We once had rather too much live music in our lives, thanks to a neighbour’s penchant for practising the greatest hits of Genesis the other side of walls as thick as tracing paper. It’s nice to have live music close – everyone likes a jig now and then – but not too close.
What’s your poison? For classical music, London’s main venues are famous for acoustic flaws. Birmingham’s Symphony Hall is usually cited as Britain’s best for sound quality, especially for orchestral music. Jazz? The Guardian put VerdictJazz in Brighton and Streatham’s Hideaway up there with London’s famous Vortex, the Jazz Cafe, Ronnie Scott’s and 606.
Rock and pop mega-venues such as the O2 are booming, but it’s smaller independents that have the best acts and atmosphere. The NME called King Tut’s Wah Wah Hut in Glasgow “quite possibly the finest small venue in the world”.
The UK’s most beautiful venues, though, according to the BBC, are Wilton’s Music Hall, London; Dundee’s Caird Hall; Norwich Arts Centre; the Wylam Brewery and the Boiler Shop in Newcastle; London’s Bush Hall; the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill; the Empire Music Hall in Belfast; Margate’s Winter Gardens; and, St Luke’s (aka The Bombed-Out Church), Liverpool. At least you’ll have something nice to look at if the music’s a racket.
