In my brief bio on this website I’m very positive about Brighton’s record shops and they are some of the best in the country. I was pleased to see this recognised when Resident Records (where I spend most Monday lunchtimes browsing the new releases) was named “Independent Music Retailer of the Year” in the Music Week awards. This is in addition to their award for being “England’s Favourite Record Shop” in conjunction with Record Store Day 2011. It is a great record shop with a good range, decent budget items and some excellent in-store performances each year and they deserve both awards.
Resident Records
In the same awards another Brighton institution, The Concorde 2, was voted “Live Music Venue of the Year” beating The Royal Albert Hall amongst others on the shortlist. In my bio I’m less positive about Brighton’s range of music venues, something I should update soon as I’m not being totally fair. As the Great Escape demonstrated Brighton has a lot of venues and lots of them are actually pretty good. Considering the size of the city we are actually pretty well supplied and my reservations about a lot of the venues are equally down to my fussiness as they are to the shortcomings of the venue.
However, I do think it is important to have high standards and demand a decent experience from a live music venue. It shluld be a place that means you get the most from a performance, but also somewhere that enables an act to play at their best. I have some issues with The Concorde 2, mainly that the aspect and layout of the venue means that there are too many places where you can’t hear the band well enough (especially well full) but it does put on some of the best bands in town and I’ve had some great nights there.
The Free Butt was the subject of a campaign some time ago when it was threatened with closure. Despite this being one of the Brighton venues I have frequented the most I didn’t join the calls to save the venue. When the venue was renovated some years earlier a very bad job was done. The stage had a pillar front and centre making most places in the venue restricted view, the bar was cold and windowless like a prison waiting room and the toilets were several floors and minutes away. A bad job was done that didn’t show enough respect to audiences or artists and it didn’t deserve to be saved. The real shame was that promoters brought some of the most interesting bands there and the experience of seeing them was spoilt by the venue.
Brixton Academy
I don’t expect a venue to be perfect but it needs to either be a great way to see and hear a band, or a great place to be when seeing and hearing a band. Recently at The Roundhouse we struggled to find places in the venue where the sound was good, but the venue is a great place to be and we were able to find good sound when we hunted for it. Lots of outdoor venues have sound problems as well, but places like Larmer Tree Gardens and Somerset House make up for it by being great places to see music.
Old theatres and cinemas are generally the best places to see live music, designed with shows and stages in mind. When I ask people their favourite music venue the Brixton Academy (I can’t bring myself to add the Carling bit) is very often their first response. The shape of the venue and the sloping floor mean that there is almost nowhere in the house where you can’t get a good view (it is a particular favourite with anyone a little bit shorter for this reason as well). I haven’t been there for a while, but if a band I want to see plays the venue (and isn’t coming closer to home) I will always make a point of getting to see them there.
This isn’t to say that a converted building of another type can’t make for a good venue, I enjoy the rough and ready charms of The Green Door Store, but the dedicated theatre style venue is where you get the best live experience.
I’d be interested to hear your views of what the best live music venue is, in the UK and round the world, so please post your comments below.
By Dorian Rogers
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