Book a ticket to the Troxy

Situated on Commercial Road, in the heart of East London, the Troxy is a former cinema which is now a fantastic venue for a diverse range of events, and some fantastic gigs. It attracts some brilliant bands, and has witnessed some great shows, and if that's not your sort of thing, Gary Numan's on in a couple of weeks.


Between 1933, when the first film shown was "King Kong", and 1960, when it closed with "The Siege of Sidney Street", the cinema had a capacity of over 3,000 people. It subsequently became a venue for Royal Opera House rehearsals, and then a Mecca Bingo, closing in 2005.

Since being acquired by its current agents, it has been converted into, in your author's opinion, one of the better venues in London to watch live music, with restoration of some of the original bits adding a great atmosphere, and sound quality holding up well.

When your author last visited, it was to see a left-wing singer-songwriter who kept banging on about the unions - in between trying to flog teatowels - but when he was singing it was very pleasant. That said, it's not all pop music, and tonight sees - bizarrely - a boxing match between Oxford and Cambridge, so it's probably best to just keep an eye on the what's on section, and see if anything pops up you fancy seeing.

For more on all things Troxy, visit http://www.troxy.co.uk/

_{^Picture © Jim Linwood used under Creative Commons^}

Watch a band at Cargo

Your author has long been a fan of Cargo as a venue, and it earns a place here even though they do sell a can of San Miguel for £4 because he had another great night there last week.


Situated off Rivington Street underneath two arches of the East London Line, the bar and club attracts an eclectic range of bands and DJs and a perfectly pleasant bar, garden and restaurant as well.

It's not even all try-hard Shoreditch rubbish and they occasionally have proper bands playing, or even special nights of reasonable quality stuff. The main performance space, beneath the second arch, has a great atmosphere, but is easy to escape if you need a breather.

All in, it's a good place, and probably has an interesting history or something, or maybe it's brand new, not sure really. For more, see http://www.cargo-london.com/

_{^Picture from Cargo press page^}

Watch a band at the Shepherds Bush Empire

The Shepherds Bush Empire, on Shepherds Bush Green, was built like many of London's major music venues as a music hall. It was competed in 1903 and served as a music hall until it became the BBC Television Theatre in 1953. Only as recently as the early nineties did the BBC leave, and consequently it reached the most recent phase of its evolution, opening as a music venue.


So, the venue where you can now watch the greats of popular music was once used to film The Generation Game, The Basil Brush Show, Juke Box Jury, This is Your Life, Jim'll Fix It and Wogan. Rock and Roll!

The Empire has a capacity of 2,000 and since its reincarnation it has played host to more bands than it would be possible to mention, including Blur, Kylie Minogue, The Buzzcocks, Radiohead, David Bowie, Elton John, Smashing Pumpkins and The Rolling Stones.

To find out who is on next, visit http://www.o2shepherdsbushempire.co.uk/.

_{^Picture from Flickr courtesy of Mark Hilary^}