The Arches (Glasgow)
Encyclopedia
The Arches is a bar, arts venue, theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...

, live music venue and nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...

 in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

, which first opened in 1991. It is a not-for-profit organisation. It is situated in the City Centre
Glasgow city centre
Glasgow city centre is the central business district of Glasgow, Scotland. Is bounded by the High Street to the east, the River Clyde to the south and the M8 motorway to the west and north which was built through the Townhead, Charing Cross, Cowcaddens and Anderston areas in the 1960s...

 under Glasgow Central station and the West Coast Main Line
West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line is the busiest mixed-traffic railway route in Britain, being the country's most important rail backbone in terms of population served. Fast, long-distance inter-city passenger services are provided between London, the West Midlands, the North West, North Wales and the...

 in the brick arches of the Viaduct
Viaduct
A viaduct is a bridge composed of several small spans. The term viaduct is derived from the Latin via for road and ducere to lead something. However, the Ancient Romans did not use that term per se; it is a modern derivation from an analogy with aqueduct. Like the Roman aqueducts, many early...

 that leads into the station, with entrances on Midland Street and since 2001 underneath Hielanman's Umbrella on Argyle Street
Argyle Street
Argyle Street is the name of a street in many cities and towns. Notable among these are:Australia*Argyle Street, the Rocks, Sydney*Argyle Street, Hobart, Tasmania*Argyle Street, Fitzroy, MelbourneCanada*Argyll Road, Edmonton...

. The venue has 65000 square feet (6,038.7 m²) of floor space which is spread over two floors and seven arches.

History

The site of the venue was a previously derelict area below the Glasgow Central railway station, which was converted to house the Glasgow's Glasgow exhibition during the city's year as European City of Culture. After the exhibition had ended, the space was obtained by Andy Arnold in 1991 (who became the venue's Artistic Director
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...

) for the purposes of creating a theatre. That required funding, leading to the decision to stage nightclub events to provide initial funding. This eventually expanded to the array of events it hosts today.

In early 2007, The Arches was voted 12th best club in the world by readers of DJ Magazine, and a favourite club for many of the finest DJ's in the world (namely Carl Cox, Judge Jules, Armin van Buuren, Ferry Corsten, Pete Tong and David Guetta).

In January 2008, Andy Arnold left The Arches to take up the same Artistic Director role at the Tron Theatre
Tron Theatre
The Tron Theatre is located at the corner of Trongate and Chisholm Street, in the Merchant City area of Glasgow, Scotland.From its early years as a theatre club, the Tron has grown into a thriving multi-faceted venue...

, being succeeded by Jackie Wylie.

In 2009, it was ranked 27th best club in the world by DJ Magazine.

Nightclub Events

The Arches has played host to club nights since 1992 with some nights being promoted by outside companies and others in-house productions. Notable long running regular clubs to be held in the venue include:

Slam at the Arches

One of the first club nights to be hosted in The Arches, Slam ran every Friday between 1992 and 1998. Originally the night was held in now defunct Glasgow venue Tin Pan Alley and later The Sub Club
Sub club
The Sub Club is a club and music venue located at 22 Jamaica Street in Glasgow, Scotland. It opened 1 April 1987 and is the longest running underground dance club in the world. The basement space can legally hold up to 400 people. In 2008 it was voted the 10th best club in the world by Resident...

. It was hosted by local techno
Techno
Techno is a form of electronic dance music that emerged in Detroit, Michigan in the United States during the mid to late 1980s. The first recorded use of the word techno, in reference to a genre of music, was in 1988...

 producers Slam
Slam (band)
Slam are a producer/DJ duo from Glasgow, consisting of Stuart MacMillan and Orde Meikle . They are co-founders of Soma Quality Recordings. Their music style consists of house and techno.-History:...

 but also featured regular guests, most notably Underworld
Underworld (band)
Underworld are a British electronic group, and principal name under which duo Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have recorded together since 1980.- Early years: 1979–1986 :...

 and Daft Punk
Daft Punk
Daft Punk are an electronic music duo consisting of French musicians Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo and Thomas Bangalter . Daft Punk reached significant popularity in the late 1990s house movement in France and met with continued success in the years following, combining elements of house with synthpop...

 (in their first UK appearance in 1997.) The night ended in 1998 and was replaced by a larger monthly night hosted by Slam, Pressure.

Pressure

Following six years of running Friday nights in The Arches, Slam have hosted Pressure on the last Friday of every month. The night normally has at least two rooms of music playing mainly house and techno. Pressure has seen some of the largest names in dance music play The Arches including Jeff Mills, Derrick May, Richie Hawtin, Laurent Garnier, Tony Lothario, Green Velvet, Felix da Housecat, DJ Shadow, Nathan Fake, Boys Noize, Vitalic and Erol Alkan.

Other clubnights

Death Disco is an open minded electro-disco nightclub which is held on the third Saturday of each month. It emulates the ethos of New York night clubs in the 80's and 90's.

Octopussy is a weekly student club night which has been held every Wednesday night since March 2006.

Other regular club nights include Colours and Inside Out.

Alien Wars and other Scare Attractions

The Arches recently played host to 'Alien Wars'; a tour of sorts modelled loosely on the Alien series
Alien (franchise)
The Alien film series is a science fiction horror film franchise, focusing on Lieutenant Ellen Ripley and her battle with an extraterrestrial lifeform, commonly referred to as "the Alien"...

. Its storyline is centred around a "UFO" being discovered in the basement where visitors are escorted by "marines" to an encounter with an alien. It was previously staged in 1992, during which Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...

's bodyguards took part to determine its suitability for their employer. (Urban legend states that they ran out in fear).
'Ghosts of Christmas' has been the latest addition to The Arches' scare attraction portfolio with a Christmas themed ghost walk through the basement of the building.

Theatre Productions

The Arches Theatre Company has performed many plays including pieces by Samuel Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...

 and Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...

, generally receiving favourable ratings from the Scottish Arts Council
Scottish Arts Council
The Scottish Arts Council is a Scottish public body that distributes funding from the Scottish Government, and is the leading national organisation for the funding, development and promotion of the arts in Scotland...

 
Under the direction of Jackie Wylie, The Arches has recently staged performances such as DEREVO
DEREVO
DEREVO is a physical theatre company inspired by Butoh founded by Anton Adasinsky in 1988 in St. Petersburg , Russia, later in Prague, Czech Republic and now based in Dresden, Germany since 1996....

's Natura Morte, Nic Green's Trilogy and Linder Sterling
Linder Sterling
Linder Sterling is a visual artist, performance artist and musician from Liverpool, England. She spent her teen years in Manchester. She also uses the single name "Linder".-Early life:...

's Darktown Cakewalk.
Two major contemporary theatre festivals produced by The Arches have included Behaviour, Wylie's rebranding of the original Arches Theatre Festival and Arches Live; a theatre festival celebrating young risk-taking artists.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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