O2 Academy Islington

Great place, reasonable drinks and a good university feel for Friday and Saturday club nights. They have a couple of rooms and when bands play the atmosphere is really intimate. Propaganda on a Friday night is a good laugh with current indie music featuring heavily, and Saturday night is primarily cheese — like a student union!

What an odd little venue. Firstly the location of urban shopping area is a tad out of the ordinary for something like this, but it is rather conveniently located, only 2minutes walk from Angel Tube station. Once you get in, there is a cloakroom on the lowest level, then you have about 25 stairs to climb and you are ejected into a mezzanine floor, theres (fairly clean and spacious) toilets here and then there is a further 6 – 7 steps to climb before you get into the venure proper. We came away thinking that it looked like it could have done with a little extra pizzaz. There appears to be a contrast of styles going on, the main foyer, stairs and mezzanine try to emulate the older West End Venues but the main room looks like its going for a more recent East End Urban look. The main room is basically a big rectangle with a bar running about ¹⁄₃ of the way down the left side wall and the stage at the far end. The sound was pretty good and loud and had just the right amount of echo for my liking but ultimately its a pretty uninspiring place to be. The bar seemed a bit on the expensive side from what I remember elsewhere in London apart from the O2. I must be honest, I wouldn’t bother returning for one of the club nights.

A very functional venue. I’ve seen some great bands play here but to be honest it’s not a special venue. Being quite small if the band I’d popular, it’ll be uncomfortably rammed They old have basic drinks Luke turbot, so it’s not a great place to drink either. If your going for the place, don’t bother but for a band well do! A little known fact is that there is also an upstairs, so if this is open there might actually be somewhere to rest those weary feet but the view up there is very limited.

I’ve seen the Raveonettes perform twice here, and they are a good band! However, I don’t know why they keep choosing this venue, other than it’s small (and they have a rather small cult following, although some would say massive, but that’s probably globally rather than London alone), supposedly intimate and it’s located in a trendy part of town. However, this venue’s sound system really lets them down and I know they can sound better as I’ve seen them before at a completely different venue. The venue also has poor sight lines, well, if you’re a 5ft 6 woman like me and you have several 6ft plus blokes standing in front of you. If those two things could be improved, e.g. a good view of the stage for all, but I guess a sloping floor will never be installed lol and an improved sound system then I’d possibly raise my rating by a star or even by two stars!!!

Fantastic venue, spacious, clean and brilliant sound quality. Im a regular visitor here and recommend it.

Decent enough place to go to if theres a gig you want to go to.
We went there for a gig once, and for some reason the guys at the door were confused about what door we needed to use. Security is mental, i think we constantly got asked for our tickets right up to the point in which we actually entered the room!
The place is small enough to obtain an intimate setting.
The bar is along two sides of the room. The drinks were fairly priced, if a bit watered down with too much ice.
Overall, ok.

3 words: club de fromage
Unfortunately, there are so many other words that i can’t give this place more than 3 stars. I think I’m just a bit too old. I used to go here a lot though, for the cheese.
The whole place is slightly… sticky. Might be those over-​priced jelly shots.
And it’s in a shopping centre, and it always has a queue of goths outside it at 3pm, which can be disconcerting.
It’s fundamentally a student venue, and it does what it says on the tin — the odd good act plays here but basically it’s about the cheese.

I have only been to this venue once, which is a shame since I remember really liking the vibe of this quirky bar/​music venue. The acoustics are perfect for small music gigs and is just the size for a relaxed evening. I would have given this venue a 2 star when it was owned by Carling since the beers were expensive for a very limited choice dominated (obviously) by Carling. But now owned by O2 this place has redeemed itself and given Islington a real place for some good quality music.

it’s a venue chain, I wouldn’t say I had a bad experience. but it wasn’t anything special either.
I did appreciate that they had AC, and that there was a good amount of security at the show, but it felt very organized and mainstream for a punk venue, I WANT anarchy and more forgiving stage guards who don’t grab the minute he gets hoisted up while crowd surfing. I think they could have worked on the exit/​entrance. if they had made it a little wider, or had 2 of them maybe I wouldn’t have felt like a wrangled cattle on the way out.

I saw Alice in Chains here
AWESOME experience and one of the best gigs I’ve ever been to
The crowd were wicked, we bought multiple drinks as it was absolutely crammed and the whole night was one long great experience!!!
Definitely go and see bands here

A guaranteed great night out is always to be found at Club de Fromage. I’ve seen the coolest indie kids and gloomiest goths cast of the shackles of oppression and throw some cheesy shapes to Rick Astley and Gina G.
But if you cringe at disco and hate the thought of pop — don’t let my description above put you off. The kind of cheese they play is the finest camembert, rather than mouldy cheddar. If there is such a thing as good cheese…
There’s The Supremes, The Beatles and The Beach Boys as well as many many more hidden treasures.
It pulls in a friendly, fun crowd who like cheapish drinks and awful dancing. Those who fear fancy dress need not apply.

I can’t believe I’m actually admitting it, but I love the Club de Fromage night here on a Saturday. Whenever I’ve ended up dancing to Bön Jovi well into 4am after beginning the night fairly civilly I always wonder what/​who/​why/​how did this happen whilst having a word with me, myself and I in the bathroom. Jokes aside, I can honestly say I’ve never had an uneventful night here.
Due to the fancy dress theme, from 80’s to ‘bad taste’ (aren’t they the same?!) the incredibly cheesy music (get ready to throw some shapes to the ghost buster theme tune, oh yeaaaaaah), cheap drinks, young student crowd or still-​re living-​the-​student-​days crowd (yep, me included) and utter lack of pretension, this night is totally awesome, er, man.
But be warned, It’s a messy meat market. Just a few highlights include; a slippy floor covered in drink spillage (well it’s hard to sing along to Chesney Hawkes AND keep a steady hand), lots of pervy boys who enjoy grabbing you (whether they’re trying to cop a feel or simply trying to steady themselves post 99p vodka who knows) and DJ’s who do old school shout outs that are reminiscent of bad family parties and wedding receptions. Have I sold it to you yet?
You’ve got to try a little piece of Fromage once at least, but I wouldn’t advise doing so sober and just a note: if you see me in there, you didn’t, O.K.

Smallish venue in the heart of Islington. They are a bit anal about their security rope and ticket stubs.
We’d got free tickets to an NME gig and wanted to make sure we got in but also get some food and have a decent pint across the road rather than the overpriced shandy they serve in these venues. Security man didn’t take kindly to us getting tickets and turning about face. Apparently the paper stubs are the property of the venue and shouldn’t be removed.
Anyway, despite this nonsense from the head of security throwing his weight around, the venue itself is OK, nothing to write home about. (and yet, here i am…)
if there is a band you want to see playing here then go, but i wouldn’t make a special trip.

Music Academys’ should be somewhere cool, N1 Shopping Centre in Islington is not cool. It’s the epitome of mainstream, people who go here wear Next and Monsoon and start there night with a drink in the Loydds No. 1 bar. Like I said, it’s not cool.
Yet here they hold some pretty cool nights here, Rebel Bingo, Club Du Fromage and still I can’t like it. Full of kids with too much pocket money and guys who don’t wash as they think it makes them edgy. Erm, no. Please have a bath. If there is a band playing that you want to see then this is a nice little intimate venue but it does lack atmosphere, and reasonably priced drinks. Oh yeah, and a style or class from the punters is absent too, more O negative than O2!

The heavy bass-​line beats at Underground Rebel Bingo, twinned with the hedonistic, cursing and yelling of the hosts, meant I massively enjoyed my first trip to the academy. The venue itself felt like a student bar, there was nothing classy about it, it simply was the kind of venue you can let loose.
As for the clientèle: There are a multitude of young ladies to gorge on who by all standards look like they’d enjoy being feasted on. The heavily inebriated gents… sorry lads seemed to enjoy watching them cavort on the stage, whilst chugging back beer in plastic glasses.
The drinks at the Carling Academy are cheap, the dancing manic, the noise levels high and most importantly a very up for it young crowd.

Went here for the Meetup Americans Abroad Super Bowl party. I was impressed with the size of this venue. Had a very big open dance floor, two easy access bars, a coat check downstairs (£2), and a decent sized stage. When you walk in, it looks kind of like a church basement but with bars.
Granted I was here with a bunch of other Yanks to watch the Super Bowl, but this was a great event. The bars were fully and efficiently staffed, and the wait time was very short; with a room full of American Football fans, quick access to beer is key!
I hope to get back here for a show to see what the crowd is like and how it sounds for bands.

The Carling Academy Islington is venue that doesn’t really excite me. One of the reasons for this is the fact that the performance area feels like a dance floor with a stage. It lacks the character that the other established venues have.
Size wise it is nice. The capacity is small enough that you get an intimate performance but large enough to feel like a big gig. The placement of the bar means that whether you are at the front by the stage or at the back, the bar is easy to reach. Considering how many people can be in the place at one time, I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly I got served.
The doorman was also a nice chap on my visit, letting us back into the venue after a gig when we found out that the act we had gone to see was doing a signing upstairs.
The place does hold one fond memory though. A few years back I went to see Chicane play and for the encore they were joined by Sir Tom Jones for their latest single at the time Stoned In Love. That was simply amazing.
Parking near the venue is available nearby in the N1 Shopping Centre car park (which charges a ridiculous amount) or if you’re lucky you might nab one of the few spaces in the surrounding streets. The roads around the venue are normally really congested so for a stress free experience, public transport is recommended.

I always find this venue a little odd. As a previous reviewer mentioned, she found the fact it’s in a shopping centre odd. I do to! I know it’s silly, but it almost puts me off for some reason… surely bands can’t rock in the middle of a shopping centre? Well, they can and they do.
My friend’s bands have played here a few times. I like the venue’s sound, the set up is simple. It’s not the best but it’s quite small in comparison to Carling’s other venues, which makes a wee change.
Many bands have played here, even Oceansize, which I wouldn’t expect for some reason. The bill is usually quite good and the location is pretty perfect, the tube is only 5 minutes walk away…
I wouldn’t hunt this place out, but it’s good enough for a typical rock gig.

I have a soft spot for the Carling Academy in Islington as I came to see Dilated Peoples here when I was 16 for one of my first gigs in London. More recently I have been for the fun Club de Fromage night.
As Leanne said in her review it is relatively small compared to the other Carling Academies. However, when you’re there it still feels like a large venue and whilst nothing special in terms of décor it is can feel like quite the night out.
I’d recommend the Academy as a place to see a mid level (in terms of fame) band or for the Club de Fromage night.

The smallest and least popular of the Academy Music Group venues in London (the others being the popular Brixton Academy and Shepherds Bush Empire), i would suggest the reason Islington fails where the others succeed is the location. This venue is literally in a shopping centre?! It feels a bit like being 17 again and trying to get into the local nightclub when you’re waiting to get in here, watching people going to the cinema next door on a date; something just doesn’t feel right. The capacity is another bummer; a mere 800 compared to the 4,720 at Brixton.
As for ‘what’s on’; well once a month on a Friday sees a really cheesy and predictable ‘i love 90’s’ night. I’m not opposed to the idea in the slightest — hell i still wear my clothes from the 90’s — but this is just too cheesy, and not the good stuff from the decade i did most of my growing up in. There’s also a monthly night called ‘Feeling Gloomy’ that seems to coincide with The Smiths tribute bands playing, so i assume will be all things Morrissey, although I’ve never been (i am morally offended at the thought of anyone imitating the great man). The venue also attracts much smaller, unknown bands although watch out for the UK Beatbox Championships 2009 London Heat in February (that should be fun).
All i can advice is to check the website and see if they have anything coming up that’s of interest. I wouldn’t recommend going here unless it was to see an act you really like. A nightclub in a Shopping Centre, why does this perplex me so?!

Une salle de concert geniale pour de petit concert, le son est bon et l ambiance chaleureuse.
Petit plus le pub a l interieur de la salle ou se joue de petits concerts encore plus intimistes et ou l on peut prendre un verre apres le concert dans la plus grande salle.