Goodbye to the Astoria
Wednesday, January 14th, 2009
A busy night at the Astoria
Wednesday 14 January sees the final night for the London Astoria. It’s another body blow for the London live music scene after the closure of the Hammersmith Palais two years ago. This feels even worse, because the Astoria was such an important part of the capital’s live music circuit. Bands on the verge of making it big would pay here before moving on to larger venues such as Shepherd’s Bush Empire or Brixton Academy. And larger bands would reaffirm their punk rock credentials by playing here - with Oasis, U2 and the Rolling Stones playing here recently. And it somehow felt right having a live venue in the centre, right on Oxford Street. We still have the 100 Club of course, but that’s tiny by comparison.
The final night at the Astoria was due to be Thursday 15 January, but Manumission’s closing party was cancelled by TFL in what was described by Manumission’s Mike and Claire McKay as an “unsympathetic decision” that had left them “saddened and disappointed”. Roger Daltry, Pete Townsend and Kasabian were due to be involved, and it would have been a fitting sendoff. So what we have instead is a night put on by Get Cape Wear Cape Fly, featuring The Automatic, The King Blues and Mark Greaney from JJ72, which is not really a fitting testament to the venue.
My faourite gigs at the Astoria would be the Arctic Monkeys, who debuted their Favourite Worst Nightmare album at the Astoria in early 2008, a superb Hot Chip show in 2006 and The Cribs last year. I loved the fact the crowd seemed younger and more up for it than at other venues (maybe it’s Oxford St location?), the fact that ticket prices were low (most gigs cost around £12 compared to £30 at the larger venues) and the fact that is was rough around the edges and not corporate, the Keith Moon Bar, the superb views from the upstairs standing area…too many things to mention.
But nevertheless London Venue Guide will be there tonight to say goodbye. We might even take a screwdriver to see what mementoes we can get. We’ll have a full report of the evening tomorrow. In the meantime, tell us about your memories of the famous venue below.