Favourite Gig Fridays: Gloucester Guildhall

Something different this week: this post is all about a venue not a band.

My home town of Gloucester is not exactly filled with an abundance of buzzin' rock venues. Apart from a few pubs and the very occasional gig at the local leisure centre, there's really only one venue that counts, the Guildhall Arts Centre, purveyors of fine live music since 1988. The city council's loss was the gig-goer's gain as the grey old men moved out and the Victorian ballroom became a "performance space." With a capacity of 300 or so, the Guildhall is an intimate venue where bands tend to fall into three categories: new bands on the way up, old bands on the way down, hot bands doing warm-ups for tours or "secret" gigs. It boasts some well-preserved architecture, a decent bar/cafe, and a chance to check out the latest art exhibition if the band is too boring.
Here's a short list of some of the bands I've seen there over the years: Primal Scream, Catatonia, EMF ( Gloucester boys! ), The Supernaturals, Symposium, Lambchop, Carter USM, SMASH, Carbon/Silicon, Stiff Little Fingers, UK Subs, The Damned, Antiproduct, and many more.....

I also once "crept the boards" of the Guildhall with the semi-legendary Death Planet Commandos, but that's a story for another day.
My next Guildhall gig: Northern Ireland's finest, Ash, on their A-Z Tour. Can't wait!