Safety must come first – but it would be a national shame to shutter up Brixton Academy for good

The city’s music scene lost the jewel in its crown when the south London venue closed its doors after a tragic crowd crush left two people dead last year. Mark Beaumont looks back at the venue's iconic gigs, from David Bowie to The Pogues, and makes a case for why we can’t afford to lose this sticky-floored gem

Stepping onto the storied stage of Brixton Academy is many bands’ first taste of tangible big-gig success (PA)

Every London gig-goer can pinpoint the moment they fell in love with Brixton Academy. A Pogues Christmas waltz-along to “Fairytale of New York”. An incendiary New Year’s Eve spent with The Prodigy. A “club gig” by Coldplay or Madonna. Or simply gazing up at the Italianate balcony above the proscenium arch and ornate colonnades, bedecked with costume foliage as though a scene from Romeo & Juliet might break out at any point mid-Kasabian, soaking in the romance of this most sticky-floored of classical ampitheatres.

For me, the moment struck on my very first visit, sat in the balcony for The Jesus and Mary Chain’s legendary 1992 Rollercoaster tour. All-star support acts Blur were screening slaughterhouse films as a backdrop while My Bloody Valentine were busy bursting bouncers’ eardrums with their 10-minute “holochord”. It would stand as my best ever gig until Pixies marched onto the very same stage – on my birthday – 12 years later for the first of four nights of visceral, elevating, quiet-loud euphoria. It’s a wonder “Gouge Away” didn’t bring down the pillars.

It feels somewhat personal for London’s gigging community, then, that one year after the tragic events of the Asake show on 15 December 2022, the best-loved venue in the capital remains shuttered, even as the tragedy itself continues to shock those of us who frequented the venue. Hearts go out to the families of mother-of-two Rebecca Ikumelo and security guard Gaby Hutchinson, who were injured during a crowd crush at the entrance and later died in hospital, as well as a third person who remains critically ill. One year on, people are still seeking answers as to what happened that night. Many feel that Asake has not done enough to support the families in appealing for information from fans about the fatal incident, and would like to see the victims properly honoured before the 5,000-capacity venue reopens.

Lullaby of London: The Pogues performing at Brixton Academy (Alamy/PA)

A two-day hearing in September presented owners Academy Music Group with a list of 77 “extensive and robust new conditions” for reopening safely, including stronger doors, improved crowd management systems, and a new ticketing arrangement. AGM have promised that a timeline for reopening will arrive in due course. And we’ll welcome it gladly because, ever since the Astoria was demolished to make way for the Elizabeth Line in 2009 – and with all respect to the Hammersmith Apollo, Koko and the Shepherd’s Bush Empire – Brixton Academy is the historic heart of the London music scene.

This is where The Smiths performed their final gig in 1986, ending with the line “I’ll probably never see you again” from “Hand in Glove” amid an era-closing stage invasion. It’s where David Bowie played a homecoming show with Tin Machine in 1991, and The Stone Roses performed Ian Brown’s favourite gig. From the mid-Nineties, the Academy was also a go-to palace of all-night raves thanks to its 6am licence. It’s also where “doing Brixtons” became a competitive sport: The Clash, Bob Dylan, Rammstein, Nine Inch Nails, Massive Attack, The Prodigy, and Hard-Fi all played five nights there, sharing the record for the longest run until The xx smashed it with seven shows on the trot in 2017. Legend has it, however, that Hard-Fi still hold the record for the most beer sold in any one night, which was probably the most raucous show I ever saw at the venue, the crowd bouncing along to “Hard to Beat” from the front row to the foyer.

“When we played our five-night run there, we were fortunate to be joined by Mick Jones, Paul Weller and Billy Bragg, and I’m sure one of the reasons they agreed to join us was because of the venue,” says Richard Archer, singer of Hard-Fi. “It’s so important to London and the live music scene. If artists are going to develop into the festival headliners tomorrow, it’s a vital [step] – although personally I’d be happy if I could only ever play Brixton.”

“Brixton!” singer-songwriter Billie Marten adds. “Sweet Brixton Academy. The home of so many nights of greatness. I had the honour of singing on that stage last year and it’s been pinned as one of my favourites ever since. A joy to witness that many people staring back at you.” Sports Team singer Alex Rice, who headlined the Academy in 2021, emphasises the importance of the venue as a bedrock of the thriving south London scene. “It’s one of the only bigger venues in London that really feels like it’s part of the community around it,” he says. “It’s so centred in Brixton that it feels like everyone living there is a part of it, not just people going to the gig. It’s a special atmosphere at Brixton; I think for most people the show is the start of their night rather than the end. That gives it a kind of frenzy.”

Personally I’d be happy if I could only ever play Brixton

Richard Archer of Hard-Fi

I’ve certainly had some frenzied nights within those hallowed neo-classical walls myself. It was there that I – a one-time copy spewer at the NME Awards, held at Brixton Academy for many years – saw Foo Fighters extend their required five-song closing set in 2011 to a full two hours of hardcore rock excess, performed largely while standing on bottle-strewn guest tables. It’s where I caroused through several bottles into the early hours when a “brief” winner’s interview with Robert Smith got out of hand – and where I befuddled the likes of Noel Gallagher, Mani and Faye from Steps when given the unenviable task, inspired by the now problematic spoof TV show Banzai, to awkwardly shake hands with pop stars for as long as I could.

Phoebe Bridgers performs at Brixton Academy in 2022 (Redferns)

We need the Academy back, though, not just for the wild times it hosted but also for the aspiration of the place. It was regularly voted the country’s best venue in numerous polls not merely because its sloping floor allowed anyone of any height to actually see Catfish and the Bottlemen, but because it marked a crucial stepping stone and breakthrough point for rising acts. Having your name in lights beneath that iconic green dome is a statement of arrival, a gateway to the big leagues. Stepping onto that storied stage is many bands’ first taste of tangible big-gig success.

I can’t overstate how special Brixton Academy is. It has always been completely totemic

Felix White, formerly of The Maccabees and currently in 86TVs

“Brixton Academy is a milestone for any band. I went to endless gigs there growing up, and Nirvana were due to play there, for heaven’s sake,” says Frank Turner. “When I was starting out, I played a New Year’s Eve show for a radio station there in 2007 to almost total indifference from the crowd. Four years later, on the night I sold the place out for the first time, it felt like I’d arrived. It’s a vital space for a certain level of musical act, the cusp between the underground and the mainstream, and it’s a part of our national heritage as well, just as much as any opera house or art gallery.”

Pixies Joey Santiago and Black Francis perform at Brixton Academy in 2016 (Richard Isaac/Rex)

“I can’t overstate how special Brixton Academy is,” says Felix White, formerly of The Maccabees and now in the band 86TVs. “It has always been completely totemic. From the way you’d have to crane your neck on the bus going past to see who’s name was up there and playing that evening – chalking them down in your mind from that point on as a certified ‘big’ band – to the way the sloped floor allows you to see the stage from anywhere you are, the shows somehow seismic and tiny at once, to the way the silhouettes on the stage are cast out hundreds of feet tall across the venue, it has a magic that is not imitable. We need it!”

While all respect must be shown for the ongoing police investigation and the families’ wishes, and safety must be paramount, we do hope the gaping hole at the core of London’s gigging world is filled by the Academy’s reopening as soon as possible. The Victoria line seems futile without it.