Anybody been yet? It's ghastly. All shiny floors and fancy lighting. I saw Junior Boys and Metronomy there last week and the atmosphere could not have been more indifferent
It's all too new. Too practical. Not enough character. Not ANY character, come to think of it. It's like watching a gig in Bluewater. Or a particularly tasteless strip club. Is this the way London venues are going to go? I'm holding out in less hope of that Astoria replacement that's been proposed
One thing I will say for it though is that the bar is pretty huge. I liked that
yeah pretty much
good sound though...
Innit!
Great sound. Far better than you usually get in venues that size. "But it doesn't have any character!" Oh fuck off. I'm there to listen to music, not stare at the scenery.
agreed
That's exactly what I thought, best sound I've heard in a venue like that for ages.
I thought the atmosphere was great on friday night too, everyone was dancing away/ though yeah know what I mean, it looks more like a townie disco than a music venue.
It's the future....
...we should embrace it. Maybe?!? Actually no, what am i talking about...I still wear flares for pity's sake.
It's sterile
but not too bad. Sound was a bit dodgy at the front, but by the sound desk it was impeccable.
There will be no Astoria replacement
It's just being talked about to shut people up. There's nowhere to put it - the land is far more valuable as retail or office space that would fit with Ken's want to clean up that end of Oxford street. Damn shame as the Astoria is probably my favourite mid-ish sized venue.
i liked it i think
i agree with many of those points, but it reminded me of ATP, so it put me in a good mood. also the staff were all really nice, and we could go out to smoke, which made a change. the sound was good. but as you said, it's a bit moderny for venue
It reminded me of ATP
too when I went to Four Tet the other night. It's just a bit too clean and flashy at the moment which makes the environment pretty sterile. I quite like those speaker in the walls at the back though.
*speakers
.
im using this venue in july! lets hope its good.... check the myspace page for details of it... you think it will work there?
scott
myspace.com/pineapplefolkmusic
Are you the Daniel Johnston promoter?
Get him to play Norwich or Latitude please.
Thanks.
yeah that's what i went to
it was a great gig. do you know who was on when i got there, i think it was the artist after Kode9. i lost track of who played when? and who was on after four tet?
James Holden was on after Four Tet
He's the shizz
Did Ringer (the track) sound awesome? I was gutted I couldn't go to that gig - I had some crappy work thing
it sounded pretty good
but my thoughts of all the new stuff live were that they sounded like really intense laughing gas hits. i think i prefered his older tracks, which seemed to actually go places more obviously, though i'd love to see him again to see if i actually think that, or whether it was just that i still don't quite see what the fuss is about ringer.
James Holden is indeed pretty incredible, i've only got 'the idiots are winning', what else do i need?
the crazy man with the
stick thing and the three others were sunburned hand of the man. I had to leave after Four Tet unfortunately so didn't catch who was on after.
yeah i saw them
there was at least one DJ/computery dude before them but after after kode9, well at least it didn't sound liek any kode9 i've ever heard
i was there for Andrew Bird on saturday
it's a weird venue, certainly. i'm guessing it's quite a plush nightclub the rest of the time? it quite looks like that, but i didn't mind it too much. sure, it was a little sterile but it was clean and the sound was good, and the promoter had managed to get some half-decent offers on the drinks.
one thing though, it's shit to get to. jubilee line was closed on the weekend, to get there we ended up getting the DLR to Greenwich and then walking, thinking "it only looks about 15 minutes on the map", and it was nearer 40. got the riverboat back which isn't included in oyster card/travelcard offers and isn't cheap
the boat is about £2
how did his whistling come across in that large a venue?
£4
if you don't have a travelcard. Whistling sounded as good as ever.
good to hear
Did he play Masterfade?
No, the teasing bastard
he came out for the encore and said "OK, I think I'll play Masterfade...shall I play Masterfade or a new one...do you want to hear a new one?" and then he played a new one.
No
At the end of the encore he said "Now I can either play Masterfade or play you another new song", so a load of people shouted "Masterfade!" and a load of other people shouted "New song!" and he played the new song and it was shit.
I would have been gutted
as that's one of my favourite songs. How many albums has he done? (I've got Weather Systems, Mysterious... and Armchair)
Shit loads
I've only got the three you mention as well, but he did quite a few as Andrew Bird's Bowl of Fire.
ah I might have to check
them out. Fantastic musician, superb lyricist
I think
the Bowl of Fire albums are quite different. Apparently, he only learnt to play the guitar before recording Weather Systems so before that he only played violin.
Was it?
Can't really remember it. The thing I find with Andrew Bird songs is it's very hard to judge whether they are good or not on first listen.
I kind of meant more "It was shit he didn't play Masterfade"
I thought the whole gig was quite rubbish tbh :(. Struggled to do a lot of the songs justice without a full band.
"Why?"
was totally awesome though. Best I've heard it performed.
^
good point. going 2nite. need to check travel status. when the tube is down it does effect the venue and sales.
Saw Cake there a while ago. It was okay.
A friend of mine said it was like going to a gig in a Xbox, which actually sounds really cool. But I can see what he means. Sound's pretty good though.
I miss gig venues where the walls looked like they were sweating.
i quite liked it
it's not the best mid-sized venue in london, but i didn't find it anywhere near as depressing as the Islington Academy, to use another new venue as an example. but then i don't buy the whole "grimey venues are grate!" thing anyway.
i'd like to see what it's like when full - hard to judge an atmosphere on half full shows, y'know? i saw 65days there and thought the sound was pretty decent.
as i mentioned in another thread, it's not really hard to go to! fair enough if the jubilee line is down, but otherwise? naaaah.
getting to it a nightmare-
i got to london and half 6 and thanks to transport for london diverting replacement buses down a road that was entirely dug up it took me untill 9.15 to get there (and that was after getting off at grenwich and walking the rest of the way (and i still got there before the bus)....can't wait for the olympics....haha...what a joke.
Andrew bird was great tho- unfortunately i had to leave at 10.30 due to having to get back to brighton...i would say it was a massive waste of time
as i said
IF the jubilee line is down, i can understand that. but otherwise, i don't see how it's anymore "difficult" to get to than camden or bethnal green or kilburn.
Wait a sec...
I think I spoke to you at the pier on the way back...absolute nightmare, wasn't it?
I was impressed!
I've been there twice in the last few days and am going back this evening. It seemed as though a lot of thought had gone into its layout, and once I heard the good sound quality compared to a lot of similarly sized venues, nothing else mattered as that is the most important thing.
It does look a little sterile and clean, but surely the whole dingy venue thing is just a handy cliche for places that are long overdue refurbishment. All venues were new once upon a time. To go for an antiquated look in its location would have looked tackier.
The layout makes it easy to see the stage from pretty much anywhere in the venue, and the long bar at the back made it easy to get served and kept the drunks who usually just stand next to the bar at the back so if you were genuinely interested in the band, their conversations wouldn't just drown you out.
Location-wise, it's in zone two and a lot more easily accessible than a lot of similar sized ones unless the Jubilee Line is down, making the ferry a pretty frustrating alternative but the same can be said for a number of London venues.
I did think there'd be those that would hate it though, and guessed it'd be for reasons of it looking like a strip club but the only real problem I found with the places was an overenthusiastic sound guy being way too trigger happy with the strobes.