I've yet to read a proper news report, but there are all sorts of rumours flying around about the Mean Fiddler selling the Astoria to make way for offices and shops (in order to make tonnes of cash from the 2012 Olympics).
Does anyone know if this is true?
well
those rumours are slightly inaccurate..
as best i can tell, mean fiddler just lease the building (they have a lease until 2009 at the moment) and its owners have sold it on to a property investment company.
but there have been long standing rumours that the entire complex on that corner will have to be demolished to enable construction of the crossrail interchange proposed at tottenham court road station, but thats a completely different issue...
I've heard about this before.
I think it's true (or at least it's true they're talking about doing it) but I've not read any official confirmation.
I'm not sure how upset I am by the news. I like the Astoria but there are plenty of venues in London anyway so I can't see it having that big a dent on the music scene.
it's basically
the premier mid-sized venue. where will bands who can only drank 1000 - 1500 people go?
oh, right, fucking koko. WICKED!
Well, yeah..
...but, given there will be premier mid-sized venue-shaped hole in London and there's an obvious demand for live music, I imagine someone'll quickly build a new venue to fill the void.
PS
I am well aware my two posts on this thread are completely contradictory.
In all likeliness
there wouldn't be anything built in Central London by way of a replacement. My main concern is that the Astoria is genuinely an important venue, not only steeped in rock history but continuing to help make it. Demolishing a culturally important, popular venue to make way for an extra Gap or Carphone Warehouse would be an incredibly bad PR move, not to mention the height of cynical cuntishness.
i'd agree with you
except for the fact it's run by mean fiddler, who are part of the Clear Channel Global Empire Of Media Domination®, so not really all that different to the Gap...
down with the Astoria!
This'll teach to stop listening to bands that are popular. Fucking sheep.
But seriously, the Astoria is such a shit venue. I'd be glad to see the back of it.
Same.
yup, me too
I've been put off going to gigs because they've been at the Astoria so I couldn't care less.
Seems like it always too full and you can never see.
i saw
one of the best shows of my life at the astoria. flaming lips, the week before yoshimi came out. amazing.
I was at that!
if it's the one I'm thinking of, Bob Mould supporting?
it was
bob wasn't too great, but that was to be expected from the quality of the album he was touring. the lips however were the best i've ever seen them, just unbeatable.
drank 1000 - 1500 people?!?!
no guessing what's on my mind, then...
It's scuzzy
but what would you rather? A scuzzy venue replaced by more soulless shopping arcades, like in America, where you can check out Alien Ant Farm at the WalMart Rock Arena and pick up a new gun rack while you're about it?
Dirty, scuzzy, shitty venues are the perfect places to rock out. Fear the day when they're all gone.
Yeah dirty and scuzzy is fine
if I don't have to waste £15 for the privilege of staring at the lead guitarist's fingers moving because every note is drowned out by a seismic low end rumble because they employ dead orang utans as sound technicians.
It
is a brilliant venue and i'll be sad if it goes.
dirty-ish, dark, perfect mid-size venue. i like the freedom to go upstairs or down.
koko feels soul-less, sheps bush has crap sound and the stage is quite low
palais is a club not a gig venue
the forum kentish town is the next best for the size i think
I hate the Astoria
but they should keep the mean fiddler. Arent shepards bush empire and the forum the same ish size?
Yes,
but like Sambop says, the sound's fucking awful at Shepherd's Bush Empire.
The Forum's in Kentish Fucking Town. And it's not as cool.
the forum
is a ten minute walk from my flat :D
about
25 mins for me. w00t. not that there's anything on there i wanna see. but i'm not much of a 'big gigs' kinda person.
both are larger
they should have more gigs
in quarries. And open cast mine workings. And meteorite craters. Let's get some creativity here.
I'm not too bothered about this
But I'm guessing the kids and the gays will be devastated.
I think it's a great venue
and it's a shame that the "save the astoria!" campaign won't get great support purely because it's owned by mean fiddler. They saved the Electric Ballroom and that is possibly the most horrible aircraft hanger of a venue I've ever been to.
that website makes me lol
"they might transfer the Astoria name to a different site. Any such plans are just as bad as demolition in our eyes. If they did 'relocate' the Astoria (something that's not strictly possible), any such 'replacement' would be nothing like the original. It would probably be in a less favourable location, with a larger venue capacity so that ticket prices can be increased. It wouldn't be the same place; just another hollow, overpriced corporate venue, without the history of the real Astoria."
hahahahha.
still.
that is quite funny
but it's somewhat true. The history part anyway. And I like the fact that it's grubby as fuck. I like the Scala for example, but it's so CLEAN that watching a raawk band there would feel quite wrong. I want the smell of gay men and dampness.
strangely
i'm fairly sure i read that Brixton Academy used to carry the 'Astoria' name in London, back in the 1930s...
I honestly don't understand
how some people on this site, or indeed any music fan, would prefer to see offices/flats/shops in place of a music venue. that's just ridiculous.
the astoria's far from perfect, but it's not at all bad. I think I'd sooner go to the astoria than koko any day.
yes
i may mock, but i basically agree with this.
I like Koko better.
it's probably better as a club
but it's fucking shit as a venue. the bands end up sounding as they're playing behind a wall of foam.
Koko is great as a club
and can be good as a venue, I think the sound is hard to get right though. It's been awful a few times and then I saw Qotsa there and it was actually perfect, probably because they have a good sound engineer who spent time getting it right.
^5 on the 'wall of foam'.
why though?
it's nice and pretty and stuff, but it's actually really soulless. I find it more depressing to be in than the astoria, which I don't like especially but i'm feeling the need to defend now.
more often than not koko sounds absolutely terrible. so many times i've been ther and wanted to cry because the band sound like they're playing behind a wall of foam or something.
Without and doubt i've got more good memories from gigs at the astoria than koko. So i'll miss it if it goes.
I like Koko's interior because it gives a sense of occasion
And when I saw Broadcast and Mudhoney there the sound was just fine. And the bar is quite good, if overpriced (better then the ill-stocked Academy style bar at Astoria, anyway).
who cares
shit venue.
How?
It's always had decent sound when I've been there, there's good views from everywhere (including the balcony, unlike Koko and Brixton) and it's only 10 minutes walk from Charing Cross plus there's feckloads of nightbuses that stop right next to it.
i agree with the rather have it as a venue than shops
But the sound is absolutely dreadful. They have a setup like it's Wembley Arena - when the only reason the capacity is above about 600 is because of the stupidly big standing area up the top. And if you're up there, the sound is still bad.
On the history side, I've been to an incredible amount of gigs there as a kid, and loved it, so it would be sad to see it go.
They should convert it into something cool like a laser quest.
i like that idea.
better than the one in archway, fo' sure.
Saw Arcade Fire
there and that night was fantastic so the Astoria has a place in my heart because of that. Plus it's not in Camden which is a bonus
i think
i might listen to that Ataris album...
How can everyone hate the place so much?
Every shown I've been to there recently has sounded phenomenal - Animal Collective, Broken Social Scene, for both of them the sound was genuinely magnificent. Certainly far better than Koko, which, whilst pretty, sounds like bands are playing through a wall of foam.
where have i read that before?
.......
I've just read this thread in more detail.
Me, Homesick and Guntrip quite obviously talk about Koko's rubbish sound too much...
no fair enough
The way I described it was like having a massive sound hoover in the ceiling. Same kind of thing.
Sound!?
Is THAT what they were trying to do?!!
Its kind of more like a whale rolling down a hill on the first day of the Somme.
THE ASTORIA IS A HOLE
BURN IT.
I'll burn YOUR hole.
i like it
I've only been there once
Same as with all venues, fight to keep it if it's not going to be replaced by another music venue. Simple as.