Brixton Academy

I happened to be in town while Lemon Jelly was performing in 2005. I LOVE those guys so I bought my friend and I a ticket to go. The area was a bit dodgy but I’m from Detroit so it didn’t phase me too much. I wish I could see more shows here but alas I’m on the wrong side of the ocean.

Ordinary Boys, My Chemical Romance, The Automatic, Every Time I Die and Young Soul Rebels there and I’m going to see Atreyu and 36crazyfists there on September 15th. It’s such a great venue, apart from the fact you can’t get right up to the stage because of the barriers :[
A funny story about it though, when I went to see Ordinary Boys a song finished and Chle, Maia and me were still dancing and Preston went ‘Oh look, they’re still going over there!’
It was fucking class.

This has to be London’s top live music venue. Top perfomers play here all the time.

Even better is the building itself – look at the pictures.

The history is interesting too. From the website:

Brixton Academy was built in 1929 at a cost of £250,000 as the largest of four “Astoria” theatres. At that time the venues were hailed as amongst the finest buildings in the country for the showing of motion pictures and were designed by E.A. Stone. Brixton Academy to this day still retains many of its original features, including its elaborate proscenium arch over the stage and magnificent Art Deco interior. The first adverts for the Brixton Astoria appeared in the local press in July 1929 as “Astoria with a capital A, Brixton’s wonder theatre”.

The venue was formally opened by Mr. Nigel Colman, MP for Brixton on 19th August 1929, with Al Jolson on the “Vitaphone” talking picture ‘The Singing Fool’, plus a Variety show featuring Winnie Melville, Heddle Nash, Derek Oldham, Fred Kitchen and the Astoria Orchestra, and George Pattman at the Compton organ. The last 40 minutes of the opening stage show were broadcast on the BBC. Queues for the opening show started at 8.45am and by noon, two queues completely encircled the building! Celebrities in attendance that night included Pola Negri, Betty Balfour and Alfred Hitchcock.

The Brixton Astoria was the only theatre whose interior was designed to produce the illusion of an auditorium with the atmosphere of the outdoors. Situated in Stockwell Road, South London, the site had previously been a private garden to which only a few local residents had access. The main feature of the entrance was a 35ft semi-dome carried out in copper sheet finished in spray bronze. Special tools were needed to work the ribs, which were outlined in neon. There was a 40ft wide advertising panel with interchangeable illuminated letter. It was designed with a circular entrance hall and featured a dome painted to represent the sky, which was lit by concealed lighting and the marble flooring was laid in a star design. Five pairs of doors gave access to the inner lobby, which had two staircases, each over 10ft in width. These led to the upper vestibule and foyer, which gave access to the balcony and in those days served as a café and tea lounge – all these features still remain today.

The Auditorium was designed to give the audience the impression that they were sitting in an Italian garden. There was a huge dome 140ft in diameter (big enough to cover the middle of Leicester Square), onto which effects machines projected scudding clouds and brilliant sunlight by “day”. During the night there was soft moonlight and twinkling stars. The proscenium was flanked on both sides by tall cypress trees and the sidewalls were designed to give the impression of a terrace garden and were based on the great Italian masterpieces in the Colonna Palace. On each side of the proscenium are two towers; the one on the right concealed the organ chamber and the towers connected by a bridge in true Italian style.

In the early years, artists and chorus were able to sing from the illuminated balcony above, and a number of statues were introduced in alcoves. Hailed as “the theatre beautiful” by its creator, it was specifically designed with three essentials in mind – expanse, comfort and atmosphere. The Astoria was an immediate success and in the first month 175,000 people paid for admission. Only twelve of these complained. The complaints ranged from a lost set of false teeth (which were eventually found and returned to their owner) to the nuisance caused by a few matinee patrons cracking nuts during a talking picture. Each week 1,200 availed themselves of the advance booking facilities, and in the first month 4,000 items of lost property were returned to their owners.

At Christmas 1950, old age pensioners were given a Christmas treat at the theatre and entertained by Charlie Chester, Talbot O’Farrell, G.H. Elliott and other big names in variety. In 1952 Sydney Allard, the first British victor in the Monte Carlo Rally for 21 years, appeared on the Astoria’s stage along with his car. Today, it is still possible to drive a car straight off the street and onto the stage of Brixton Academy.

As times and industry changed and trends moved on, the Astoria eventually closed its doors as a cinema theatre on 29th July 1972 with Red Sun and the Looking Glass War. It was then converted into the “Sundown” Centre. All the stalls were removed to provide a dance floor and the circle seats were left in situ, for rock concerts. The new rock venue opened 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, an idea that local MP, Mr Marcus Lipton, called “a damn disgrace.” Fortunately the redevelopment scheme was scrapped. The building was kept heated after it closed, and was used as an equipment store by the Rank Organisation.

The riots of 1981 found Brixton probably at its lowest ebb and even though The Astoria re-opened as a rock venue called “The Fair Deal” in 1981, with a concert by UB40 and an interior restoration; the venue quickly closed in 1982 when its former owner claimed they were over £300,000 in debt. A gentleman called Simon Parkes had his eye on the venue and approached brewery owners Watneys to take it off their hands. Simon’s timing was perfect as they were keen to sell and he transformed the site into the Brixton Academy at a time when there was little investment in the area. The wheels were set in motion and the venue re-opened in 1983 with a concert by top Jamaican reggae outfit, Eek-A-Mouse.

Simon Parkes was instrumental to not only the restoration of the historic building to its original condition but also the regeneration of Brixton. The Academy’s success steadily grew throughout the 1980’s with numerous reggae productions and his foresight to hire out the venue 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 the likes of pop icons Wham and Culture Club. Even 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 with Michael Douglas, Kathleen Turner and Danny De Vito in attendance.

Memorable shows included three consecutive nights with The Clash in 1985, at time when punk bands were banned from other venues and consequently Brixton Academy was rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about venues in Britain. Into the late 1980’s, dance music was becoming a phenomenon. Simon introduced the acclaimed club nights ‘Westworld’, ‘Energy’ and ‘Metamorphosis’ events and surprisingly Diana Ross turned up for an impromptu free performance one night at 1.30am during a 3-day visit to London. The acid house scene exploded and with successful negotiations, Simon ensured Brixton Academy became the first UK venue to be granted a 6am licence. Rocketing into the 1990’s and the ‘Manchester scene took guitar bands back into the main stream and Brixton Academy became the venue of choice for touring bands and was well and truly established on the circuit as a “must-play” gig.

By 1995, Break For The Border’s Ian Howard and John Northcote – the ‘fast-growing live-music restaurant operators’ (The Times) – were already hot on the trail of purchasing another live music venue in London as they had already acquired west London’s Shepherd’s Bush Empire. The purchase of Brixton Academy by the duo happened almost by accident as they were looking to reopen the legendary London Rainbow Theatre in Finsbury Park. The Brazilian Pentecostal Church had pitched an offer to buy the Brixton Academy from Simon Parkes and turn it into their church; however they ran into planning issues.

John Northcote and Simon Parkes were introduced by a mutual friend and met in a Pizza Hut restaurant in London’s Oxford Circus and within half an hour, had struck upon a gentleman’s agreement that Break For The Border would buy the Brixton Academy and the Brazilian Pentecostal Church would buy the Finsbury Park Rainbow Theatre. And that’s precisely what happened in 1995 – with both parties still owning their respective venues to this today.

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 rest, as they say, is history, with the Academy remaining one of the most iconic venues in the world today.

In August 2004, McKenzie Group announced its decision to re-brand the organisation “Academy Music Group Limited” (AMG), following the completion of a management buy out. Under the same operations team, Brixton has gone from strength to strength and in recent years has won a string of industry awards and nominations, including NME’s ‘Best Live Venue’ a record nine times in the last ten years (1994-2005). It attracts over 550,000 visitors per annum, hosting over 110 events in a calendar year and has played host to a diverse range of acts from Madonna, Bob Dylan and the Rolling Stones, to the Kings Of Leon, The Killers and today’s biggest artists.