Work starting on new £11m auditorium in Sunderland city centre

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full.
The problem will be getting anyone half decent to take a risk on touring here. There seem to be loads of acts sacking off Newcastle in general in the last couple of years, and I've been to a fair few gigs with reasonably well known artists where the turnout has been absolutely pathetic. Can only imagine that would be an even bigger problem here tbh.

Agreed - about 15 years ago I went to see David Gray supported by Turin Brakes(?) at the MENA, it was 2/3's empty, only about 100 watched the support and once I got over my attack of vertigo I left half-way through DG's set. No atmosphere - might have been a different story if it was full. Less (capacity) is more sometimes.
 
Smaller gigs are much better anyway. I saw Kasabian in a 1500 capacity venue in Halifax last year and it was a tremendous gig. Saw Robert Cray at the Tyne theatre which only has an 1100 capacity. 800 is fine for a whole host of interesting artists imo.
This, the Locarno held around 2/3k and was a fantastic venue to watch bands on, I'm sure many old lads on here would testify to that, that's just a nice size, you can actually see the acts up close, instead of on a screen.
 
The problem will be getting anyone half decent to take a risk on touring here. There seem to be loads of acts sacking off Newcastle in general in the last couple of years, and I've been to a fair few gigs with reasonably well known artists where the turnout has been absolutely pathetic. Can only imagine that would be an even bigger problem here tbh.

i think the bigger problem with that is ticket pricing, at the academy anyway. it seems like small/medium sized bands (i mean by size of following/commercial success) are charging like £30 nowadays, and it just doesnt seem as 'fun'. remember going to stacks of gigs when i was younger, always seemed to be £8/10/12 for up and coming bands worth taking a shot on.

wanted to see courtney barnett, think it was earlier in the year, and it was about £30 each for me and my lass, on a weeknight, just didn't seem as worth it.

looking at riversides prices, it seems to be in the £15-20 range for most gigs, so hopefully it sticks with that. Martha for £11 and Blackalicious for £18 (both midweek) are two i'd deffo go to if they were in on sunderland for that price. can't be bothered to go to newcastle on a weeknight for a gig nowadays
 

Finally! Been waiting a while for this one.

Sunderland will finally have its own cultural and music venue. Massive addition to the city center and another pillar in what has been a completion transformation of the Minister/Keel Square area.

Class. They have done a fantastic job around that area this will just make it even better.
 
i think the bigger problem with that is ticket pricing, at the academy anyway. it seems like small/medium sized bands (i mean by size of following/commercial success) are charging like £30 nowadays, and it just doesnt seem as 'fun'. remember going to stacks of gigs when i was younger, always seemed to be £8/10/12 for up and coming bands worth taking a shot on.

wanted to see courtney barnett, think it was earlier in the year, and it was about £30 each for me and my lass, on a weeknight, just didn't seem as worth it.

looking at riversides prices, it seems to be in the £15-20 range for most gigs, so hopefully it sticks with that. Martha for £11 and Blackalicious for £18 (both midweek) are two i'd deffo go to if they were in on sunderland for that price. can't be bothered to go to newcastle on a weeknight for a gig nowadays
That's true enough like. I've just paid the best part of 40 quid for steel panther at the academy which is eye watering, and israel nash in cluny 2 was thirty notes . Went to see alex cameron at the brudenell in leeds last week and it was twelve quid, the place was heaving and the pints were £2.60 a pop.
 
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Anything is an improvement - if it as I hope it proves to be successful, why not then build a 1500+ venue.

How many turn up for the Uni's graduation days etc - can it be used for this?

As has been mentioned before this is the equivalent capacity of the empire theatre just next door. Offer won’t quite be the same as the theatre will be programmed for longer periods but they would be potentially competing for similar acts if both venues had the same capacity.

Suspect the auditorium will have a wider range of events than just purely music.
Pleased to see work as started, but years in the planning?? how long does it take to plan the building of a square box?

I agree mate, we've long needed a venue like this, the days of bands filling huge venues is fast fading, seems a nice size and my own personal view is that it's the best size venue to watch a band in.

I think the years in the planning was referring to seeking funding, its design in response to the conservation zone but mostly getting the business case, programming and construction cost right.
 
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Where does this idea we have no venues come from? You can get 1000 in the point, but it rarely puts anyone on. And what happened to the manor quay? That was about 800 iirc


the manor quay was great then a company bought it, renamed it north shore and still has it so its closed now. bit of a weird thing to do
That's true enough like. I've just paid the best part of 40 quid for steel panther at the academy which is eye watering, and israel nash in cluny 2 was thirty notes . Went to see alex cameron at the brudenell in leeds last week and it was twelve quid, the place was heaving and the pints were £2.60 a pop.


slipknot at the arena...67 quid! they can piss off with that like
Do they (uni) still have their hall, they used to put decent bands on there back in the 70/80's.


on chester road? naah it was knocked down years ago then another part of the uni was built called City Space. i remember sneaking in there as a kid and seeing some band and was amazed, then was chased out.
 
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