Unusual venues you've seen gigs at

[The Mollusk]

Saw my mate pissing about with AM/FM radio dials hooked up to a portable rig speaker on the bridge in the middle of Burgess Park lake in Bermondsey to a crowd of about 12 people in the middle of winter in 2012. It was a good set.

[jobotic]

Yeah have seen friends soft mine play in an orchard on a bird reserve, in a library, at a long barrow, an abandoned brewery. Missed them on the top deck of a bus though.

[Gurke and Hare]

I used to go to Indietracks every year when it was still ongoing, a festival at a heritage railway in Derbyshire. Always fun to see a steam train go behind the stage.

[Tokyo van Ramming]

Beth Orton & her band on some kind of travelling cabaret boat, in early 2000s Whistable.

At the end of the set she asked if anyone had any requests, and the place fell silent. Think most of us were lucky friends of several old people.

[Ted_Dibiase]

Off the top of my head I've seen Good Charlotte play in front of the nemesis at alton towers, and some band called Rooster at the top of the radio city tower in Liverpool.

[Tarquin]

Once went on a tour of Chislehurst caves and the bloke doing it said Jimi Hendrix played down there. Imagine that.

Took my cousin from Spain around it last year and the tour guide just banged on about Dumpy's Rusty Nuts playing there.

Has a great musical history though, The Stones/Pretty Things (multiple times), Bowie (of course), Led Zep (also used it as the venue to announce their record label), CCR, loads of punk groups, raves et al. Huge shame the nimbies above ground caused it to stop being a venue in, I think, 1990.

My Ma saw a bunch of jazz and skiffle there in the late 50's early 60's and my Aunt saw the Stones.

Evil, evil place, trust the vicar:

[The Mollusk]

I've seen Good Charlotte play in front of the nemesis at alton towers

This is the fucking peak, if I'd witnessed this I would have known there and then that life could not impress me any more and thrown myself in front of the rollercoaster immediately after.

[Ted_Dibiase]

This is the fucking peak, if I'd witnessed this I would have known there and then that life could not impress me any more and thrown myself in front of the rollercoaster immediately after.

If I'd done that I'd have missed going on the rapids with goldie lookin chain.

[The Mollusk]

:-O

[dontpaintyourteeth]

I saw Uncle Kracker at Longleat.

[bobloblaw]

John Cale at Borders bookshop was an interesting juxtaposition (Also Flaming Stars playing v loud there another time though tbf that was to promote Max Decharne's book of slang)

Arcade Fire previewing Black Mirror at St John's Church London with its fuck-off massive pipe organ was quite special

[Juan K Perros]

Also church; Low at the Rockefeller Chapel at University of Chicago. And Emma Pollock doing a little live preview of her first solo LP backed up by hubby Paul Savage in Borders in Glasgow.

[flotemysost]

It's been a dedicated cultural venue full-time for a couple of years now AFAIK, so not that unusual I guess, but I saw Massive Attack playing Depot Mayfield as part of Manchester Arts Festival 2013. "Yeah that sounds good!" was my reaction when my mate suggested booking tickets, and then didn't bother looking up anything about the event.

Evidently none of our number bothered either, as we hadn't realised it would actually be "Massive Attack hidden behind a big white sheet, performing an ambient live soundtrack to a screening of an Adam Curtis documentary all about the decline of society, featuring side-splitting moments such as footage of the Ceaușescus being executed, and some people dying in a mining accident" - undoubtedly fascinating stuff, but *possibly* not what any of us'd had in mind for this fun summer weekend away. We left before the end and spent the rest of the night getting off our tits in Canal Street, I'm afraid to say.

[Captain Crunch]

Saw GWAR in a scout hut (last minute push after the main venue closed unexpectedly) and I saw Sludgefeast at the sorely missed Montague Arms.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Montague_Arms

I'm just boasting. 

[Jockice]

Heaven 17 playing on the roof of one of Sheffield Hallam University's buildings. I was on the ground.

[mrpupkin]

A gig in a church? A musical gig but in a church of god and christ, are you sure?

[dissolute ocelot]

Saw Jeffrey Lewis at the Hibs Supporters Club in Edinburgh.

I saw Glasgow band Lucia and the Best Boys in Bridge of Allan public library near Stirling (there seems to be a thing for gigs in libraries).

Gigs in former churches aren't unusual these days, although I saw Diane Cluck at St Vincents in Edinburgh which is still a church on Sundays with the original pews and a ton of weird pseudo-heraldic emblems nailed to everything. (And like all churches should be, the gig was BYOB.)

[privatefriend]

Has anyone been to that weird bar in Glasgow that is like an MC Escher painting when you walk inside it? They have a little bit where they have bands play that you walk under - that's quite unusual.

I'm now curious to know what venue you mean. Explain yourself.

[LurkMcGee]

I'm now curious to know what venue you mean. Explain yourself.

I visited this place twice - first time I was fairly pished after a mini pub crawl with my mate, who was being an ever so courteous tour guide for my first time in Glasgow and showing me around the decent boozers. It's very dark and full of stairs, with lots of different levels situated in-between containing bars dotted within some of these levels. Second time I could make more sense of it and see more (being sober-er), this time there was a fella doing covers (on that bit I was off about).

It's called Waxy O'Connors. I actually just googled 'bar like MC Esher painting in Glasgow' because I forgotten its name and it came up with this review, which summed it up somewhat quite well:

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g186534-d2577882-r464333115-Waxy_O_Connor_s-Glasgow_Scotland.html

[LurkMcGee]

People on about gigs in churches didn't seem that unusual to me, but I guess it is when you think of it.

Been to a few gigs in a church in Bristol, but forget its name. I just remember seeing Earl in there and Big Jeff was at front the entire time, mostly obscuring my view with his afro.

The other is in Pontypridd Muni Arts Centre, which has decent sound and is a tidy size to see bands. Back when Cardiff's Millennium Music Hall had been shut due to safety concerns with the flooring (and it had shite sound anyways), they moved or rescheduled all the gigs. Clutch and Gwar ended up playing at the Art's Centre instead. A decent venue, aye.

I guess Cardiff Castle is perhaps an unusual one, will say that the front of the stage becomes like a dust bowl during the summer. 

[privatefriend]

It's called Waxy O'Connors

Ah, I'm aware of the pub I didn't know they did live music. Strange place.

[Jockice]

Also church; Low at the Rockefeller Chapel at University of Chicago. And Emma Pollock doing a little live preview of her first solo LP backed up by hubby Paul Savage in Borders in Glasgow.

Nothing to do with the thread but I've been sitting next to a bloke called Paul Savage for most of this afternoon.

[cosmic-hearse]

There is a Waxy O'Connor near Covent Garden & it is officially central London's worst pub

[Icehaven]

I've seen (British) Sea Power do gigs in Severn Trent Valley railway station, the Natural History Museum, Morecambe library and Rugby Library and they've done many others in odd places I didn't get to, The Czech embassy, Manchester cathedral and at least a few boats to name a few. They also made a video in a disused water tower and I've got half a memory that they did a gig in one too but that might be wrong.

[Minami Minegishi]

I can't imagine this will sound unusual to anyone who has gone to the ATPs at Butlins or Pontins, but seeing Boredoms perform on the same stage that I participated in a knobly knee contest in 1981 was very fucking odd.

[Key]

I also saw Grouper in a church but it was a proper massive one in London and didnt really look like a church on the inside, still felt a bit blasphemous drinking cider in there.

Saw Warpaint in Lancaster library about 15 years ago and it was a great performance but the acoustics were quite terrible, it was muted like the books were somehow muffling all the reflections.

[Huxleys Babkins]

Tears for Fears did a mental tour a couple of years ago, where they alternated gigs between massive arenas and function rooms at posh hotels, stately homes and castles. Was supposed to see them at Chewton Glen hotel in New Milton, but Curt broke a rib like a twat, so they cancelled it and the remainder of the tour.

[imitationleather]

I've seen (British) Sea Power do gigs in Severn Trent Valley railway station, the Natural History Museum, Morecambe library and Rugby Library and they've done many others in odd places I didn't get to, The Czech embassy, Manchester cathedral and at least a few boats to name a few. They also made a video in a disused water tower and I've got half a memory that they did a gig in one too but that might be wrong.

I saw them play in a graveyard.

[Icehaven]

I saw them play in a graveyard.

Aww I'd have loved that! What graveyard?

[imitationleather]

Aww I'd have loved that! What graveyard?

One in east London. It was a live performance of the film they did.