, shit bands, shit crowd, dirty, horrid in general. It's a Wetherspoon's now.

― DG, Tuesday, 9 April 2002 00:00 (twenty-three years ago)

twenty-two years pass...

From epic outdoor amphitheaters to historic concert halls, these cool concert venues are worth the trip.

https://www.thrillist.com/lifestyle/nation/best-music-venues-usa

― omar little, Wednesday, 9 October 2024 22:59 (one year ago)

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