O2 Academy Islington, Islington, London

Went here with a large group of us, was a bit of a wait to get in and the staff were not exactly helpful when waiting but when you get in there everything you expect, smaller than you may think but in the main room good dancing room, good music and the crowd was a good load of people all having a laugh and hot women. Drinks made it better.

great place to go to i had a great time there sexy ladies and nice crowed with great dj’s you can not go wrong.

Fantastic venue,spacious,clean and brilliant sound quality. Im a regular visitor here and recommend it.

Decent enough place to go to if theres a gig you want to go to.
We went there for a gig once, and for some reason the guys at the door were confused about what door we needed to use. Security is mental, i think we constantly got asked for our tickets right up to the point in which we actually entered the room!

The place is small enough to obtain an intimate setting.

The bar is along two sides of the room. The drinks were fairly priced, if a bit watered down with too much ice.

Overall, ok.

I have only been to this venue once, which is a shame since I remember really liking the vibe of this quirky bar/music venue. The acoustics are perfect for small music gigs and is just the size for a relaxed evening. I would have given this venue a 2 star when it was owned by Carling since the beers were expensive for a very limited choice dominated (obviously) by Carling. But now owned by O2 this place has redeemed itself and given Islington a real place for some good quality music.

Interesting place to attend a gig - the inside is suprisingly large for a venue situatied in a shopping centre, but is convenient for residents of more North London suburbs.

Security are very unfriendly, as are bar staff, prices, as with most gig venues everywhere are astronomical and the choice is very poor.

The floor is generally clean though, as well as the toilets - they must use some amazingly strong cleaners!

I saw Alice in Chains here

AWESOME experience and one of the best gigs I've ever been to

The crowd were wicked, we bought multiple drinks as it was absolutely crammed and the whole night was one long great experience!!!

Definitely go and see bands here

I don't go to a lot of gigs, but a singer I really wanted to see performed here so I bought a ticket and went along. The venue is quite small, which was cool, but there's no seating so only tall people get to see the stage. It sounded great, but I feel like I missed half the show by not seeing my fave singer perform because I couldn't see or get near the stage. I don't think I'd bother going here again.

Smallish venue in the heart of Islington. They are a bit anal about their security rope and ticket stubs.

We'd got free tickets to an NME gig and wanted to make sure we got in but also get some food and have a decent pint across the road rather than the overpriced shandy they serve in these venues. Security man didn't take kindly to us getting tickets and turning about face. Apparently the paper stubs are the property of the venue and shouldn't be removed.

Anyway, despite this nonsense from the head of security throwing his weight around, the venue itself is OK, nothing to write home about. (and yet, here i am...)

if there is a band you want to see playing here then go, but i wouldn't make a special trip..

There are two parts to the academy: upstairs and downastairs. Upstairs is tiny and downstairs is not much bigger. They are both lovely venues though.

Upstairs is very intimate which can mean there is not much of an atmosphere, however, if the band is good they will be able to create one :)

Unfortunately there is no cloakroom upstairs- so pack lightly :P

Downstairs is also quite intimate and generally has a nice atmosphere. Also it DOES have a cloakroom which is VERY useful!

The downside to both parts is that the bands are normally quite small so the gigs are a bit hit and miss. However, I LOVE IT!

I have to admit that I’ve not been to the Carling Academy to see bands play, largely because no bands that I like have played there recently. However, I have been there on Saturday nights for Club De Fromage. As the name suggests, this club play cheesy music. However, it is not the music that makes the atmosphere so great at Club De Fromage, it’s the little extras like the weekly raffle to win a pasty. The crowd here is always friendly, unpretentious and up for a laugh.

Firstly I don’t like Carling Academys mainly for the over priced drinks and tickets. They also bought out my local venue, and never seen a good band play since then!
But after all that I would have to say this is a great venue! Set aside from the other academy’s i’ve visited on my travels!

Academys are not normally my favourite places/gig venues but this gets a special mention for super-friendly bouncers. yes, that’s right - friendly bouncers!

Oh, and inside’s pretty decent too with loads of fun, different club nights on (i.e. headphone disco, rock karaoke…) as well as gigs. Sound is pretty good and you can easily get a good view of the stage and normally doesn’t take too long to get served.

I really don’t know how to write this review - mostly because I’m confused about what I’m reviewing.

The story is that, like a bunch of other people with tight wallets and too much time on the internet, I “won” two tickets from Time Out to go and see a gig at the Carling Academy in Islington.

The venue itself is OK. I love live music, I don’t mind Carling and Islington is quite local so the place has a few good things going for it.

Inside was very dark, but this created a good buzz for an early starting gig. It’s relatively small, so the experience with the band is pretty intimate. There are hardly any seats either so the experience is very much about standing and dancing.

The prices were a bit steep - 3.50 for a pint - but the tickets were free so that’s not too bad I guess.

The first two bands were OK. Sort of garage bands of the type you get at the Dublin Castle in Camden.

The main act though was a band called Plastic Little - a hip hop outfit from Philadelphia.

The difference in quality between them and the other acts was very stark. Like having your auntie who plays the piano a bit opening for AC/DC!

Plastic Little were great. Really great - even if you are not that into hip hop - they put on a very entertaining show.

The funny thing was the audience. Here was this uber cool international band - who’s demographic I imagine would be young, quite likey black, or hispanic - certainly very trendy and hip hop savvy - yet they were playing to a bunch of white 30 somethings, mostly male - who looked like they had learnt to dance via a free internet course (I don’t exlude myself from this description)

Anyway it was a top night - especially for midweek.

So the venue is OK. Time out free tickets are worth chasing, and if you get a chance - see Plastic Little.

cool venue! quite small so good seeing bands there!

The Islington Bar Academy is an intimate venue, which is a great place to see unsigned bands at a reasonable price. I saw a battle of the bands style event here with bands from different uni's playing. I found it had a great atmosphere, because the place filled up quite quickly because of its size. Plus the cinema is opposite and the shopping centre, so if you get peckish later on after all that drinking then Sainsbury's is good for a sandwich.

There's two parts to the Islington Academy. The main Islington Academy is a spacious room with a big stage and two bars with £3 pints where fairly large bands play fairly large gigs to fairly excited audiences. The Islington Bar Academy is a smaller offshoot venue linked to the Islington Academy proper, but I've never been on a night where walking between them has been allowed. The Bar Academy tends to put on clubnights and smaller shows that are cheap to get into and occasionally has drinks offers in, whereas the Academy itself is like the Bar Academy's rubbish older brother. Worth going to the Bar Academy for a clubnight, not so worth going to the Academy for anything other than to see a band and then go home.

It's not every day one gets to see a shopping centre slowly fill up with the queue for a black metal concert. For this sight alone I would like the Academy; however, it's also just a good venue. The stage is small, and not greatly separated from the crowd, so performances feel much more intimate. Given that the venue itself is also very small, you'll have to try pretty hard to get a bad view.

As it's owned by Carling, if you've been to the much larger Academy in Brixton, you know what to expect from the bar; in a nutshell, lager and shots, expensive. However, Sainsbury's is just across the road, so queue-picnics are easy to arrange. Nearby is Angel Station, on the Victoria Line, and King's Cross isn't too far so night buses are generally around as well.

Generally, my opinion can be summed up as: if you are seeing an awesome band, seeing them here is a definite bonus. Have fun.