Music Venues

I am a huge music fan, I regularly go and see my favourite bands live when they tour close to me, I love seeing live music in a great venue, which is one of the reasons why I love Birmingham so much, the music scene in this city, in my opinion is one of the best in England. With great venues such as The Birmingham Academy, The NIA, The Barfly, The Yardbird and the Custard Factory, Birmingham has a wide variety of venues, whatever genre of music you want to listen to there is a place in Birmingham that you can go to see it. Birmingham is certainly the city to be in for a fantastic variety of amazing live music and to see the world's biggest bands/acts.

My favourite venue in Birmingham has to be The Birmingham Academy, which is the biggest music venues in the city centre, it is located on Dale End, it is in close walking distance from New Street station and there are also numerous buses that stop right outside the venue. The Academy has a capacity of around 3000 people, it has a great atmosphere when it is full or even half full. The main room is on two levels, with a balcony above, perfect for watching bands if you fancy a bit more comfort than being squashed in the middle of a mosh-pit, there are also seats for if you've had enough of moshing and getting sweaty, you can sit down and chill out. The stage is huge and is raised so wherever you are standing in the venue you will be able to see the band easily. There are numerous bars around the room so you don't have far to walk if you need a drink during a concert, the bars are situated around the outside of the dance floor, so you can still see the stage when you are queuing, so you wont miss a thing. The prices for drinks are reasonable during a gig but expect to pay a bit more than you normally would than in a pub, but the venue certainly doesn't charge as much as other music venues I have been to in the UK.

The Birmingham Academy attracts some of the hottest bands in the world, when bands have a UK or Worldwide tours the majority of them will play at the Academy. As well as internationally renown bands the Academy also gives local bands a chance to perform. I personally have seen The Arctic Monkeys, The Fratellis, The Hives, and Reel Big Fish at the Birmingham Academy and these are some of the best gigs I've ever been to, simply because the Academy is such a good venue.

Not only does the Birmingham Academy host live music they also have club nights, every Friday night from 10.30 till 3.30 it hosts Ramshackle, Birmingham's biggest alternative night.  Ramshackle is my favourite club night in Birmingham, simply because it plays a variety of great music such as: Indie, Rock, Electro, Rave and much more. If you're not really into typical club music such dance and r&b and you prefer dancing to indie and rock music, then Ramshackle is the place for you. The DJ's play all the current best songs as well as some of your favourite old-skool one's guaranteed to get you singing and dancing along.

Ramshackle is split into 4 rooms, the main room hosts the 'UK's biggest Indie Rock and Roll party' with resident DJ's playing your favourite music all night, this room is always really busy and lively. The other rooms include Digital Disco which plays the latest indie electro and rave music, the final 2 rooms are slightly different, if you fancy chilling out for a bit, Annex is the place to go, it is upstairs and has pool tables, seats and is a nice place to chill out and chat. The nice thing about Ramshackle is that meet some really friendly people, everyone that goes there are just out to have a good night. The majority of the folks that go there are students, so you are bound to meet some nice, interesting people to have a laugh with, it's a good place to go during the first few weeks of University just to meet new people and make new friends.

One of the reasons why Ramshackle is so popular is because it is cheap, entrance before 11.30 is only £3 and once you are in there the drinks prices are some of the cheapest I've found in Birmingham, you can get spirit & mixer from as little as £1.50, pints start off from £1.60 and you can buy shots for £1.50 also, so you don't have to bring a lot of money with you to have a great night out. They stock a wide choice of alcohol too, and the fact that there are a number of bars at the venue means that you never have to wait long to be served, which for me is a very important thing when you are having a night out.

Not interested in indie music and want something a bit more heavier? Then you should try Subculture, it is Birmingham's biggest and most diverse rock night, it is at the same venue as Ramshackle (Birmingham Academy) but the music is heavier and attracts a slightly different group of people, who are more into Heavy Metal, Punk, Goth, Ska and Indie music. Subculture is on a Saturday night and has the same entrance fees as Ramshackle, £3.50 before 11.30 and £5 afterwards, they also have the same drinks offers as Ramshackle so it is another cheap place to go for a wicked night out! Also if you want to meet some of your favourite bands, Subculture often has special guest appearances, some of the bands that have appeared are New Found Glory, Funeral For A Friend, Bullet For My Valentine, and Chimaira, some huge bands to be appearing at a club night!

Birmingham Academy is a fantastic music venue, whether you want to see great live bands or you just want to go for a good, cheap night out, the Birmingham Academy has everything you need to have one of the best nights out in Birmingham, I would highly recommend that you should go there, you wont regret it, I have had some of the most memorable nights of my life in this venue!