Brixton Academy

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Brixton Academy
Brixton Academy

The Brixton Academy or Brixton is one of London's leading music venues.[1] Situated in Brixton, South London, England, the 4,921 capacity building has hosted a range of leading rock acts since becoming a music venue in 1983, and several major acts have recorded live albums at Brixton, including Good Charlotte, Dido,[2], Brian May, [3] Bullet For My Valentine, The Pogues, Atari Teenage Riot and Faith No More. In 2004 the venue was rebranded Carling Academy Brixton.[4]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] The Astoria

The venue started life as a cinema and theatre in 1929 on the site of a private garden in Stockwell Road. It was built at a cost of £250,000 as an "Astoria" theatre. The opening show was the Al Johnson film The Singing Fool, followed by a variety act, including Heddle Nash and Derek Oldham which was broadcast by the BBC. The building still retains many of its original features, including the proscenium arch and Art Deco interior.

[edit] Sundown Centre

The Astoria eventually closed its doors as a cinema on 29 July 1972. It was then converted into the Sundown Centre rock venue in September 1972, but was not a success and the Sundown closed down some four months later. In May 1974 planning permission was sought to demolish the Grade II listed building and replace it with a motor showroom and petrol station. However the redevelopment scheme was scrapped. The building was kept heated after it closed, and was used as an equipment store by the Rank Organisation.

[edit] Brixton Academy

In 1981, The Astoria re-opened as a rock venue called "The Fair Deal" with a concert by UB40 and an interior restoration, but the venue closed in 1982 due to debt. The venue was bought by Simon Parkes in 1983 and in the same year re-opened as Brixton Academy.

The Academy's success steadily grew throughout the 1980s with numerous reggae productions and it was hired out to major rock and pop acts such as Eric Clapton, Dire Straits and The Police for rehearsal. The venue was also used for video shoots for Wham and Culture Club.

In 1995, Break For The Border bought the Brixton Academy. Under its new ownership (McKenzie Group), reinvestment started immediately with a complete £500,000 refurbishment of the Art Deco building frontage to its original grandeur, additional facilities both front of house and backstage and a capacity increase to just under 5,000.

The venue is currently run by the Academy Music Group after a re-branding in August 2004, and hosts a range of live acts and club nights.

[edit] Inner Arena

Once you leave the foyer and enter the circle the floor slopes steeply downhill. At the bottom of the incline is the stage.

[edit] Music venue

As one of the biggest non-arena venues in London it attracts many big names and has seen many famous bands perform there. The venue has also been voted venue of the year twelve times since 1994 in the annual NME Awards,[5] only failing to win when the award was sponsored by Carling.

The nearest tube and train station is Brixton.

Heavy Metal band Iron Maiden played a charity gig at Brixton Academy for their previous drummer Clive Burr in June 2007. It was billed as an intimate setting for hardcore Iron Maiden fans. The concert also featured Lauren Harris and the Indian rock band Parikrama, making them the first Indian band to ever play at Brixton.

In September 2007, the Carling Academy Brixton was announced at the venue for the Sex Pistols comeback concerts in November. All three gigs (8th, 9th and 10th) sold out in less than five minutes. A fourth and fifth gigs were later added for the 12th and 14th.

Rammstein, Massive Attack, The Clash, The Prodigy, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, HARD-Fi and Sex Pistols have all played five consecutive nights at the venue.

Leftfield set the venue's decibel record in 1996. They were summarily banned from using the same sound system at the venue after the high bass levels started disintegrating the ceiling, resulting in showers of dust and plaster. They returned in 2000 using a different sound system.

[edit] Albums recorded at Brixton

Main article: Live at Brixton Academy

Part of Rammstein's DVD "Völkerball" was recorded in the venue between February 3, 2005 to February 5, 2005.

Hole recorded their 1995 MTV Unplugged sessions there.

Motörhead recorded their 25th Anniversary concert on October 20th, 2000 at Brixton Academy entitled 25 & Alive Boneshaker, released as DVD music video in 2001 and as an audio album later in 2003 under Live at Brixton Academy title, the latter featuring the façade of Carling Academy Brixton on the cover.

David Gray recorded his concert on 16 December 2000 as the album Live At Brixton Academy December 2000

Machine Head recorded their live CD Hellalive at the Brixton Academy on December 8th, 2001. This CD was released on March 11th 2003.

Moby recorded his concert on 19th May 2005 and a double CD of the recording was available to buy at the venue after the show.

Jimmy Eat World recorded their concert on 18th February 2008 and a double CD of the recording was available to buy at the venue after the show.

[edit] Videos recorded at Brixton

In Bed With Carter was filmed at Brixton Academy. It features a live gig of Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (Carter USM).

The movie 9 Songs features numerous performances (e.g. Franz Ferdinand) all shot in the Brixton Academy.

Suede's VHS/DVD "Love and Poison", originally released in 1993, was filmed at the Brixton Academy.

AC/DC filmed the music video for their song Thunderstruck at the academy.

Video shoots for Wham and Culture Club were held at the venue. Billy Ocean's video for When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going soundtrack for the Jewel In The Nile was shot in Brixton Academy.

'Elegies', the 2005 DVD from Machine Head featured material record at the Brixton Academy while on tour the previous year.

The Sex Pistols are due to bring out a dvd of their five gigs in 2007. It is mostly based on November 10th 2007. It is due to be released in 2008 some time but could be later.

The Mighty Boosh Live DVD was recorded at the Brixton Acadamy in 2006.

The video for "Whose Got A Match" by Biffy Clyro was recorded at Brixton Academy in October 2007.

[edit] References

  1. ^ LondonTown.com | London Entertainment | The Brixton Academy London
  2. ^ Dido Live
  3. ^ Live At Brixton Academy
  4. ^ :: Carling Academy Brixton - Venue History ::
  5. ^ :: Academy Music Group - About Us ::

[edit] External links

v • d • e
Academy Music Group venues