Winston's Zen

SHED A TEAR AS WE BID FAREWELL TO THE LONDON ASTORIA

Some music venues consist of little more than makeshift stages and sweaty, student filled mosh pits. Nights at these low-end music halls are often as memorable for the crap beer and depressingly dingy surroundings as for the actual music that took place there. Some venues on the other hand, by virtue of location, atmosphere or simply the quality of the acts it's line-ups can boast, capture the imaginations of their crowds and instill all who enter their hallowed doorways with an excited energy they didn't possess until the very second their ticket stubs were torn.

Originally built as a cinema in 1927, on the site of an old pickle factory in one of the most conveniently central locations in London, The Astoria falls firmly into the second category. With a warren of corridors joining the intensely compact and atmospheric 2,000 capacity venue to it’s amenities (including the impressive secondary venue Astoria 2) it’s never been the easiest place to retrieve your coat at the end of the night, but this little corner house on Charing Cross Road has surely won a place in the hearts of all London gig-goers.

Converted for theatrical use in 1976 (which makes gigging at the Astoria a whole year older than Winston himself) and acquired by Mean Fiddler in May 2000, the Astoria’s mighty stage has for years strained under the weight of such musical heavyweights as The Beach Boys, The Rolling Stones, Nirvana, Metallica, Pearl Jam, U2, Coldplay and Oasis. Making it truly one of the greatest must-play-at venues in the UK.

But after tonight it will strain no more.

Despite an online petition containing enough signatures to fill the place twenty times over and Tom Clarkes claims during The Enemy’s record breaking residency there last year, that the prestigious old venue had been granted a stay of execution and an extended five year lease, the curtains will come down on the Astoria’s stage for the final time this evening and the venerable old stalwart will fall sadly and permanently silent shortly afterwards. Tomorrow we will all wake up to a capital city which will be sorely lacking one of the best-loved and most history steeped venues of it’s size in existence. A sad day indeed for fans of live music.

Without wanting to get into the politics of Crossrail or the forthcoming Olympics (or indeed the rather obvious fact the location the venue stands in really doens’t require the shopping complex that has been mooted) Winston’s Zen feels that venues like the Astoria are an essential part of this country’s cultural structure, it’s mid-range capacity and centralised location make it one of the few venues of it’s kind in the U.K. suitable for staging events featuring artists on the very brink of international stardom. Something which the replacement venue that has been promised will find it very difficult to match.

Twelve acts are scheduled to take to the stage tonight (JJ72, VV Brown, Helsinki, Brigade, The King Blues, Frank Turner, My Vitriol, The Automatic, and Get Cape Wear Cape Fly amongst them) in what promises to be an emotional farewell.

Winston’s Zen is willing to queue up for our jackets just one more time to pay our last respects.

RIP Astoria – Thank you for the good times.

Back soon,
Winston