Photo: Pick Your Teeth Up Photography ©
Like the importance of being a wallflower, being a smaller venue holds the same premise.
Smaller locations are often unknown, unheard of and hold a seemingly introverted character, from the outside at least but once you get inside, your feet stick to the floor, you could probably do 6 cartwheels at most from wall to wall and the stage is no bigger than your bedroom but there is no question that you will have one of the best nights of your life. Just look at that photo. If that doesn’t look like a solid night, then I don’t know what does.
Small venues are the back bone of the gig scene. They are what gives small towns and even big cities the character that they might have lost along with their inevitable development and as bands move on and find a success that they’ve always wanted, smaller venues get left in the dust and this tragedy is almost becoming too much. It’s not just a building that you’re losing, it’s the memories within it and the business that somebody has put their everything into.
Just for example sake, Bring Me The Horizon made one of their first ever appearances on stage at Exeter’s Cavern, a basement venue with a capacity of 150 and a stage so small, it would only take three of you to stand side by side to touch each wall. Funeral for a Friend also played the same venue, as have countless other bands who we can now only afford to listen to via Spotify.
Now to stand in a room with the sound quality and atmosphere of a stadium is quite something and something that you cannot deny makes for a tremendous show and an incredible way to spend a few hours but, for the principle of staying true to the venues that maybe held the first gig you ever went to or even met some of your best friends, I think we need to reign in a little bit of appreciation for our smaller venues, keep a business alive and relight the love we have for the memories that they’re providing.
