Live and kicking: 10 of London’s top music venues

Covid may not have disappeared, but live music has returned to London with wild abandon. The crowds seem more excited than before, the artists more enthused, as if the absence of music has made everyone feel the need to seize each moment. And within the city’s teeming variety of venues is a place to suit every kind of music and every kind of concertgoer — because, of course, a show is about far more than the time the headline act spends on stage.

Different people like different venues: some prefer the spectacle on display at the enormodomes; others the comfort of theatres. For me, nothing beats the intimacy of a small room — the combination of closeness to the stage, the sense that the audience is involved in the show rather than just present and (something you don’t get in the big chain venues, with their horrible lagers) drinks you might actually enjoy. All of this can make for a spectacular evening.

So when you can’t decide what you want to see, where should you go?

Best for seeing future stars before they’re stars: The Social

5 Little Portland Street, London W1W 7JD

This tiny central London bar has a stylish basement — originally designed by architects David Adjaye and Will Russell and newly refurbished — that frequently hosts later-to-be-legendary artists, lured by its connection to the Heavenly record label: Bon Iver’s first London show was here, and Adele, Wolf Alice, Michael Kiwanuka and Laura Marling are among the many who played The Social early in their careers. For a hot ticket, it can get incredibly cramped and sweaty (although air-con recently arrived), but this is a chance to get up close to the future before the future arrives. Arrive early and you can get a little booth slightly raised from the dance floor, and feel as if the artist is performing in your front room. Tube: Oxford Circus (Website; Directions)

Best for seeing megastars: The O2

Peninsula Square, London SE10 0DX

Of London’s two big arenas, The O2 — the former Millennium Dome, out in south-east London — trumps the venerable Ovo (formerly SSE) Arena in Wembley in every category bar one. It’s better for sound, sightlines, food and drink, ease of navigation and quality of artists (before the pandemic, it was the world’s busiest concert arena). The only respect in which Wembley is superior is when it comes to transport links — unless you want to queue for the Tube, you’ll need to leave the O2 during the encores. A new proposed east London venue, the MSG Sphere, will challenge its supremacy, if it is ever built. Coming up at The O2 are Hans Zimmer, The War On Drugs, Blondie, Billie Eilish and more. Given the number of tours that were postponed during the lockdowns, it is going to be very busy for the foreseeable future. Tube: North Greenwich (Website; Directions)

Best standing venue if you are short: O2 Academy, Brixton

211 Stockwell Road, London SW9 9SL

Amid all the discussions of sound quality and bar prices, it’s often forgotten that, in standing venues, a good proportion of the crowd only get to see the heads and backs of the people in front of them. Not at what everyone still just calls the Brixton Academy (and at also the Hammersmith Apollo) for a simple reason: this vast former cinema has a sloping floor in the stalls, which for many concertgoers outweighs its sometimes booming sound. (And you can sit upstairs, if you want.) Brixton is the last staging post before artists move to the arenas — a 5,000-capacity room that is big enough for a sense of event — and hosts everything from Tyler, The Creator to Judas Priest. Tube: Brixton (Website; Directions)

Best for a pre-show bite to eat: Omeara

6 O’Meara Street, London SE1 1TE

Overseen by Ben Lovett of Mumford & Sons (as is its King’s Cross sibling Lafayette), Omeara is a fantastic space in its own right — a Victorian railway arch artfully decorated to look like a little old music hall — but also benefits from its place in the Flat Iron Square development, with five street-food traders and three restaurants outside the venue doors. You can fill up on the small plates at the great Bar Douro, or leave enough room to take advantage of the excellent bar at Omeara. Given its capacity of only 320, it’s a good way to catch artists on the way up, and its booking policy emphasises accessible, mainstream music. Tube: London Bridge (Website; Directions)

Best for getting back to basics: The Lexington

96-98 Pentonville Road, London N1 9JB

London has scores of small venues where you can see buzzy young bands — Sebright Arms, The Shacklewell Arms, Peckham Audio, The Windmill and Bermondsey Social Club, to name a few — but the most central is The Lexington, an upstairs room where bands from around the world play on well-configured bills. Its staple is indie rock — there have been notable gigs here in recent years by Ezra Furman and Black Country, New Road, among others. The sound is routinely excellent, and the pub downstairs is a destination in its own right. Tube: Angel (Website; Directions)

Best for seeing something you won’t see anywhere else: Café Oto

18-22 Ashwin Street, London E8 3DL

Café Oto opened in 2008, but its niche is so distinctive it feels as though it has been around forever. It has established itself as the home for all that is experimental, improvisational and oddball, attracting big names in its own world — even Yoko Ono has played the 200-capacity room. The music is so much the focus here — no one is chatting as they wait for the band to play their hit — that some shows are unamplified. London Overground: Dalston Kingsland/Dalston Junction (Website; Directions)

Best for actually listening to music: Royal Festival Hall

Southbank Centre, London SE1 8XX

Three big classical concert halls — the Royal Festival Hall, the Barbican and the Royal Albert Hall — all put on rock and pop shows. The Royal Albert Hall has the greatest sense of event — and history, given legendary shows by the likes of Led Zeppelin and Cream; during the days of social distancing, the Barbican kept putting on shows that felt like warm hugs. But the RFH is my favourite of the three. It is partly the Thameside setting, but mainly because artists seem to raise their game to play here: little wonder that it’s where Brian Wilson chose to perform the legendary lost Beach Boys psychedelic album Smile for the first time. Pricing is pretty good too — you’ll be paying the same as at theatre venues, and less than at the arenas. Tube: Waterloo (Website; Directions)

Most atmospheric: Union Chapel

19b Compton Terrace, London N1 2UN

A Grade I-listed Gothic revival congregational church in leafy Islington offers magical nights to music lovers, with soft and subtle lighting, and its stained glass overlooking the stage. You are not going to get raucous rock ’n’ roll here: it attracts more contemplative performers, the ones where you fancy hearing the words. Both artist and audience seem to unite in reverence: there’s an intimacy to shows here that belies the size of the room — a Tom Jones show here, to promote his Praise and Blame album, was incredible, and a Sigúr Ros gig early in their career passed into legend. Just remember, though, that you will be sitting on church pews. Comfort is not a priority. Tube: Highbury and Islington (Website; Directions)

Best outside space: Wembley Stadium

Wembley, London HA9 0WS

Many London parks now host live music, notably Victoria Park in east London, and Hyde Park in the centre of town. While they are more aesthetically pleasing than concrete bowls, there are often issues with volume limits and sightlines — when you are 150 yards from the stage, on a flat field, with delay towers in the way, you don’t see much. Wembley Stadium has its problems, but it’s by a distance the best place in town to see a megashow. Touchingly, even the biggest artists seem to regard it as a milestone: both Ed Sheeran and Jeff Lynne’s Electric Light Orchestra have made reference in song to playing there (and Sheeran is back this summer for a mind-boggling five nights, at which he’ll play to around 400,000 people). Tube: Wembley Park (Website; Directions)

Best for a fancy night out: The London Palladium

8 Argyll Street, London W1F 7TF

You can have dinner at the Jazz Café in Camden — and then dance at one of its club nights — but there’s something special about gigs at the Palladium, with all the sense of occasion that a grand theatre brings: all that red velvet, all those chandeliers, all those pounds for that gin and tonic. It has a rock heritage too — the start of Beatlemania was the Fab Four’s appearance on Sunday Night at the London Palladium in October 1963. Tube: Oxford Circus (Website; Directions)

Michael Hann is the author of “Denim and Leather: The Rise and Fall of the New Wave of British Metal” (Constable)

What’s your favourite London music venue? Tell us in the comments

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