The 02 are thieving bastards.

[Dunners]

Ally Pally is, hands down, the worst venue to see any band IMO. But all the big arena venues are awful. I can just about tolerate Wembley Arena at a push but try and avoid anything bigger than Brixton Academy. You lose the atmosphere and the whole experience is one of maximising cash extraction, queuing, and endless chattering. And if you're there with conkles, every time he looks sideways, everyone has to duck.

[Stowaway]

Ally Pally is awful. The floor is flat, the stage is low so you can’t see s**t if you’re average height, unless you get right to the front 90 minutes before the band come on.

And the sound is abysmal. There’s no baffling at all, so if you turn your head 90° to the stage you can hear the sound once as it hits the facing ear and then in the other ear as it bounces off the back wall.

As for bags, I usually have to go to a gig straight from work. I usually have tools and equipment with me so I don’t have much choice.

[Hoover Attack]

Sorry, I forget some people are average height.

[CEB]

As if Conkles turns his head 90 degrees at a gig

[Dunners]

As if Conkles turns his head 90 degrees at a gig

FFS. I've already done the joke on this thread.

[CEB]

Sorry, got you on foe

[Mick McQuaid]

As far as I recall I've only been to Alexandra Palace once (ATP thing with Swans and Portishead) but it was fine as far as I remember. Isn't the stage there just a temporary set up, so depends on how it's done?

Also, people with rucksacks are almost always a complete menace, the bag policy is two clicks on the O2 website and will have been included on the email confirmation with the tickets.

[Proposition Joe]

Seen Suede at Ally Pally and the sound was garbage, set up like a school music hall. Saw Chemical Brothers there a few years later and it was great, though that could have been down to being pretty boozed up.

[CEB]

The thing about these bag policies is that they’re deliberately calibrated to catch enough people out. It might be two clicks away, but someone has done the sums to make sure that there are enough people turning up with bags for it to be sustainable for there to be a partnership with a bag drop firm. If these venues wanted to make sure people knew not to bring bags, they would do.

Agree that ally pally is as variable as they come as a venue

[Top of the JES]

I went to the O2 Docklands a few years ago to see Massive Attack, it was the worst gig experience of my life. Queues were enormous, we waited for around an hour and when we got to the gate we were told we couldn’t bring our bags in and had to go all the way back around the other side of the venue to the bag check and then had to queue up all over again. We got in so late that we had to stand near the back, couldn’t see a thing, people were talking all the time so we couldn’t hear it either. We gave it 15 minutes and left. £100 down the pan.

Ally Pally is no better, the view is even worse and then sound is appalling. I swore never to go there again, and a couple of weeks ago one of my favourite bands, Interpol announced their only London date there. So I’m going to Bristol to see them instead.

Yep was really poorly organised 20 minutes to get out and another 35 minutes to get into the tube station but I expected that tbh.

[one o in huntingdon]

Ally Pally is, hands down, the worst venue to see any band IMO. But all the big arena venues are awful. I can just about tolerate Wembley Arena at a push but try and avoid anything bigger than Brixton Academy. You lose the atmosphere and the whole experience is one of maximising cash extraction, queuing, and endless chattering. And if you're there with conkles, every time he looks sideways, everyone has to duck.

Never been keen on Wembley Arena or when it was the Empire Pool. Sound is dreadful and another level floor.
Worst venue I ever went to was Olympia when I saw Bad Company there. Sound just got lost in the cavernous roof space.
Hammersmith or Brixton is about my size limit for a good gig although the Royal Albert Hall is superb too.

[Dunners]

Anyone else have the misfortune of going to the old Docklands Arena? Now that was sh*te.

[CEB]

Yeah, I saw the Charlatans there in 97. Was very early in my gig going so was less discerning

[Scuba Diver]

Ally Pally is no better, the view is even worse and then sound is appalling. I swore never to go there again, and a couple of weeks ago one of my favourite bands, Interpol announced their only London date there. So I’m going to Bristol to see them instead.

Was my first visit to Ally Pally the other week (for The Smile). I concur. View was poor, though they had screens and an admittedly impressive light show, that Doesn't compensate in my view, and we weren't miles back either.

I thought it was just me but the sound was indeed plop, though my mate didn't notice. All in all it was a bit of a non-experience.
Not the band's fault, who gave their absolute all- though I guess you could put a case that it was Their fault for choosing a crap, but large, venue, to maximise the income stream..

Admittedly days before I'd been to Islington Assembly Hall which was excellent and I thought that clouded my judgement of AP but clearly not.