Capacity: 3009, 600 and 250.
Who plays there: Owing to the varying size of its three rooms, the venue can handle virtually anything except arena-sized bands. Recent hot shows have ranged from Blondie in Academy 1 to Benjamin Booker in the significantly more intimate Academy 3. Forthcoming highlights include Gerard Way, Jessie J, Machine Head and a double bill of West Midlands heroes the Enemy and the Twang.
Cloakroom: There’s one for each performing space, charging £1.50 per item, although this can be bypassed by using their advance texting offer: o2priority.co.uk/moments Large bags, backpacks, bicycle helmets and allegedly “worrying” fancy dress items have to be deposited.
Admission: The regular Propaganda indie-rock club night is £5, while the biggest gigs in Academy 1 hover between £35 and £45. Most shows in 2 and 3 are priced between £10 and £20.
Bars: Each venue room has its own bars, not surprisingly, but in 1, the two long stretches take up virtually half of the wall-space. Service is quite swift, even on crowded nights. Selections are completely predictable, including Carlsberg, Guinness and Somersby cider. Prices are high, peaking at a ridiculous (for Birmingham) £4.80, but special offers can be quite reasonable. Unusually, for a venue such as this, tap water is freely available at the bars. There’s only one small bar in 3, so consequently service can be quite sluggish, even though it’s only a small room.
Food: There’s a hot-dog kiosk and bar snacks, but even the venue’s own website urges punters to eat elsewhere beforehand. There are numerous fast food joints and several Indian restaurants nearby. Restrictions on consumables are fierce: even sweets and chewing gum will be confiscated upon entry.
Toilets: These are of a good size and functionality, with queues unlikely. Academy 3 has some funky circular plastic urinals.
Wheelchair access: Arrangements should be made at the point of purchasing tickets, as spaces are limited. Carer/assistants will receive a free ticket. Email the box office manager to make arrangements: daniel@o2academybirmingham.co.uk.
Sound: Given that each room is by its nature a functional box, the sound quality isn’t too bad. It’s virtually impossible to go wrong in 3, and it’s democratically punchy in the much larger 1, unless you elect to stand right by the bar at the side, under the balcony.
Where to sit or stand: In 2 or 3, positioning is down to sightlines rather than sonics, as each room has a decent spread of sound. Academy 3 is appealingly intimate. In 1, standing on the central square of the dancefloor is advised, or up in the balcony, which covers three sides of the space.
Overall: Few folks enjoy being herded into corporate caverns, but to catch bands of a certain standing it can be necessary. There are hardly any quirks of individuality to expand upon the practical demands of staging, but the O2 Academy performs well under such conditions. It’s preferable to quaff and nosh outside the portals, and time tightly for hitting the set-start at the latest possible moment. Rock and dance music weren’t designed for environments that are so burdened by rules and regulations: this can be something of an extreme dampener. Prominent signs forbid crowd-surfing (among many other things), yet a recent Benjamin Booker gig found the crazed New Orleans axeman promptly ignoring these instructions. Fortunately, the threat of instant ejection doesn’t appear to affect performers.
Address: 16-18 Horsefair, Bristol Street, Birmingham B1 1DB.
Telephone: 0121 622 8250.
Website: o2academybirmingham.co.uk
Public transport: The venue is very well situated for bus services that run along the Bristol and Pershore Roads, but is also only a 10- to 15-minute stroll from New Street and Moor Street rail stations. The hike could be longer from bus stops servicing other sides of the city, particularly now that all central stops have been suspended due to metro construction.
