Carling Academy Birmingham
Encyclopedia
History & Former Venue
The former venue of the O2 Academy (Carling Academy) was known in the 1980s and 1990s as the Hummingbird and previously the site of the Rank BallroomThe Rank Group
The Rank Group plc is a European gaming and leisure business. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...
. The venue underwent refurbishment in the late 1990s and opened as the Birmingham Academy in 2000, being rebranded as the "Carling Academy" two years later. On 6 November 2008, it was announced that Telefónica Europe (owners of the O2 Network in the UK) had become the new sponsor of all Academy venues, in a deal with music promotor Live Nation
Live Nation
Live Nation is a live-events company based in Beverly Hills, California, focused on concert promotions. Live Nation formed in 2005 as a spin-off from Clear Channel Communications, which then merged with Ticketmaster in 2010 to become Live Nation Entertainment....
. The deal, which lasts for five years, sees all venues rebranded "The O2 Academy", in line with Telefónica's rebrand of the Millennium Dome
Millennium Dome
The Millennium Dome, colloquially referred to simply as The Dome or even The O2 Arena, is the original name of a large dome-shaped building, originally used to house the Millennium Experience, a major exhibition celebrating the beginning of the third millennium...
(now The O2
The O2 (London)
The O2, visually typeset in branding as The O2, is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, piazzas, bars and restaurants...
).
In September 2009, The O2 Academy Birmingham moved to the site of the former Dome Nightclub located on Horsefair, Bristol Street. The decision to move to a brand new venue was decided twofold. The former venue was unsuitable for the needs of a modern music venue and the building complex it resided in (along with the Oasis Centre
The Oasis Centre, Birmingham
The Oasis Alternative Fashion Store is a shopping centre in the centre of Birmingham, England, known for selling a variety of alternative fashion and gothic fashion....
, located above it) was scheduled for demolition as part of a project called Martineau Galleries
Martineau Galleries
Martineau Galleries is an important proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England as it will connect the Eastside to the city centre core and is also located on the High Street, a major retail area.- Pre-1960s development :...
. Due to the credit crunch and reduced investment in buy to let projects the project has been put on hold. The Used
The Used
The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah. The band was founded in 2001 and signed to Reprise Records the same year. They rose to fame in June 2002 after releasing their self-titled debut album. They followed up with their second album, In Love and Death, in September 2004 and their third...
played the last ever Academy listed show at the Dale End Academy. Editors
Editors
Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...
headlined the opening night followed by The Twang
The Twang
The Twang are an indie rock band from Birmingham, England, formed in 2001. The band have released two studio albums - Love It When I Feel Like This and Jewellery Quarter...
, The Streets
The Streets
The Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
and Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...
. For these gigs, commemorative wristbands were given out as part of a marketing campaign by members of the marketing team known as O2 angels. Like the fomer Academy venue, the new venue has a multi-room operation with the main room having a capacity of 3,009 (of which there is a dedicated 600 capacity seated area) and two other rooms, the O2 Academy 2 with 600 and O2 Academy 3 with 250. However in an improvement to the old academy, the venue has been designed to allow all three venues to be in use at the same time. with a dedicated queueing system and box office for each room. Therefore the venue has a full capacity of 3,859.
To coincide with the launch of the Bristol St venue, the club night Propaganda moved from the Gatecrasher venue in Birmingham to the Academy on Friday 18 September 2009. This is now be a club night spread over all three academy rooms, playing a variety of indie/pop music. Subculture, a well known metal/rock club which was hosted at the Dale End academy moved to the new venue on September 26, 2009.
Academy1
Academy1 which is by far the largest performance area in the complex, and has a total capacity of 3,009. There is a tiered-seating balcony, with its own bar, toilet and cloakroom facilities, which has a capacity of 600.Academy 2
Academy 2 is a smaller room, and caters for audiences of up to 600. In Academy 2 there is standing room onlyStanding room only
An event is described as standing room only when it is so well-attended that all of the chairs in the venue are occupied, leaving only flat spaces of pavement or flooring for other attendees to stand. Some venues issue standing-room-only tickets for a reduced cost since it can become very...
, although there is a raised disabled viewing area.