Famous music venue to close
March 14, 2008
The famous London live music venue The Astoria is to close to make way for the development of the crossrail underground line.
The announcement was made by London Mayor Ken Livingstone to reporters despite 35,000 signatures on a petition and support from some of the music industries biggest bands such as Franz Ferdinand, Maximo Park and the Kaiser Chiefs. “There are some instances where [preventing closure] just physically isn’t possible,” Livingstone told reporters.
The Charing Cross Road venue opened as a cinema in 1927 and was converted to a live music venue in 1976 and has hosted some of the UKs largest bands such as Arctic Monkeys, Blur, Radiohead, Foo Fighters, Franz Ferdinand, Hard-Fi, Kaiser Chiefs, The Libertines, Amy Winehouse, Green Day, Rage Against the Machine, The Rolling Stones and U2.
The Astoria had the reputation for showcasing up and coming acts with The Darkness being one of the few unsigned act to be able to sell out the venue. Recently it has played host to the popular G-A-Y club night which regularly hosts pop musics most famous artists.
The Astoria will be replaced with a larger music venue as apart of the new Tottenham Court Road development but campaigners are not impressed. “It’s a terrible shame,” Barry Hyde of the Futureheads told Newsweek. “It’s got a great heritage and it is an awesome place to play a gig.” Hard-Fi’s Rich Archer echoed the sentiment: “It’s a real shame, I’m gutted,” he said.
