London Astoria

Infobox music venue
name = London Astoria

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caption = The front of the Astoria
location = Soho, London
coordinates = coord|51|30|57|N|0|7|50|W|type:landmark|display=inline,title
years_active = 1976 — present
capacity =1,600 — 2,000
owner = Festival Republic
promotions =
website = [http://www.festivalrepublic.com/venues/#Astoria festivalrepublic.com] The London Astoria is a music venue at 157 Charing Cross Road in London, England. It has been leased and run by Festival Republic since 2000.

History

The Astoria was built on the site of a former pickle factory and opened in 1927 as a cinema. It was later converted for theatrical use in 1976 and is now exclusively a music venue with a capacity of 2,000. The Astoria is connected to Astoria 2 such that the two venues can function as a single venue where needed. By far its busiest nights were the G-A-Y promotions; the final G-A-Y at the Astoria was held on July 26, 2008.

It has played host to many up-and-coming bands, such as Radiohead and Nirvana in 1989. The venue would also host world famous bands wishing to play low-profile shows, including U2 in 2001 [http://www.u2tours.com/detail.src?ID=20010207 February 07, 2001 / London, England] , The Rolling Stones in 2003, Pearl Jam in 2006 and Oasis's first performance of their 2005 tour. Blur also played a five-night residency in 2003. The venue plays host to the popular nightclub G-A-Y, which sees many celebrities visit and perform music for the assembled crowd.

Mean Fiddler acquired the lease for the London Astoria in May 2000, 'securing the future of live music at one of London’s most famous rock ‘n’ roll venues.' It has since been the primary choice for well-established bands' intimate club gigs in London. Big names to have played the Astoria include: Napalm Death, Metallica, The Cranberries, HIM, Nirvana, Suede, Arctic Monkeys, Muse, Samwell , Ash, Blur, Radiohead, Travis, Funeral for a Friend, Dirty Pretty Things, Supergrass, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Kasabian, Kaiser Chiefs, The View, Owen Molloy, Pendulum, The Libertines, Lostprophets, Megadeth, Martin Gore, Oasis, Amy Winehouse, Green Day,Angels and airwaves,Children of Bodom, Rage Against the Machine, Sum 41, System of a Down and Geri Halliwell. The Astoria also hosted the final gig by Manic Street Preachers, before Richey Edwards' disappearance.

Only two unsigned bands have managed to sell out the Astoria, the first being The Darkness, second being Enter Shikari, although the latter created and run their own record company.

The Enemy & Blur both hold the record for playing six consecutive nights at the Astoria.
Ocean Colour Scene played 5 consecutive sold out nights at the Astoria in March 2000 as part of their one from the modern tour.

Recordings

Radiohead recorded a whole concert on VHS called "Live at the Astoria" which was released on 27 May 1994 and later re-released on DVD on November 21, 2005 in the UK and one day later in the USA and Canada.

Sum 41 recorded a whole live concert on the DVD "Introduction To Destruction" in 2001.

Marillion recorded their live DVD "Marbles on the Road" at two sold out shows at the Astoria in July 2004.

Hard-Fi's DVD, "In Operation", is a full live performance at one of their sold out shows at the Astoria during their sold-out 2005, December tour. It reached #62 in the UK Chart as it was bundled with a remix CD, thus making it eligible.

Eels recorded their album "Live and in Person! London 2006" at the Astoria in 2006.

InMe did the recording of their 2006 live album "" at the Astoria in December 2005.

Steve Vai recorded and released a live DVD called "Live at the Astoria".

Destruction

The Astoria was sold in June 2006 by Compco Holdings property group Derwent Valley Central for £23.75m, who were rumoured to be planning to convert the site into to a combination of shops, flats and offices to take advantage of an increase in property prices for the 2012 Olympics [ [http://www.allbusiness.com/operations/facilities-commercial-real-estate/4418164-1.html London's Astoria Theatre Bought by Derwent Valley | Europe > Western Europe from AllBusiness.com ] ] .

On the 13th of August 2007, Mean Fiddler completed its merger with the MAMA Group and no longer operates the Astoria or the Mean Fiddler venues. These have now been incorporated into the group's "Festival Republic" brand. The Mean Fiddler venue changed its name back to Astoria 2 shortly after this announcement. [http://www.meanfiddler.com/displayPage.asp?PageID=471 Notice posted by Mean Fiddler - retrieved 17th October 2007]

The Astoria will be demolished to make way for Crossrail. Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone confirmed that the venue "can't be saved." [cite news | title = 'Smelly' Astoria makes way for Crossrail | publisher = The Times | date = 2008-03-14 | url = http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article3549396.ece | accessdate = 2008-03-14] A "Save the Astoria" campaign was created and run by two English students, in partnership with the Save the London Astoria campaign run by musician 50ft Woman, but was unable to change the outcome.

A replacement for the Astoria would then be developed by the council and leaseholders, with work due to start in late 2008, depending on Government funding.

During their record breaking 6 night residence at the venue, The Enemy's lead singer Tom Clarke announced that the Astoria has been given a 5 year lease.

External links

* [http://www.festivalrepublic.com/venues/#Astoria London Astoria web site]
* [http://www.meanfiddler.com/displayPage.asp?ArticleID=273&URLID=45 History]
* [http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/AstoriaTheatreCharingCrossRoad.htm Astoria Theatre History]

References