davieG Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 Sorry if this has been posted but I don't come in here very often and searching for Academy doesn't help. From the Merc. Three new music venues are coming to Leicester, the Mercury can exclusively reveal – in a deal which will bring the hottest bands to the city. The Academy Music Group (AMG) is to open three new venues: a 1,450-capacity O2 Academy, a 500-capacity O2 Academy 2 and a 250-capacity O2 Academy 3 in the University of Leicester. Chart-topping soul-boy Plan B is the first act announced to play the new Academy. Many more big-name surprises are promised in the coming weeks. Academies last year hosted the likes of N-Dubz, Florence and the Machine and MGMT. "We want to put Leicester back on the map for bands," said Academy Group chief executive John Northcote. "That is absolutely what we want to do." Promoter Andy Wright, the man who ran legendary Leicester venue The Charlotte, called the Academy's arrival the "best thing" to happen to the city's music scene in a decade. "It's about time we had something like this," he said. "It can only be a good thing." The three new Academies, set to open towards the end of September, are part of a £15.5m redevelopment of the university's students' union. "These are not just venues for students, they are venues for Leicester," said student union chief executive Trevor Page. "We want to put on big-name acts that members of the public want to see." The gig-going experience will be second to none, he promised. AMG is installing state-of-the-art lighting and sound systems which are going to be better than anything found elsewhere in the East Midlands. Leicester's ability to pull in bands has been badly hit by the closure of venues such as The Charlotte and De Montfort University's Arena in recent years. "Leicester lost its infrastructure," said Andy. "It has been crying out for a decent mid-sized venue. "There was no real reason for bands to come here when they could go to Birmingham or Nottingham." Up-and-coming bands will play the 250-capacity 02 Academy. By the time they are NME cover stars and people are clamouring to hear them, they will have a strong fan base here and will want to play the city's bigger venues. AMG's shareholders are Live Nation, Metropolis Music and SJM Concerts – the three biggest music promoters in the UK. That means it has the corporate clout and contacts to bring in the best A-list headliners to Leicester. "I'm really excited about this," said Trevor. "I've lived in Leicester, on and off, for 20 years. "I remember all those great bands that used to come to the city. "This will bring live music back to life in Leicester. "To get Plan B is amazing. That's the kind of interest we are getting."
Jay Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 Now that is exciting!! O2 Academy venues seem to get all the decent bands these days so this could mean some great bands coming to Leicester. The group seems to have more pulling power than anyone else when it comes to booking bands
Bellend Sebastian Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 I think it's good news but I wonder if this would put either of the two new venues (Upper Brown Street and the one in the market place) that are being proposed at risk? There's a danger of going from having nothing to over supply
Miquel The Work Geordie Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 Sounds good. Plan B's new stuff is shite though.
Joe. Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 Very promising news, O2 academies get all the decent names. Looks like we'll finally be able to have some respectable gigs in Leicester soon enough, can't wait.
Samilktray Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 Sounds good. Plan B's new stuff is shite though. Plan B is shite.
Lillehamring Posted 12 May 2010 Posted 12 May 2010 as far as redeveloping the university venue, this sounds like a great bit of news. the sceptic in me, however, feels that it really is a shame that, once again, leicester fails to augment - leicester isn't really getting anything new here, better quality but like for like. such a shame that this group didn't show an interest in the Cannon cinema venue, would have been a much better location. good news, but i can't help feeling that this is another missed opportunity - seems like a venue in town, in the cultural quarter, would have been much better for the city in general, while the university could have scaled down their venue and made it multi-use.
Chairman of the Bored Posted 11 June 2010 Posted 11 June 2010 Just in case people haven't twigged, the first bands are up here.
samlcfc Posted 13 June 2010 Posted 13 June 2010 Plan B is shite. I havnt reallly listened to his new album but i like his first one .Listened to it loads in the past
Tommeh Posted 13 June 2010 Posted 13 June 2010 If it's like the one in Sheffield it will be class. Wonder if they will have any nights on that arn't gigs however, propaganda and vodka nationwide are always decent. Although like Valengra said, pity it's so uni focused and not more in the City centre. Still a huge plus for attracting acts to Leicester.
Trav Le Bleu Posted 14 June 2010 Posted 14 June 2010 I can recommend Midlake as one of the best bands I've ever seen live
MattyFromLE Posted 3 July 2010 Posted 3 July 2010 Personally, i think its awesome - i just hope all the smaller venues eg; Sumo, Shed and The Auditorium and Soundhouse which are opening soon can compete. O2 block book tours and will cater for the Plan B's, Pendulum's and who ever else is in the top 10 that week. So hopefully, some of the "cult" bands, and underground bands will get a look in at The Auditorium and Soundhouse. If not, i'd love to see some Leicester bands [as leicester has such a talented scene] to get support slots for the bigger bands and get another Leicester band on the circuit, and out from under the radar!
Stadt Posted 21 August 2010 Posted 21 August 2010 Its a longshot but Prodigy would make it a great overnight.
Lillehamring Posted 22 August 2010 Posted 22 August 2010 hmmm, heard of about 3 bands there, and they aren't exactly riding high - have to say i'm underwhelmed, the old uni used to pull in far bigger/better bands....
Luke_H Posted 25 August 2010 Posted 25 August 2010 It'll pull in a lot of better bands in the early 2011 tours i think if they do academy tours. Really want to see Beardyman and 65DaysOfStatic though
Filbert_Ross Posted 26 August 2010 Posted 26 August 2010 ive got tickets to see Little Night Terrors at the 02, never heard of them, bid on them on a charity auction.
Rocket-Ron Posted 27 August 2010 Posted 27 August 2010 ive got tickets to see Little Night Terrors at the 02, never heard of them, bid on them on a charity auction. There from Blaby. Used to be the displacements. There ok(ish) perhaps a little up themselves.
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