Maybe I’m biased as I’m from Bournemouth and I worked at this venue many summers ago during my uni holidays, but the BIC is a fantastic venue.

Although it holds about 5,000 seated and about 6,500 standing, it feels really small and intimate, and since it’s been refurbished and expanded lots of the big arena tours include a stop at the BIC.  Getting to see artists like Pink, Girls Aloud and Oasis here rather than in 15,000 seater arenas elsewhere in the country is brilliant.

The standing area gives great views even from the sides or the back, and when the show is fully seated the raked terrace seating means everyone gets a great view – equivalent to putting raised seating in where the B blocks would start at somewhere like the o2.  

The venue is clean and well managed and seems to lack the impersonal feel of the big arenas – plus you can’t go to a show there without seeing several people you know!  I love it and would plead with all the big arena acts to include it on their tour schedules!

Buy bottled drinks from the shop down the road and take the lid off. When you get passed the staff members checking tickets put your lid back on. When they sell you a bottle of drink they take away your lid and its really annoying! When you buy it at the shop you just have to hide your lid from them when you walk in!

Dont pay money to hear amplified music here.  The accoustics are truly auful.