Ocean Hackney (London)

There's not a better live concert venue in Hackney. Well there isnt another one around to be brutally honest, but it really is the business. Its location may be a bit of a problem for some ,but I don't mind, I can roll home. Hopefully this state of the art, tres moderne space will finally kickstart the regeneration of the long neglected Hackney area. Its been going for about a year now and already new bars are springing up all over the place in response to the brand spanking new Ocean. Split in to three different performance areas, I've been to a few things there now, most recently a Big Chill Event that took over the whole place and rocked it ...  Read the complete review

Only just opened (march 2001) Ocean promotes itself as a front line state of the art venue and it is indeed very impressive, from the exterior architecture (previously a church), to the fashionable industrial interior featuring polished aluminium and enough doors made stylishly from MDF for Laurence Lewelyn Bowen to be proud. As a new venue it has managed to escape some of the defect of previous concert venues including a raised stage for maximum ‘viewability’ and a staged balcony to avoid that constant view of the back of someone’s head. With a capacity of 2,700 this £23million development is clearly an attraction for major bands and ...  Read the complete review