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SECC
by fizzle2006
The Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) is based in the Finnieston area of Glasgow and hosts many events comprising lifestyle, music and business. This venue houses 5 halls. Hall 3 seats around 3,000, with the largest hall (hall 4) having an approximate capacity of 12,500. Usually, notable artists' concerts are held in ... this hall.
It is easy to get to the SECC, as it is accessible by a large tunnelled walkway which overarches the expressway beneath. On the other side of this road is Exhibition Way train station, so you literally only have to walk for 5 minutes to catch a train to/from the venue. It is also possible to get a bus such as the 62 to Finnieston and then walk the remaining 15 minutes or so to the arena.
There is also a large car park on site, so if you feel that it is more convenient to drive then you are entirely free do so. However, the parking charges are rather extortionate and expect to be caught in lengthy traffic queues when leaving the venue after an event. This problem can be especially bad where the concert is sold out, as on one occasion I was waiting for around an 45 minutes before I actually got to leave the car park due to the long queues.
Right next door to the SECC building is the Clyde Auditorium which also hosts various concerts and pantomimes throughout the year. This is much smaller in size to the SECC and has famously been dubbed the 'Armadillo' due to its appearance, which rather resembles the Sydney Opera House.
Basically adjoining the SECC is the Crowne Plaza Hotel and there are also various other cheaper hotels situated within the immediate proximity of the venue, such as the Campanile and the City Inn. Therefore, you will not be short of places to rest your head for the night should you so require one. I stayed at the Campanile around Christmas time after seeing a show at the SECC and I thought that my room was great value for money at £25 for the night, so I would recommend that if you are travelling far to come to the centre for an event, perhaps you should look into the Campanile first as it is much cheaper than the other close by hotels.
A few minutes walk from the SECC is the Yen restaurant, which is situated in the rotunda building. This restaurant is reasonably priced and serves Thai, Chinese and Teppinyaki cuisine, so this is an ideal place to go for a meal beforehand.
Inside the SECC, located in the foyer area is a box office where you can book or collect tickets, cash machines, a coffee bar and an R.S McColl newsagent, which as you would expect is expensive. There is also the main bar upstairs and I found this to be much cheaper for soft drinks than the bars inside the hall, so this may be something to note in future.
Hall 4 offers various outlets for eating, such as a Rollover hotdog stand and a Harry Ramsden's, again both rather expensive. There are also toilet facilities and a bar in the lobby area of the hall. Here you can expect a cup of water to cost you £2! It is extremely expensive and I would advise you to take your own soft drinks if like me you do not tend to drink alcohol when going to gigs.
The SECC hosts music concerts, pantomimes at Christmas, various wedding, craft, careers and ideal homes shows. Numerous business conferences are held throughout the year in the different conference suites based within the conference centre part of the venue.
I have been to many concerts and wedding shows at the SECC and I have always enjoyed myself. However, I do find that when attending concerts here, the sheer size of the hall has a detrimental effect on the intimacy of the event and also the venue lacks atmosphere that you would find in smaller venues. Nevertheless, I find that the sound quality at the SECC is always great and this is all that you can hope for really when going to see your favourite acts live.
Last year whilst attending a Jay-Z concert I ended up having a dispute with an over zealous steward who was trying to take a Jay-z disposable camera off of me that I had purchased from the merchandise stall inside the hall. I felt that this experience really hindered my enjoyment of the concert and subsequently put my complaint in writing to the SECC. Within a couple of weeks they responded to my letter and provided me with a cheque to refund the cost of the camera and stated that they would investigate matters further. Therefore, I would say that the standard of customer service that they offer is next to none and I was highly impressed with the way in which they dealt with my complaint.
Aside from purchasing tickets at the SECC itself, you can also book tickets for various events hosted here through websites such as Ticketmaster and also the SECC's own ticket outlet: www.ticketsoup.com
Overall, I would say that this is a great venue but lacks the intimacy and atmosphere that you would hope for at a concert.
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Wembley Arena (London)
by Lakerfanster
**Introduction**
I have been to many concert venues in London in the past two or three years and recently went to another venue to see John Mayer. Wembley Arena is one of the UK's best known Concert Venues and since it's opening in 1934 when it was called the Empire Pool it has been for thousands of events including Concerts, ... Comedy Gigs and also Sporting Fixtures, The name changed to Wembley Arena in 1978 and the Arena underwent some renovations in 2005-2006 to bring it more up to date against the other venues in London and in other Major cities in the United Kingdom. Wembley Arena is a Live Nation Arena.
**The Arena**
This Arena is the second biggest in terms of capacity in London, Behind the 02 Arena of course. Wembley Arena holds 12,500 people and is flexible in terms of layout depending on the event. The Arena's refurbishment cost £35m and for me it's money well spent as walking up to the Arena you really get a sense of the importance and stature of the Arena. Once you are in it looks very nice and there are great facilities for concert goers with plenty of toilets and I found that the layout of the Arena is easy to follow. The Arena is very close to Wembley Stadium which cuts a very imposing presence itself.
**Food and Drink**
In the Square in front of the Arena you are able to purchase a decent enough variety of hot food and there's also a bar stand which sells various drinks for concert goers before they enter the Arena. Once you go into the Arena there are bars for you to meet your friends and have a couple of drinks before you go into the Arena to take your seats for the Concert. As you would expect with this type of venue, The prices are quite high so expect to pay around £4 for a pint of Lager or Cider. There are a number of soft drinks available for around £2.
**Square of Fame**
This is basically Similar to the Hollywood Walk of Fame but is done in a different way. This is quite a novel idea and is to mark the contribution a number of stars have made to the Arena's success over the years with a number of performances there. Stars in the Square of Fame include the likes of Madonna, Kylie Minogue, Sir Cliff Richard and Dolly Parton amongst others. One of the most recent inductees are Westlife who have sold out an incredible 27 shows at Wembley in 10 years. I like the idea of the Square of Fame because it gives something back to the performers and shows the apprieciation for them.
**The Sound**
When I go to a Concert I am always eager to hear a wonderful sound system as it just adds to the whole experience and it certainly was a very good performance indeed. The speakers hang from wires from the ceiling like several other venues I have been to and the instruments were all reproduced with a wonderful crisp sound which had a lot of bass to it. It also went very loud without any problems. It was up there with the best I have heard from a Concert and I would recommend the venue to people who asked me about the sound at venues.
**Car Parking**
There are a couple of car parks close to the venue which are quite expensive for the duration of the Concert. The Wembley Stadium car Park is available and then there is a car park which we parked in which was £13 for a space for the evening. It is worth booking online in advance so you know your travel and parking arrangements are all sorted in time. If you are coming by tube or bus from somewhere else in London then there's of course the nearby Wembley Park station. Like any venue you should have all this stuff sorted before your visit.
**Overall**
Wembley Arena deserves it's stature in the UK Music Industry as one of the best Concert Venues in the United Kingdom. London has it's fair share of great Music venues and this is up there with the best of them. There have been some of the biggest names performing at the venue over decades and decades and that shows no sign of changing thanks to the recent refurbishment and renovation which took place just five years ago. Why not check online to see if any of your favourite artists are performing here soon and give Wembley Arena a go. A fine venue that London should rightly be proud of.
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