Manchester - Academy 2 or 3 [not sure of capacity but would guess 200 - 400]
March
Seemed to be pretty much sold out.

Could you include the name of the venue so I can get an idea of capacity? Thanks.

sold out already for their gig at Bush Hall in London next Tuesday, capacity is about 350.

at Loughborough Town Hall, 13th May; about 500 capacity, only about 75 people there.

I spoke to their accordian player, also a promoter of folk gigs, and he reckoned it was the recession, but also remarked that it was the first show to have been quite so badly affected. He also mentioned that even Cropredy is having difficulty selling out this year.

Am going to see PSB at Manchester Apollo on Thursday night. I suspect it'll be a sell-out, but will report back.

Royal Festival Hall. Sold Out. 2900 seats. Although she's probably not "middle-market".

And Songdog at London Borderline.About 75% full at a guess.

at the O2 here in Dublin, absolutely packed although I've no idea why (Yawn, ZZZZZZZZZZZZ), seating capacity 9,500 I think.

at the Union Chapel Islington, was at least 95% full out of a 100 capacity

Brighton Corn Exchange capacity 1200, middle of April, sold out within a week of tickets going on sale, packed inside. Having said this, was the first night of the tour, they haven't toured as a duo for 13 years and PJH hasn't played Brighton since touring Uh Huh Her in 2004.

Shepherd's Bush Empire...

Rammed to the rafters

Conversely, Springsteen's Magic shows at the Emirates Stadium last summer "sold out" in record time via official routes - though there was plenty of room both nights and touts were actually giving away tickets come 8.30pm outside the tube station.

Expecting more of the same at Hyde Park.

Auditorium di Piazza della Libertà, Bergamo; about 300 seats.
It was packed.

Last night at Belfast's Waterfront Hall - capacity 2,250, and I'd say about 1,800 turned out (two partially restricted view balconies empty), at £55-£65 per ticket. The last concert I saw at that same venue was David Byrne two months ago and it was less than half full.

I didn't go but heard it was sold out then they were taking some seats out so they could get more people in. The return of The Enid is probably far from typical however.

Robyn Hitchcock at South Hill Park Bracknell a few months ago was maybe two thirds full.

Has Neil Young at Hyde Park sold out yet?

Morrissey

Rotterdam and Antwerp sold out, packed.

Rotterdam - 1500
antwerp - 2500

When I bought my ticket, several weeks before the gig on the 4th June, there were only 15 left - I'm sure they were snapped up. And deservedly so.
Beth Orton and Bobby Gillespie amongst those spotted in the crowd.

At the 100 Club about 10 days ago. Actually, I didn't get in - it was sold out when i got there!
(I've been to a gig since then - Ora Cogan at the Windmill in Brixton, About 12 people there, most of whom seemed to be friends of one of the support acts. A real shame as Ora is really good. It was the night of the tube strike, though)

Bury Met, capacity 200 seated, less than 10 unsold.

This Friday, same venue, Drever McCusker Woomble with special guests Heidi Talbot and Boo Hewerdine, in a benefit concert for, ahem, my charity, less than 30 tickets to go. Hurry before it sells out!

Cracking venue with Thwaites beer in local pub Two Tubs Inn nearby.

Hyde Park Cinema, Leeds
200 seat capacity
May '09
Tickets were about £9 or so, not sure if this qualifies as 'middle market'.

Initially advertised for one night only, the gig sold out and the artist/ organisers added a second date for the day after. Tickets for the second night obviously didn't sell well because when we saw them on the first night Lewis was plugging tickets for the day after, although I don't know that many people would go to the same gig, in the same venue, two nights in a row. Might be a case of over-estimating demand...

twas rammed.

High Barn, Great Bardfield. Generally about 120-140 capacity depending on how they set out the tables, and there were four spare seats. Mind you, it's out in the middle of nowhere and so people generally make more of an effort to go than they would if it were a venue just round the corner where if you miss this show there'll be another band along in a minute.

Off to see Jarvis Wed eve at the Troxy... so will do a count.

15th May. There was 8000 there, what a great night.

At Singapore Esplande Concert Hall - I would guess at ~1500 capacity and it was about 3/4 full.

Three recent gigs

Nick Lowe - £37.50 a ticket - half full

jackson Browne - £45 a ticket and just after he had recently played there - 3/4 full

Eric Clapton - full but lots of corporate entertaining (which i was)

I cant help but suggest that if Nick had sold for £20 then the place would be full. The same with jackson Browne at say £30.

Also the way tickets are distributed doesnt help.

Gomez at Liverpool 02 Academy - approx 75% full, I'd say

Vampire Weekend at Liverpool 02 Academy - full house... rammed

Bob Dylan at Liverpool Echo Arena - full house, I think

At the New Roadmender, Northampton (cap.810) was packed last week (June 10th). Perhaps not too surprising; they're mostly supporting Nickelback at the moment and are only doing a few of their own. Also, at 15 quid I imagine it would've been much cheaper than the Nickelback gigs.

On a slightly different note, generally speaking I for one would much prefer to see four gigs like this (and the previous one, Dodgy at the Brook) than spend 60 quid on a single stadium gig where I have to watch them on a screen.

...at Kentish Town Forum. Sold out. Mainly to middle-aged men in Springsteen t-shirts and sixth formers/students who should have been revising. Very few people in the 25-35 age bracket. Odd, that.

Ulster Hall, Belfast Saturday 6th June.
Approx 90% full. Downstairs fairly packed. Empty seats in the balcony

Last Monday night, outdoors in Prospect Park, Brooklyn, NY.

Actual venue rammed, with overflow (viewing on screens or through trees) another 2x amphitheatre capacity.

Price probably a major factor.

At a venue at Sheffield University Students Union that when I was a student went by the prosaic name of "Bar 2" but is now called something to do with the steel industry - The Foundry?

Capacity I'd guess about 250? I'd say it was 80% full but it was the first time they've played Sheffield.

But Editors opening the new Academy venue in Bham (3000) capacity - we got tickets 24 hours after they went on sale. Hot hometown band opens new venue? Can't help feeling would have sold out in 10 mins 18 months ago. Maybe credit and cashflow problems are hitting the touts - hurrah!

Birmingham Symphony hall - not even half full - would have sold out easy if it was Imposters.
Gretchen Peters,Suzy Bogguss and Matraca Berg - Robin 2 - Full.
Sly and Robbie et al - Island 50 - Shephers Bush empire - only show that was shown as not sold out in that week. Got there and it was full to the rafters.

Went to see some unsigned bands at O2 Academy Liverpool - after being invited by promoter - local young bands Charva and The Harlettes and some out of town bands - The Toniks, Sinking Cities from Glasgow and Butcher and Bolt from Oldham. All giving their all to a smallish crowd of very enthusiastic young people.
Took advantage of the VIP pass and went to the main room 1200 capacity to see a sold out crowd being wowed by Alabama 3.

ICA in The Mall - capacity 350. Hard to tell but I'd say 80% full, but they would have been happy with that I suspect.

As an aside, for bands that I feel are punching at or above their weight, I have had a strategy of buying from touts on the night as late as I can bear it. I have never failed. I started to do this after not being able to give away (literally) a spare Strokes ticket outside a Hammi Odeon gig that had sold out on the day of release some months before.

Another Union Chapel, Islington gig. Probably 90%+ full - in the main church and not the studio.

I saw her at Tingewick Village Hall!! a couple of weeks back - I don't know what the capacity is but there were about 80 people there and if there had been 20 more it would have felt very full. By the way, it was my first time there and I'll be going back (although it smelt like a Scout Hut! - it probably is one though)

Patrick Wolf in Manchester 2 weeks ago had to be scaled down from the 1300 capacity Ritz and moved to the 800+ Academy 2 which was half full by all accounts.

One of the PR gurus who advises a variety of promoters has suggested many of the smaller/newer festivals are crossing an awful lot of fingers as tickets seem not to be moving all that fast. He suspects there will be a few less on the circuit come next year.
How busy did the IoW look on the telly?

Feeder-Scarborough Spa Grand Hall. I think it holds about two thousand and it was about 95 percent full.

Peters/Bogguss/Berg in Sheffield. Nearly full - only booked 2 days before and ended up with crappy seats. Suspect that other people knew that the final seats on offer had a very poor view.

Nick Lowe at the Bridgewater Hall Manchester - criminally empty - only about a third full I'd guess. Thousands turn up for Oasis at Heaton Park whilst Nick is ignored - crazy.

Elvis and the Brodskeys also at the Bridgewater. Probably 1/2 to 3/4 full at best.

75% full at best.

Sold out.

£12 - sold out and fantastic gig. If the gigs are priced properly people will go.

Morrissey at Great Yarmouth Britannia Pier - full but some empty seats - I think they were standing at the front. Capacity unconfirmed - 1200 I think.

Morrissey at Cambridge Corn Exchange - full but a handful of empty seats, no shows presumably rather than being unsold. Capacity 1849 according to website.

Kristin Hersh at Norwich Arts Centre Capacity approx 225, sold out.

By 'Middle Market' we're talking established but not mega-acts at medium-sized venues I suppose?

I Recently saw new-ish acts The Horrors and Deerhunter at small venues in Manchester & Leeds. Both acts pretty much at the top of their game, both gigs rammed and sweaty, lots of t-shirts and posters being purchased...job done. All is well at the lower end of the 'market' and if a band is sufficiently 'now' and getting lots of press/blogging they'll do fine especially in a college town.

Last gig was Junior Boys at Club Academy in MCR which was probably 60-70 people but this was a Tuesday night and clashed with a lot of end-of-term japes for the students which ate into their potential audience. Shame these couldn't climb on support to the Pet Shop Boys as I think they'd go down well there.

Johnny Clegg at the QPAC Concert Hall in Brisbane (yes, in Australia) 3 weeks ago. Capacity 1800, sold out, with the last dozen or fewer seats selling at the venue on the night.

He sold out the same venue fairly quickly four years ago, but that was his first time here (and there was quite a large ex-pat South African contingent very keen to see him).

I know that seats sold much more slowly this time. (I was all right Jack, I bought front row seats the minute they went on sale!) Reasonable seats were still available a few weeks in advance, but only a handful on the night of the show.

Johnny did talk about how much tougher the touring market is now, so they were being more creative (e.g. using local sponsors) and cutting costs (e.g he had to choose between having a backup singer and a dancing partner in the touring party).

Nick, in Sunny Brisbane (which make me a little farther east than your Eastern Correspondent :-) )

surprised me as it was rescheduled at the last minute to a Monday night & it was rammed.

... can't remember their name but they let me in for a fiver because they were already playing.

Less than a quarter full, about 50 people there at a stretch, I think. And boy were they trying hard, bless them, they performed as if they were headlining at Donington.

It seems to be if big bands play medium venue or medium bands play small venues (or medium to small bands play odd venues) they still sell out.

I saw Maximo Park, who fit your definition of middle market perfectly, in a 1000 capacity venue in April where tickets were 20 euros each. It was sold out.

A week ago I saw The Pains of Being Pure at Heart in a venue holding 250. Tickets cost 9 euros and it was sold out months ago. I'd say more people are going to these sorts of gigs in Utrecht than ever before. I've been at the same venue on numerous occasions to see bands who would sell out small venues in the UK but could only muster 30 or less in the audience. That doesn't seem to happen anymore.

Not sold out but 95% full. £14 tickets.

Only half full... criminal!

I've never seen the place so packed. I had to watch the entire show from the entrance to the downstairs bar, craning over the heads of the people in front of me. Obviously, there are fairly unique circumstances which need to be taken into consideration here but, by the same token, you could also argue that there's something of an 'if you build it, they will come' factor at work.

Old blues geezer. Still big in Germany, where he now lives.

At Norden Farm Arts Centre in Maidenhead. A lovely venue but I admit it's not really on 'the circuit'.

Tiny room, 200 capacity max. Just about full for the first half but about 40% of the miserable bleeders sodded off after the interval as it was apparent his skills on guitar are not what they were due to his age.

Newcastle band, boat house on the tyne, about 60 poeople there - fiver in. marvellous

Ska. The sound of north London.

A Brum band called 360, from Birmingham. They were the support act to a Specials/Madness covers band who were nowhere near as good.

The bar was full, perhaps 50 or 60 people. £6 entry so each musician got about £20.

360 were fabulous, the others were better than an Abba tribute band I guess.

from Exeter?

Not sure what the capacity is, but there seemed a good turnout, especially if the queues for the beer and loos were anything to go by.

Packed to the rafters.

June:
-Bill Bailey, Salford Lowry (Lyric Theatre), about full I think.

May:
-Maximo Park, Manchester Academy 1, Sold Out.
-Morrissey, Hartlepool Borough Hall, Sold Out.

April:
-The Whitest Boy Alive, Manchester Ruby Lounge, Sold Out.
-Jarvis Cocker, I Am Kloot (Charity Concert), RNCM Theatre, Sold Out.
-Gomez (already mentioned above)

March:
-Franz Ferdinand, Manchester Academy 1, Sold Out.
-Kaiser Chiefs with Black Kids, MEN Arena, they closed the top tier (half of the seated area) but the lower tier and standing were pretty full. I wouldn't like to give a %, I'm not sure how the standing capacity compares to the seating. However, I saw them there 2 years before and it was pretty much full then in all areas.

Going further back, I do think a few gigs last year weren't as busy as I had expected. Also, whilst some acts will always sell out (and many shows do over a period of time on sale) I've noticed a number of gigs don't appear to sell-out as quickly as they did a couple of years ago.

My last gig was Vyvienne Long at the Belltable in Limerick. Its a tiny venue about 150 seated and was only half full - but as I've said elsewhere it was fabulous.

Before that the previous one was Radiohead in Malahide Castle last year and I'm off to the Boss at the RDS next month.

The mid-table bands don't tour Ireland outside of Dublin. They should there's a living to be made. This was proven by Franz Ferdinand who played Dolan's Warehouse here and was sold out by the time I'd heard of it and the venue's only 100 yards from me.

Bloody massive, about 70,000 there but they reckon there were 20,000 tickets unsold. Before that it was Richard Herring at the Canal Cafe Theatre in Little Venice, sold out with a capacity of about 60. A couple of weeks back, The Neville Staple Band, Pauline Black and The Beat at Norwich Waterfront. I'd say there were 250-300 there, probably three quarters full.

Gig was packed although you could still pay on the door. Capacity not sure - 200? It seemed as though lots of people had travelled as the band are not playing many gigs this year. Brilliant concert but as usual for Gedgy no encore!

I pretty much only see middling to small acts these days, and have not been in a mega-place in yonks. So..

Kathleen Boyle : CCA, Glasgow, May 23rd.
Small venue, but sadly not full by any means.

Amadou & Mariam : Olympia, Paris, April 2nd. Rammed.

Before that it was January (Festival Club at Celtic Connections : chocka).

In mitigation I have been to a lot of classical this year. And am going to the Africa Oye festival in Sefton Park, Liverpool this week. Mind you, that is free.

Memo to self : see more stuff.

Sheffield City Hall - Irwin Mitchell Hall in April. Apparantly capacity is 2271 and it looked as though it was almost full.

Don't get to so many gigs these day, but last two at Leeds City Varieties last year (don't know capacity) were pretty quiet - Neil Innes and Ian McNabb.

Ukrainians at the New Roscoe in Leeds (cap.300) was pretty full, but then it was home turf and they don't play live that often.

Electric Ballroom , London 5th June. It was sold out, not sure how many people it holds , i reckon at least 500 (and they were ACE!). Tickets were £12 which is cheap as chips these days.

Going to see TV on The Radio at Brixton Academy in July and it's sold out, i think the tickets were around £25 (mind you it is London and they're only playing one date)

At Manchester Night And Day last month - a venue about the size of your average pub - maybe 100 capacity. A very quiet Monday night with only about 30 people, including the support acts.

About a month ago - pretty much full. Must've been around 250-300. But she does seem to have a rabidly devoted fanbase.

Not normally my kind of thing but groundswell of opinion among chums... Totally sold out 350-400 very appreciative audience...very glad I attended (Tix were 10.50)

I went to see the fantastic Zoey Van Goey (much heralded by Rob Fitzpatrick over at Landcroft House). It was in the tiny Buffalo Club by Islington tube station so with 100 people or so there it was busy.

I'd check 'em out if you get the chance cos they are going to be(or should be) huge.

Roger McGuinn on Wed at the Basingstoke Anvil - about half full, which was a shame. Musical biography, wonderful in 60s, less so since (funnily enough). Fantastic guitarist.

Seeing John Mayall at same venue 7/7 so can compare.

saw him and his "2000 years of music" gig at King's Place in london. Included a cover of nelly furtardo's Maneater, with a choral, plagal baroque middle eight.

It was sold out (oh and the gig was brilliant!)

Around 40 folk in a 500 capacity marquee to witness the triumphant homecoming of a favourite son Bollington son (the drummer)..not bad turn out really as it had been cancelled at the start of the week by the 'committee' due to late night noise worries and very poor ticket sales helped no doubt by the fact that 99% of the world hasn't heard of them....but a cricket club party had pre-booked a meal with one of the sponsors and this included entertainment,namely tickets to the show, so it was re-instated (at an earlier time as to not upset the neighbours)...and they went down a storm....38 demanding multiple encores and 2 beating a hasty retrea

At the RNCM in Manchester.

Don't know what the capacity is, but it looked pretty damn' full.
My sister pointed out that the audience were all bald men with beards (me included) and were we a cult? She may have had a point....

and his chums Pictish Trail, Uncle Beesley and OnTheFly with Player Piano at the Glee Club, Birmingham on 8th June - about two-thirds full? £12 a ticket. Brilliant as always. Player Piano a name to watch out for - might make Fence Collective's fortune.

at the Download Festival, I'm not sure if it had sold out but apparently I was surrounded by 69,999 others.

I've been to three recent recitals there. Pete Doherty (hmmm, I know) and Athlete sold out the place, while The Wedding Present lured a mere 250 punters to the 360-capacity arena.

I'd say 75% full. I thought my £55 was well-spent.

We went to the London That Petrol Emotion reunion gig last night and it couldn't have been more than a third full. I wouldn't be surprised if there were still people in the area trying to find the venue still. I can't recall the last time that I was at a gig when the audience was treated with the contempt that we were last night. Apart from there being no visible signs to tell us that we were going into the right place, we were routed through some corridors into the basement into a baking hot bar (holding area - water £2.50!) but not able to go into the main "ballroom" until about 9pm (despite the doors opening at 7pm). No signs to say what was going on. If I didn't know better I would have thought that it was organised by BBC Audience Services!
Fortunately the main hall was nice and cool and the band eventually came on at 9:30 and were very good indeed but I would hesitate to go there again if I could help it even though it was very easy to park very close.

So where was this dreadful gig?