Reviews and tips for venues near London

Evan Christopher and Django a la Creole played a stunning set high on emotional intensity on Monday night. What a way to finish this GB tour before heading off to record their next album! This was Le Quecumbar par excellence: as the music took hold, you could have been in... [more]

Event Date: June 15, 2009
Event Venue: Le Quecumbar

Evan Christopher and Django a la Creole played a stunning set high on emotional intensity on Monday night. What a way to finish this GB tour before heading off to record their next album! This was Le Quecumbar par excellence: as the music took hold, you could have been in simmering '30s Paris one moment, sweltering New Orleans the next. The combination of maestro of the clarinet Evan Christopher backed by such an accomplished rhythm section as Dave Kelbie and Sebastian Girardot with virtuoso guitar from David Blenkhorn provides a wonderful musical texture.
This is a wonderful match of Louisiana jazz and Carribbean influence to the Django Gypsy style with Duke Ellington and Hoagie Carmichael thrown in. The musical nuances are underpinned by a deep knowledge of the genre and deft musicianship. The whole event storms into life with the deep feeling and utter enjoyment of the music from all members of the group. [less]

The venue was like a sauna but CSN were note perfect. However much we know of each of their individual talents and their collective greatness they are still a revelation live.
The pre interval set was largely chilled out and melodic including many great covers (highlight for me Tim Hardin's... [more]

Event Date: July 1, 2009
Event Venue: Royal Albert Hall

The venue was like a sauna but CSN were note perfect. However much we know of each of their individual talents and their collective greatness they are still a revelation live.
The pre interval set was largely chilled out and melodic including many great covers (highlight for me Tim Hardin's Reason To Believe). In the second half they really rocked out with some inspired guitar from Stephen Stills and with Crosby showing he can still belt it out vocally.
A very long standing ovation may have been from a partisan crowd but it was very well deserved nontheless. [less]

The Astoria just south of the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road is my favourite London venue. It is small so everyone is quite close to the band. There is a feature I think is unique - your admission is to anywhere in the venue, upstairs or downstairs... [more]

The Astoria just south of the junction of Oxford Street and Charing Cross Road is my favourite London venue. It is small so everyone is quite close to the band. There is a feature I think is unique - your admission is to anywhere in the venue, upstairs or downstairs standing. So no worries about not buying the ticket in time to get standing. And if you can't see over the crowd, you can just decide to try upstairs. If you prefer upstairs anyway, there are little tables at the front of the balcony so you can sit and sip your drink while waiting for the music to start. The drinks are reasonably priced. The cloakroom is £1.50 per item but they don't mind if you stuff several coats into one bag. The ladies loo is a bit weird - a lady in there has rows of bottles of handcream, perfume, etc and she rushes up to you with soap and paper towels. The idea is that you give her a tip. Some do, some don't. At least it's clean! And they get great bands. I've been there lots of times, forgotten quite a lot but off the top of my head remember seeing Nightwish, Apocalyptica, the Rasmus, and most recently, Dragonforce, who were absolutely brilliant. Keep hearing rumours that they are going to knock it down and turn it into offices - how awful. Maybe the credit crunch might mitigate against that. Go there while you can! [less]