A Good Night (Birmingham Carling Academy)

Member Name: topsyturvy

Product:	Birmingham Carling Academy
Date:	28/09/06 (1007 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: good sound, good size of venue

Disadvantages: -

I have been to quite a lot of venues now to see concerts but the last one I came across was the Birmingham Carling Academy. I have been to many Carling Academy’s before and usually don’t mind them but don’t find them to be that great. I had never been to Birmingham before either so I was hoping that the venue would be easy enough to find. I had directions so following it I easily found my way to Dale End and there it was the Carling Academy.

To park here there is a big NCP car park called Londonderry House. The prices are not that cheap though but there is nowhere to leave cars on the street. 6 hours goes up to £7.40 so that gives an idea of the costs. The car park is safe enough and is 5 minutes walk from the venue. As you come out of the car park and walk around the corner you come right to the Carling Academy and you can see the bright lights up ahead.

When walking into the venue you go downstairs and then you seem to arrive into this room which is actually much smaller than I had expected. It’s smaller than most of the Carling Academy’s I’ve been too but in a way I quite liked its size. The bar is to the back of the venue so if you want drinks you have to leave the floor to get there but it isn’t too badly priced. The stage is biggish but it’s still quite a close-up kind of concert unlike some venues where they are too big and you can hardly interact with the bands playing.

Above the stage there is a set of stairs where most of the bands seem to stand up and watch down on. I thought once the band kicked in with the music the sound was really good. The thing I liked here was that the security distributed out the water whereas in some venues it is terrible and there is no water passes out at all. Also the venue wasn’t too hot there was air conditioning on so you could feel some cold air every so often which is nice in a venue crammed with that many people.

I felt the lighting in the venue was really nicely done. It wasn’t the kind of lighting that does no justice to the bands but it was well organised. Inside there is also a higher level for those who don’t want to stand on the floor level.

The Birmingham Carling Academy was redesigned and opened in November 2000. Birmingham had been without a decent sized venue until this one was built. It has a capacity of 2,700 which I am actually surprised at because you wouldn’t think it when you’re in there. The good thing is that when you look at the listings for this venue there is a huge variety of music and also they are all really well known.

The Academy developed a second room but a much smaller one. This one was named the Carling Academy 2 and it has a capacity of 400/600 so that the less unknown bands can still play here but it isn’t as big.

If you go onto the website and look under travel info you will easily find instructions on how to get here. As I mentioned before I have never been to Birmingham in my life so coming as a stranger to the city I still had no problems finding it. It is easy to see as it has the red writing and the white lit up bar with red letters on it usually of who is playing that night. It’s an old fashioned style but that’s one of the things I really like about it.

After going to this venue I have to say I would definitely come back as I found it just a good size, I like the sound and everything and I felt safe in here. One of the good things about this venue also is when you leave the concerts you are starving but you won’t be for long. There is a McDonalds just a bit up the road from it which seems to be open for quite a long time. If you don’t like McDonald’s though you can also go to one of the takeaways nearby and get chips or curries whatever you want really.

After the concerts outside there are a lot of people selling posters etc as at every gig. You can buy official merchandise inside but still you can get stuff outside although I never tend to due to the fact I still don’t think it’s official and the people selling it are not too safe looking.

Well if you are going to a concert here it should be a great night. For full listings of everything that’s coming up you go to http://www.birmingham-academy.co.uk and all the information you need is on that website. It’s easy enough to find your way around the website and it doesn’t miss any important information out.

Summary: -