London Astoria

London Astoria

A legendary venue

"Nooooo" has been the general reaction to the sad sad news last summer, announcing that the Astoria will be no more. Although a petition was signed against the plans, it wasn’t enough and for avid music fans all over, it will surely be as if they’ve lost an arm.

The legendary music venue, the London Astoria will be closing its doors for good tonight after playing a major role in the career of some of the biggest selling artists of all time. And it’s not just closing; it’s going out with a thud, being demolished in the next few weeks.

One of the 13 buildings to be knocked down in the Tottenham Court Road area in Central London, it is being destroyed to make way for a Crossrail development. Not very rock ‘n’ roll.

The £16 million rail development will link Maidenhead, Berkshire, to Shenfield, Essex via Heathrow Airport in the biggest transport project in the UK since the Channel Tunnel was built. Originally built as a cinema in 1927, the Astoria was later converted for theatrical productions and was later made exclusively to music shows in the 70’s, with a capacity of 2000.

In May 2000, Mean Fiddler got their hands on the lease for the London Astoria ‘securing the future of live music at one of London’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll venues.’ Since then, bigger names that could easily choose arenas, instead chose this little gem, for more intimate gigs.

Although London boasts plenty of music venues from the massive O2 arena, in what was The Millenium Dome, all the way down to the modest yet teeny Underground in Camden; there will undoubtedly be a hole left in the London music scene.

Not just any venue, the Astoria has actually been a lucky charm amongst many artists over the years, possibly unbeknown to themselves until success hits them later.

Even unsigned bands have made it big here. The only four unsigned bands to ever sell out the Astoria are The Darkness, Enter Shikari (see pic), The Blackout and You Me At Six, which are not exactly unheard of these days, you could say.

Bands

With an intimate setting, and history within the walls, it will surely be a busy evening for music lovers in the area, but who actually made it big in the Astoria? What's all the fuss about?

Although some believe that the bands that play the Astoria, made the Astoria, in reality it's the Astoria that made them. Looking back on the earliest of the success stories, Radiohead (above) and Nirvana both played gigs at the beginning of their careers in 1989, and shot to fame as soon as the new decade had arrived. Very different to the arena venues Radiohead can sell out in a matter of minutes, their recording of the show, with its crowd in close proximity, gave them the edgy sound they were looking for, which can't compete with a recorded arena venue where screams and cheers translate to a fizzy wind sound.

Because of its small capacity, the gigs are somewhere more special and a huge number of more established names in the business choose the Astoria anyway, despite it being significantly smaller of what they're capable of. Most notably, U2 played in 2001, The Rolling Stones in 2003, Pearl Jam in 2006 and Oasis even kicked off their 2005 tour here.

In 1994, the Manic Street Preachers (pictured above) played their last show with their guitarist Richey Edwards before he disappeared. 13 years later in May, they made an emotional return to the very same venue and dedicated their song 'Faster' to “the genius of Mr Richard Edwards” and when playing the climatic 'A Design For Life' James Bradfield moved his mic to Richard's spot on the stage.

If you weren't convinced that the Astoria was ever that big of a deal, well let us refresh your memory. Look at all of these acts that have graced the famous stage over the years: Beach Boys, Nirvana, The Black Crowes, System Of A Down, Coldplay, Napalm Death, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, HIM, Suede, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Slayer, Blur, Radiohead, Travis, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Supergrass, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Black Sabbath, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, The Libertines, Lostprophets, Underoath,The Misfits, Less Than Jake, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Martin Gore, Oasis, Amy Winehouse, Green Day, Prince, Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, U2, Eminem and The White Stripes. Impressive eh?

The most popular event of all however, is the venue's nightclub G-A-Y which sees a number of celebs perform for their eager crowd, including past performances from the likes of gay icons such as Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Sugababes and X-Factor winner Shayne Ward.

Bye bye Astoria

After a number of failed attempts to take back the beloved home of live music, all hope is lost, and the battle has been won by the Government. The last show ever tonight will see Ibiza's Manumission club return to the UK for the first time in 15 years, adopting the Astoria as it's host.

Amongst the acts for tonight is VV Brown (above), a London based artist who has been named the one to watch in 2009 by both The Independent and the Los Angeles Times.

VV Brown said of the venue: “An amazing old 1920's cinema with the sounds of The Beach Boys, David Bowie, and Blur still echoing there. London's heartbeat, going in the name of modernism. So many memories linger within the cracks of drunken spirits and mosh pits. It will be remembered and it will surely be missed.”

Alongside VV Brown will be Get Cape.Wear Cape. Fly, The Automatic, The King Blues, and Frank Turner and all proceeds from the show are generously being donated to Love Music, Hate Racism and Jail Guitar Doors.

However good the night may turn out to be, and it will unquestionably be a night not to be forgotten, the historical Astoria is soon to be no more, apart from in the hearts and memories of all those bands and fans that gave it their blood, sweat, tears and music.

Let's hear it for the Astoria. R.I.P.

By Karen Asbury

A legendary venue

"Nooooo" has been the general reaction to the sad sad news last summer, announcing that the Astoria will be no more. Although a petition was signed against the plans, it wasn’t enough and for avid music fans all over, it will surely be as if they’ve lost an arm.

The legendary music venue, the London Astoria will be closing its doors for good tonight after playing a major role in the career of some of the biggest selling artists of all time. And it’s not just closing; it’s going out with a thud, being demolished in the next few weeks.

One of the 13 buildings to be knocked down in the Tottenham Court Road area in Central London, it is being destroyed to make way for a Crossrail development. Not very rock ‘n’ roll.

The £16 million rail development will link Maidenhead, Berkshire, to Shenfield, Essex via Heathrow Airport in the biggest transport project in the UK since the Channel Tunnel was built. Originally built as a cinema in 1927, the Astoria was later converted for theatrical productions and was later made exclusively to music shows in the 70’s, with a capacity of 2000.

In May 2000, Mean Fiddler got their hands on the lease for the London Astoria ‘securing the future of live music at one of London’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll venues.’ Since then, bigger names that could easily choose arenas, instead chose this little gem, for more intimate gigs.

Although London boasts plenty of music venues from the massive O2 arena, in what was The Millenium Dome, all the way down to the modest yet teeny Underground in Camden; there will undoubtedly be a hole left in the London music scene.

Not just any venue, the Astoria has actually been a lucky charm amongst many artists over the years, possibly unbeknown to themselves until success hits them later.

Even unsigned bands have made it big here. The only four unsigned bands to ever sell out the Astoria are The Darkness, Enter Shikari (see pic), The Blackout and You Me At Six, which are not exactly unheard of these days, you could say.

Bands

With an intimate setting, and history within the walls, it will surely be a busy evening for music lovers in the area, but who actually made it big in the Astoria? What's all the fuss about?

Although some believe that the bands that play the Astoria, made the Astoria, in reality it's the Astoria that made them. Looking back on the earliest of the success stories, Radiohead (above) and Nirvana both played gigs at the beginning of their careers in 1989, and shot to fame as soon as the new decade had arrived. Very different to the arena venues Radiohead can sell out in a matter of minutes, their recording of the show, with its crowd in close proximity, gave them the edgy sound they were looking for, which can't compete with a recorded arena venue where screams and cheers translate to a fizzy wind sound.

Because of its small capacity, the gigs are somewhere more special and a huge number of more established names in the business choose the Astoria anyway, despite it being significantly smaller of what they're capable of. Most notably, U2 played in 2001, The Rolling Stones in 2003, Pearl Jam in 2006 and Oasis even kicked off their 2005 tour here.

In 1994, the Manic Street Preachers (pictured above) played their last show with their guitarist Richey Edwards before he disappeared. 13 years later in May, they made an emotional return to the very same venue and dedicated their song 'Faster' to “the genius of Mr Richard Edwards” and when playing the climatic 'A Design For Life' James Bradfield moved his mic to Richard's spot on the stage.

If you weren't convinced that the Astoria was ever that big of a deal, well let us refresh your memory. Look at all of these acts that have graced the famous stage over the years: Beach Boys, Nirvana, The Black Crowes, System Of A Down, Coldplay, Napalm Death, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, HIM, Suede, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Slayer, Blur, Radiohead, Travis, David Bowie, The Rolling Stones, Supergrass, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Black Sabbath, Kaiser Chiefs, Linkin Park, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Pearl Jam, The Libertines, Lostprophets, Underoath,The Misfits, Less Than Jake, Megadeth, Alice Cooper, Martin Gore, Oasis, Amy Winehouse, Green Day, Prince, Rage Against the Machine, Slipknot, U2, Eminem and The White Stripes. Impressive eh?

The most popular event of all however, is the venue's nightclub G-A-Y which sees a number of celebs perform for their eager crowd, including past performances from the likes of gay icons such as Kylie Minogue, Madonna, Christina Aguilera, the Spice Girls, Girls Aloud, Sugababes and X-Factor winner Shayne Ward.