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Rick Pearson's rating
Astoria given an epic send-off
By
Rick Pearson
15 Jan 2009
Some nights are born great; others have greatness thrust upon them. The Demolition Ball, which marked the final night of music at the Astoria before the much-loved venue makes way for the Crossrail development, was the latter.
Forced to take centre stage at the last minute, after Ibizan dance troupe Manumission cancelled their Thursday night show and The Who never materialised, the Demolition Ball faced the daunting task of singing out the Astoria, armed only with a line-up of the fairly famous.
Under such circumstances, it coped pretty well. Retro soul starlet VV Brown didn’t let the venue’s muddy acoustics prevent her from impressing early on, particularly on the feisty single Crying Blood. Elsewhere, The King Blues got the sell-out crowd moving with joyous ska tunes.
Frank Turner was much more fun than one man and an acoustic guitar have any right to be. More Joe Strummer than James Blunt, the Bahraini-born, Eton-educated troubadour finished his swashbuckling set with an inspired cover of Abba’s Dancing Queen.
Sam “Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly” Duckworth kept the standard high. War Of The Worlds, one of his many well-crafted songs that tether acoustic guitar to dance beats, was met with the kind of reaction that suggested he should have featured higher up the bill of an evening he helped organise.
Special guests The Mystery Jets played an upbeat set, which included last year’s breezy ballad Young Love. They were joined on backing vocals by frontman Blaine Harrison’s father, Henry, who would have remembered when the Astoria first opened as a theatrical venue back in 1976.
He’ll have remembered better nights than this, which was historic only in that it was the last, and epic only in that it was six hours long.
With midnight approaching, Welsh rockers The Automatic tried their best to bring the Astoria to a triumphant finale. Raoul was thunderous and a funky cover of INXS’s New Sensation was well received (even if the song’s sentiment was somewhat out of synch with an evening about old things closing down). Steve McQueen and Recover followed, although no outing for their ubiquitous hit Monster was a strange omission.
A brave effort, but the Astoria deserved a grander goodbye.
Details are correct at the time of publication - please check with venue before booking.
Reader views (6)
Friday night Rock Club in the early 90's is my favourite memory, drinking in The Royal George till late and rockin till the early hours at the Astoria, just awesome!
- Juliet Murray, Perth, Australia, 16/01/2009 13:03
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This closer of the astoria is part of the end of an era in london's vibrantan history as a leader in world music. We like to say pretend as a nation we're a society of culture and style and we're tearing down one of the best music venues to build a railway station. don't we have enough of them already inside the M25. While the bands may not have been to everybodies taste what i saw of them was wicked. Least they showed up, i'm only sorry downstairs weren't fuller even if it was a school night. The astoria got the send off it deserved and one it shouldn't need to be having, as it shouldn't be going. I'd also like to add my thanks to the man that made it happen, who sorted the last night of london's premier rock venue, larry/ DJ sonic. Much love and respect to that man.
- Rob Gray, london, 16/01/2009 01:18
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i was at the mean fiddler yea the bands wasnt good but the night was amazing the dj did a fantastic job larry sonix deserves alot of credit music was awesome in parts didnt like the fact the bar closed exactly 3am either was a good night mean fiddler will be missed
- Phil, london, 15/01/2009 16:52
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I wasn't there as I couldn't make it. As much as people have moaned about the line up, I think Sam and Larry did a FANTASTIC job setting the whole thing up in the time they had, and considering the other commitments they both have. I think they managed to capture what the Astoria was- a platform for those on their way to bigger things and bigger venues. It will be missed greatly, as will the other 4 venues dissapearing due to Crossrail (which as someone else said, is causing a serious blow to culture and music in London). I've many happy memories from there and seen some fantastic performances from many of the bands I love, thank you to the Astoria and it's staff for the many awsome nights.
- Louise Inwood, London, 15/01/2009 16:26
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i will also miss the place ... but not the smell.. i must just say your review missed out on the great show by rockers my vitriol, who i must say made my night!!
- John Diamond, london, 15/01/2009 14:01
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It was a great night and an emotional farewell to a venue that I have spent 132 evenings of my life (and a further 56 downstairs in the Astoria 2 aka LA2 & Mean Fiddler). The only down side (apart from the lack of "Monster") was that I would have liked to have seen some more artists that represented some of the earlier days in the Venues history. That said, at 3 weeks notice, Sam did a brilliant job getting it all together and 13 bands for £8 even left us with a bit of cash to spend at the bar. There are things I will not miss about the place, the wallet busting drink prices and the permantly "gone to lunch" box office for starters, but I would take that over the fact that there is now no comparable venue in Central London dedicated specifically to live music at a time when live musiic is more popular than ever. A serious blow to London culture. Thanks Astoria for some great nights and everlasting memories, one of which will certainly be the Demolition Ball.
- Roger Button, Dartford, Kent, 15/01/2009 11:20
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