I’ve seen hundreds of gigs in London in the years I’ve been here, and the Academy is probably my favourite place to see bands. Well, okay, smaller venues like the Astoria are cool because you’re never far away from the band, but if you accept that certain bands have to play in places of a certain size, then this is about as good as it gets. It’s kind of a cool old building.

The Brixton Academy has won NME’s “UK best gig venue” for something like 10 of the last 11 years.

They have stalls/standing downstairs and seats upstairs (separate ticket types). Sound is good. It’s easy to get close to the soundboard area, which is in the middle of the floor near the back.

It’s wide, so you can pack a lot of people in relatively closely. The floor slopes downwards to the stage, making it easier to see (not so much that someone really tall right in front won’t block you, though). There’s a railing in the middle of the floor about a third of the way back from the stage. This means that surging mosh crowds up front are kept separate from the majority of people who want to just stand or jump or dance.

They serve food in the lobby.
They have a big cloakroom upstairs.
They have toilets upstairs, downstairs off the lobby, and at the front sides of the hall.
I’ve never had any problem with security there.
There are at least 6 bars - maybe more I’m missing. Not cheap, though, of course.

Capacity is around 4000, so I’ve seen bands like Nine Inch Nails (5 times), No Doubt, Queens of the Stone Age, Spiritualized, Bob Dylan, Mogwai, Maxïmo Park, Beastie Boys, Iron Maiden, Massive Attack, the Chemical Brothers, etc.

Wicked night out and I had no idea such a great veinew was on my door step! I will be looking out for more things to see here. Loved it!

Awesome venue, the floor is slanted since it’s an old theater which gives everyone a much better view of the stage. Amazing sound as well, really good place to see a concert.

My only complaint was that it was SO BLOODY HOT!! People were fainting and walking out towards the end of the set.

Been a couple of times to see bands, very good, fun venue! staff are friendly enough

At this venue I have spent quite a few memorable nights.
The atmosphere at this venue is unique in its own right and gets completely electric during gigs, which is why I like it so much. The size of the place is just perfect - large enough to hold a rather big crowd, but still small enough for the gig not to become impersonal, for the gig to be intimate in a way that it could never be, had the size of the place been larger. Also, I must mention that light and sound always seem to function perfectly at gigs at this venue, whichm at most other establishments is not always the case.
I warmly recommend this place to anyone interested in going out and listening to music. This venue creates the perfect framing for a perfect night out.

This is one of the top live venues in London and some now legendary performers have been let loose here. The vibe is amazing, the acoustics brilliant and there is an intimacy you get with the band that other venues just can’t deliver

Favourite gig venue in london

Assuming you have good taste in music, Brixton academy is a guaranteed good night out. It’s barely two minutes away from the tube off the main high street with two cheap as chips warm up pubs on route. It’s worth fueling up at these spots as a pint inside is usually about £3.50.

Ignore the touts “buying or selling” and get in early to get a good spot (obvious really). Inside, the venue’s auditorium is pretty vast and the queues for the bars are gonna get big because people wanna have fun. The sloping floor has acquired a patentable stickiness of a thousand dropped pints from a thousand gigs. I made a contribution to this ongoing experiment last night at Beautiful nights (Levellers 20th anniversary with Dreadzone - oh yes).