The Garage

I attended a small gig in the upstairs room, the room itself wasn’t too bad and the sound wasn’t too bad but the set up in this room isn’t ideal — in order for anyone (male or female) to go to the bathroom you have to squeeze right past the stage where of course people are crowded to see the band… infact the band and their crew have to squeeze through in order to get in and out of the backstage area too… not he best planing I’ve seen. The drinks choice was sparse to say the least but considering it was a London venue the price wasn’t too bad at least.
The venue location however is ideal, directly across the street from the Highbury & Islington tube station and various bus stops right outside.

Great Venue!
I played here recently supporting the Hot 8 Brass Band, a very talented bunch of guys from New Orleans.
It’s a decent sized venue, I’d say it kinda reminds me of the Concorde 2 in Brighton, just a little smaller, but plays home to some pretty decent bands all the same.
Resident sound engineer is a little grumpy (let’s face it, does anyone know a sound engineer that ISN’T grumpy?) But if you’re visiting here as a punter it’s not something you’d have to deal with!
Door staff are on the ball here! Bar staff are cool too. Perfectly located opposite Highbury and Islington Tube station, so it was easy for me to jump on the Victoria line back to Victoria and then on to Brighton.

I don’t think I’ve ever had a bad night here. I come here for gigs mostly, and the sound quality is good, with plenty of space. My only issues are with getting to the bar when it’s busy — people that don’t venture down into the crowd, often hover in the upper level by the bar, which can make it difficult to navigate your way with a full pint without spilling it. The stairs to upstairs venue are pretty steep too, so you have to take care going up and down them, especially when you’ve had a few. Overall, however, this is a great space to watch live music in and the drinks aren’t too pricey either. I used to love the club nights in my late teens, but I suspect I’m probably too old for those now.

Great little venue just across the road from Highbury and Islington Station. Whilst the venue itself is quite intimate, the acoustics are anything but. For most gigs I have no idea who is doing the sound, but it’s either muffled to the point you can hear any words, or overly loud, in which case you feel the person in the booth is either deaf, bad at their job, or just has access to really poor equipment.
It is capable of sounding good. One gig by Glasvegas was perfect. Sound was balanced, not too loud, and I understood every word (despite the accents!) so they really just need to pull their finger out for the majority of other acts, regardless of who supplies equipment.
The venue is a little dank inside and when it’s packed can get quite rowdy. So as long as you’re not wearing anything particularly nice, you’ll be fine.

I went to The Garage twice in one week — first to see Abney Park (a steampunk band who don’t often perform in the UK) and then to see the Cruxshadows (a darkwave band from America, along with several other really great bands — Among the Echoes and Bad Pollyanna). The sound was ok, a little bit dodgy to start with but certainly improved as the night went on.
It’s a small venue with a bar, stage and very small seating area (near the bar). I think it’s the perfect size for bands — intimate enough to get close to the band but big enough that you can dance around and lose yourself in the small crowd.
The prices at the bar are quite expensive in my opinion: I took 20 quid on the first night and that was just enough to buy two beers and two shots of spirits for me and my friend. Thankfully there’s a Barclay’s cashpoint just around the corner. Even when it’s quite busy though, you never have to wait for too long to get a refreshment.
There’s a cloakroom that charges £2 per item so we combined our jackets to make it one item (shh! Don’t tell anyone!).
They section off a bit of pavement outside as a smoking area which I know can get a bit crowded on busy nights.
I can’t comment on the men’s toilets (although I have been in them once, apparently… I don’t remember much of that night!!) but the women’s loos aren’t up to much. There’s at least two that leak so you either hope to get one of the unflooded ones or play a puddle dodging game before you sit down!
As the other reviews have said, it’s close to the Tube station so it’s easy to get to. Or if you’re a bus-​sort-​of-​person then there’s some bus stops just around the corner.
Overall, compared to other ‘alternative’ bars I’ve been too, this is one of the nicer ones. Brilliant for bands with very reasonable ticket prices.

First and foremost for a music venue the number 1 priority should be the sound and I think this is where The Garage lets itself down. I’ve been to a couple of gigs here and they’ve either been turning the volume up too loud or the speakers they have can’t handle the sound as it all gets a little muffled. I imagine if the music was something slightly softer then this wouldn’t be such an issue.
Location wise it is great. Roughly a 2 minute walk from H & I tube station and only 1 minute bus journey from Holloway Road. There’s not much happening around the venue so if you want food/​drink beforehand you will have to head to either Highbury roundabout or the safer option would be to go to Upper St.
Drinks are the usual for a music venue. Overpriced lager served in a plastic pint pot but the bar staff were attentive which softens the blow a tiny bit.
I’ve been to better venues but I’ve also been to a lot worse!

First time visiting last night to watch Deafheaven & Chelsea Wolfe. Great small band venue, very similar to The Cockpit in Leeds (but a little smaller). Good vibe, great staff!

A stone’s throw from H&I station, which has a tube and an Overground link — though I hoofed it from Angel, with a pit stop at The Regent Pub for pizza and drinks.
(There did not appear to be much else around the venue by way of a pre-​show dinner, fyi, and the Regent is lovely — see review.)
The venue is small and intimate, a surprising choice for Au Revior Simone (really? they didn’t pull as many as Haim, who played the Koko last summer??). Anyway, no complaints on the size of the venue, because the sound was GREAT, and we could hear their harmonious, dreamy, soft vocals like a charm.
A small, raised up stage with no gate/​barrier between the the crowd and the edge of the platform made me feel like a high schooler seeing their favorite local band. All so accessible and intimate, I loved it.
Four-​sided bar that didn’t take long at all to pull beers as needed. ATMs broken, but with a note that they accept card (with a £10 minimum). Bathrooms were clean and in working order. The show had a good crowd and was not oversold or cramped.
Overall quite pleased with this a music venue. It’s not very big, but seems to nab some decent acts, so they must be doing something right!

A tidy little music venue, good sound, have all types of music here, fairly easy to get a drink, one of my fav’s in London. Don’t hesitate to go see a band/​solo artist/​DJ here.
Good surrounding area, good bars and restaurants in the Islington area for all your pre gig drinks or meal.

Two weeks ago I went to a concert at The Garage. Apart from being slightly put off by only getting ‘online tickets’ from HMV (is that normal these days?) and paying quite high booking and delivery fees (for online delivery — yeah right!) I was really looking forward to this.
The Garage is located right opposite Highbury & Islington tube station. You can get the Victoria line and the Overground from here. The ticket said 6pm which confused me but hey, they would start early I assumed. Guess what, the doors opened at 6pm with already about 300 people waiting outside to get in. Security staff was not prepared for this.
After about 30 minutes, the security staff managed to start entry and everyone was searched after the tickets had been scanned.
Inside the venue is smaller than expected. It holds maybe 500 people in total. In the back you can find a bar. The venue also holds several club nights — I have to admit I am quite intrigued by the 90s party that seems to happen every month. One unexpectedly positive part were the toilets. Something I would not have necessarily expected from the rest of the venue. Overall a good, yet small concert venue.

The sound in this venue was a bit so-​so. The accommodations backstage: also so-​so. According to fans, the drinks weren’t particularly well priced.
But! The space is better cleaned than many other UK venues I’ve seen this past month.
The people who worked there were nice enough and the bouncers didn’t seem to be too prickish with the kids coming into the venue.
Props for having a designated merch setup area for bands.

Relentless Garage is a relatively small music venue tucked away just north of Islington. As the name would suggest, it’s sponsored by Relentless energy drinks and those naturally have a large presence behind the bar (ie…a jaeger bomb will not be made with red bull but the Relentless equivalent). Given the small space, it will be bloody loud no matter where you are so be prepared to be fully absorbed in the music as talking will more or less be impossible once the band gets going.
The acoustics are pretty decent given the layout and the sound crew take centre stage. It’s actually pretty cool to see them do their stuff while you wait for the warm up acts to get out of the way. I think the bar is cash only (not 100% sure on that) so it’s worth hitting the cash point outside before you get in.
The only other thing I’d want to point out is that as it tends to be lesser known indie bands, you get a wide age range, in particular some of the younger kids who don’t know their limits yet. Be wary of the jail bait stealing drinks from wide-​eyed teenagers and then puking in a corner. You don’t want any of that!

Great small venue! The bar is in the back and outfitted with a great bench area which allows you to lean against a cushioned wall whilst watching the show. The seating area near the bar is equipped with small furniture pieces allowing for different configurations based on group size. The acoustics and lighting are pro. Overall, a great venue for emerging to slightly popular artists and one I’d enjoying returning to.

Ziemlich coole Location! Alternativ aber doch echt stylisch! Preise sind für London echt sehenswert und ich hatte immer das Glück Live Bands dort zu sehen.
I LIKE!

Went here for the fairly new Oh No! event. It was very fun. The venue is huge. The main floor is gigantic and upstairs there is a smaller room where a different genre of music is played. The drinks were super cheap and the atmosphere was great.
The only problem is that there weren’t enough people there, obviously as a result of the event being new. They closed the upper room pretty early because there weren’t enough people in it to make it worth it. And although there were many people on the bottom floor, the space is so large that it didn’t look full.
Otherwise, this is a really fun venue and I’ll probably be back again.

Lovely venue!
I went to see the World Burlesque Games 2012 Fundraiser here and although we had standing rather than seated tickets (as these had sold out) we could see across the venue to the stage very easily.
The main room is lovely with an arched roof that make it’s feel homely and warm. It was clean and also seemed like a well maintained venue.
The bar is well stocked and not unreasonably priced and the staff seem to know their stuff.
We also went into the smaller front bar, which we found to be cosy and well laid out with lots of seating.
The sound quality in both rooms was of a good quality and because of this and the event itself we had an unforgettably good experience here.

Great medium sized venue — saw the Weakerthans here recently.
Extremely close to the tube, cheap drinks and easy bar service, passable acoustics, and fast coat check — can’t ask for much more.

I have been to a lot of concert venues and I must say I really like the Garage. The venue is not too big and not too small, the drinks are reasonably priced for a venue (£3.80 for a pint). the bathrooms are nice and without long lines, and no matter how packed it is you will find a space where you can see the stage properly. The Garage seems to have mainly punk and rock bands playing and ticket prices are around £10−15 pounds depending whether you buy it online or at the door and including a £2 fee for whatever it is. It does have a coat check, i think one item is £1,50, which i think is too expensive, but I don’t check my coat anyway, so it doesn’t matter to me. Also, it’s really easy to get to as the tube is just across the street and a bus stop literally just outside!
The garage is one of my favorite venues in London and if you wanna see a band in a nice atmosphere and actually be able to see them, this is the place to go!

This place has always been a little overpriced in my opinion and its absolutely over run with people dealing narcotics BUT when you take that aside its a wicked club with a wicked party atmosphere
I would definitely recommend!

The Garage, now called the Relentless Garage, is a great little venue with a line-​up of up-​and-​coming and fairly big name bands, or so it would seem for 2010 so far! It’s part of the MAMA group of venues which includes The Borderline, HMV Hammersmith Apollo and Barfly in Camden. It’s got a great location as well, practically opposite Highbury & Islington tube.
The venue seems to be just about the right size and is nicely arranged with the bar and seating area at the back of the main hall being at a raised level, enabling short people like myself to stand there and still see the band.
Maybe it was because of how tired I was that night, but I felt other venues, such as the Scala and Barfly, felt more intimate when I went to those. And just so you know how tired I was, I drifted off to sleep a couple of times while waiting for the main act to come on. Standing up! Ah, the perils of going to concerts on my own.
Outside of concerts, The Relentless Garage also has club nights, with a particularly intriguing one called Punk Rock Karaōke on March 6^th!

The garage is a small to medium sized music venue very close to Highbury & Islington tube. Primarily known for hosting live bands, there are also club nights which I have yet to experience. On the live band front, there are a number of surprisingly large bands playing this relatively small venue, making for an intimate show so long as you know about it, and can get tickets, as well as a huge number of less well known acts. I have found the sound at this venue to be much better than a lot of other places I have been to, and so would highly recommend going to see a band you like there safe in the knowledge that a rubbish venue is not going to ruin your enjoyment.
The garage has, along with any number of other music venues and football stadiums, been taken over by a corporation, which has brought about re branded as the Relentless Garage (after the energy drink). Apart from a slight exterior make over and a new website, the interior seems unchanged as far as I remember from older visits, although it tends to be so dark inside as to render this a moot point. Very atmospheric, equally good for anything from Soulsavers and Mark Lanegan, to Orange Goblin!

Netter Club mit für London vernünftige Preise. Man sollte sich vorher das Programm anschauen, es spielen verschiedene Livebands, oft auch Nachwuchsbands. Starkes Soundssystem.
Wenn man genug vom Wirbel hat, kann man immer noch hinauf zur Bar.

Toller schummeriger Underground Club in London! wenn ich dort bin und ein Konzert nach meinem Geschmack stattfindet, bin ich eigentlich immer dort.
Der Eintritt ist ok und liegt meistens bei 7 –9 Pfund für Live Konzerte
Musik: Punk, Oi, Rockabilly und Psychobilly Konzerte
Der Club ist eigentlich nicht zu verfehlen, direkt gegenüber der highbury & islington Tube Station