Shiiine On - Birmingham

[Flaminglippy]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

Never understood the love for the Sunflower Lounge. I hated it 20 years ago and I still hate it now.

Very rarely go in but as its close to the Academy and will be playing decent music...

[amfy]

We’ll definitely be in and out of The Vic and may end the night there.

[Flaminglippy]

If you are elsewhere dont come down...horrifuc queues already and only 3.15pm. Only one bar open in main room. Fucking shambles. 

[amfy]

The bars improved marginally as the night went on, partly because they opened more and put more staff in, but also because many gave up and left!

I honestly can’t understand how the Academy have made such a shit venue out of such a great space. I remember going there when it was The Dome and it was huge! How have they cobbled together such a hell hole? How hard is it to open the the bars and get a decent number of staff in? I queued for 55 minutes for our first drink! 55 minutes! What kind of business model does this?

if it had been advertised at this venue I never would have bought tickets. It’s bad enough when they have ONE band on - but tonight was fucking ridiculous! 

I also expected to be able to see any of the band on the bill, but the 2nd & 3rd rooms were far too small and often at capacity so you couldn’t get in, offering no choice.

Finally - they have this crazy rule that you can stand up and dance in the balcony only after the act on stage urges everyone to get up. So - balcony on their feet for The Happy Monday’s, but at what point do they think Orbital were gong to do that? They are a dance music act - but they are not going to tell everyone upstairs to get to their feet! Where is the common sense here?

I really hate this venue - it’s become a reason NOT to see acts I love. It’s made me angry on a night when, despite the venue’s best efforts, I had a good time due to the quality of the line up - BUT - someone has to to sort this out surely?

[Chris P]

Great line up, but organisation a total shambles. The bar queues were horrendous, and astonishingly for a “festival” lasting over 12 hours NO FOOD!  Had to pass out to a nearby pub for a pie & pint. Would never go back, which is a shame.

[Flaminglippy]

Great night despite the venue. Shed 7 and Embrace were superb. Cast were much better than I was expecting. Thought Mondays were disappointing. The bar queues got slightly better when the opened up all the bars in main room...but that was 6.30 and the night was half over. 

[thetime]

Can’t see it returning in 2019, certainly not in Birmingham. 

Would of been ideal at somewhere outdoors like castlefields in Manchester. 

[Hugh Jass]

On 9/9/2018 at 8:06 AM, thetime said:

Can’t see it returning in 2019, certainly not in Birmingham. 

Would of been ideal at somewhere outdoors like castlefields in Manchester. 

I think the change of venue killed it stone dead. The NEC is far from idea but at least it can take this sort of event.

Piss poor ticket sales made it happen which makes you think it definitely won’t be coming back.

[amfy]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jass said:

I think the change of venue killed it stone dead. The NEC is far from idea but at least it can take this sort of event.

Piss poor ticket sales made it happen which makes you think it definitely won’t be coming back.

I think they could probably do with moving it around anyway but given the ‘Mancentric’ nature of 90s music this probably would go down better in Manchester - not only with the locals but for the feeling of travelling to it’s ‘home’ for people from other parts of the country.

One thing it did do is finally convince us to take the plunge for the weekender in Minehead - we really saw how much we could have enjoyed the music and the crowd if we were at a better venue. I think it potentially works  as a loss leader for Minehead in that respect! 

[luckysalt]

On 8/14/2018 at 10:09 AM, thetime said:

Birmingham is really shit at selling tickets for festivals, has there been one that’s a success. 

Personally im glad of the change, better atmosphere than tge NEC and easier to get the train home. 

Soundstation was a success in 2006, I have no idea why it never returned or anyone else try to run one on the land at Millennium Point. 

This and the one last year in Brum both September, why not try an outdoor festival in Brum in June/July/August. 

 I get the feeling this festival just had a lot of people not feeling the acts on a whole, Orbital just didn't fit with the acts below, yeah Mondays are dancey, but if they had done a double bill of Orbital and Underworld as co headliners it would have seemed much more attractive. 

I didn't even know until I just saw this that it had dropped from the NEC, it being at the NEC was one of the things that was putting me off.

Slam Dunk in Wolves was awesome until the dumb ass Wolves Council completely fucked up the Civic Hall. SIGH.

[Flaminglippy]

7 hours ago, luckysalt said:

Soundstation was a success in 2006, I have no idea why it never returned or anyone else try to run one on the land at Millennium Point. 

 

Soundstation was sparsely attended though, didn't sell out and the touts were flogging tickets for less than a tenner on the day (think we were quoted a fiver from memory). Same with 'Beyond The Tracks' last year, sold poorly (particularly the Sunday) despite all the last minute cuts to the ticket price. Think @thetime is right...we just don't seem to sell of lot of tickets to (indie) festivals in Brum. Shame.

 

Do agree that Orbital didn't feel like a good fit for the rest of the main stage line-up, as I said in an earlier post, James/Charlatans/Franz Ferdinand might have been a more attractive option.

Edited September 12, 2018 by Flaminglippy

[thetime]

7 hours ago, luckysalt said:

 

Slam Dunk in Wolves was awesome until the dumb ass Wolves Council completely fucked up the Civic Hall. SIGH.

When the restoration is complete it will be nearly 5 years since the restoration started, apart from a brief time it re-opened. 

38m is the reported cost of the restoration, seems obscene when you think it’s nit even that big. Shame as I loved that venue, sone of my favourite gigs have been there and perfect location.

like the old brum academy, that was in the perfect location and the bars were  brilliant just by it as well. 

[Hugh Jass]

8 hours ago, luckysalt said:

 

This and the one last year in Brum both September, why not try an outdoor festival in Brum in June/July/August. 

 

I'm not sure Birmingham has the green space for massive outdoor events. Sutton Park has a footprint bigger than Glastonbury but for whatever reason (council, locals, the fact that transport round there isn't great, no parking) nobody ever does anything there. I know they've tried in the past to put something on down by the Alexandra Stadium but it's never really took off. Speaking of stadia - we have three 30,000+ stadiums within the city limits and yet most of the gigs go to Coventry. Why is that?

 

[Hugh Jass]

2 hours ago, thetime said:

 

like the old brum academy, that was in the perfect location and the bars were  brilliant just by it as well. 

The old academy was ace, my favourite night working there was when the Prodigy turned up with their own soundsystem - was that designed for large outdoor shows. It shook the entire building and you could hear the gig at McDonalds I'm told Also met Keith and the lads that night beforehand, genuinely nice guys.

[amfy]

The problem with The new Academy is it’s attempt to re-create the old academy.

They should have just done something new. The Dome was a fantastic space but by trying to knock a square peg into a round hole they have ended up with something pretty unworkable.

[Hugh Jass]

1 hour ago, amfy said:

The problem with The new Academy is it’s attempt to re-create the old academy.

They should have just done something new. The Dome was a fantastic space but by trying to knock a square peg into a round hole they have ended up with something pretty unworkable.

I'm not sure it tries to recreate the old academy, more sticks to the same bland, O2 sponsored homogeny most venues that size stick to. Think they're all owned by the same group.

[luckysalt]

15 hours ago, Flaminglippy said:

Soundstation was sparsely attended though, didn't sell out and the touts were flogging tickets for less than a tenner on the day (think we were quoted a fiver from memory). Same with 'Beyond The Tracks' last year, sold poorly (particularly the Sunday) despite all the last minute cuts to the ticket price. Think @thetime is right...we just don't seem to sell of lot of tickets to (indie) festivals in Brum. Shame.

 

Do agree that Orbital didn't feel like a good fit for the rest of the main stage line-up, as I said in an earlier post, James/Charlatans/Franz Ferdinand might have been a more attractive option.

I remember Soundstation being packed out. Although a lot of people only turned up for Coxon at the end of the day, it was only £20 to begin with dude. They [organisers] said it was a bigger success than they hoped and would defo be back next year and then you never heard anything again from them. I think something along the same size/idea on that land in summer on a Saturday would sell well. 

[Flaminglippy]

9 hours ago, luckysalt said:

I remember Soundstation being packed out. Although a lot of people only turned up for Coxon at the end of the day. I think something along the same size/idea on that land in summer on a Saturday would sell well. 

Ha ha! Its funny how people remember things differently. I remember there being absolutely no queues for anything, which was great. I also remember 'Orson' being godawful...one song, you've only got oooonnne soooooooooooong 

I'd suggest based on the fact it didn't return and the touts were selling tickets at a quarter of face value that it possibly didn't sell as well as the organisers might have suggested. Touts are known for a lot of things...but their philanthropic tendencies aren't usually one of them  

 

Edited September 13, 2018 by Flaminglippy

[LowerMead]

On ‎9‎/‎9‎/‎2018 at 2:33 AM, amfy said:

The bars improved marginally as the night went on, partly because they opened more and put more staff in, but also because many gave up and left!

I honestly can’t understand how the Academy have made such a shit venue out of such a great space. I remember going there when it was The Dome and it was huge! How have they cobbled together such a hell hole? How hard is it to open the the bars and get a decent number of staff in? I queued for 55 minutes for our first drink! 55 minutes! What kind of business model does this?

if it had been advertised at this venue I never would have bought tickets. It’s bad enough when they have ONE band on - but tonight was fucking ridiculous! 

I also expected to be able to see any of the band on the bill, but the 2nd & 3rd rooms were far too small and often at capacity so you couldn’t get in, offering no choice.

Finally - they have this crazy rule that you can stand up and dance in the balcony only after the act on stage urges everyone to get up. So - balcony on their feet for The Happy Monday’s, but at what point do they think Orbital were gong to do that? They are a dance music act - but they are not going to tell everyone upstairs to get to their feet! Where is the common sense here?

I really hate this venue - it’s become a reason NOT to see acts I love. It’s made me angry on a night when, despite the venue’s best efforts, I had a good time due to the quality of the line up - BUT - someone has to to sort this out surely?

Thanks for posting this. I was due to go but had to cancel the week before, my three pals went and said prety much the same.

That venue is a huge disappointment to me - I grew up and studied in Brum before moving down south 20+yrs ago, my parents still live there and we often visit. We have a toddler, so getting free babysitting off the grandparents whilst we go out in Brum to enjoy a gig should be a great thing. Alas the venue for bands I like is always the bloody O2 Academy, it is shockingly piss-poor run.  What makes it worse is that I go regularly to the Brixton/Islington/Oxford Academy venues and all of them are run well - you have to queue at the bar a bit for busy gigs, but no more than a few minutes. Brum just seems to be shockingly understaffed every time I go, so much so I've now given up.

UTV, by the way!  

 

Edited September 17, 2018 by LowerMead