Ministry Of Common Sense

Review of O2 Academy Islington

[Review for upstairs venue] The best word to sum u...

[Review for upstairs venue] The best word to sum up this venue, is 'silly'. Your silly night will begin at the fairly hostile entrance, when the bouncers will order you to empty your pockets, confiscate your chewing gum, sometimes even go through your wallet, then frisk you. Regular gig/club goers know that being treated like you're visiting a maximum security prison is standard these days, and to be absolutely fair, a certain amount of diligence on the part of door staff is reassuring. But I haven't had my chewing gum confiscated since I was a schoolboy. The silliness will continue inside, when, after queuing for an eternity whilst wearing a magical Cloak of Invisibility, you will witness a constant stream of poor souls (and potential law suits) slipping arse over head in an ocean of beer on the floor, whilst an unfortunate staff member spends the entire night trying in vain to tame the flood waters with a little mop and bucket. You can t go anywhere in this venue without passing through the dance floor, as the bar is right beside it. Drink will be spilt. No, of course you shouldn t have glass in a venue like this. But the farcical conditions could be helped if the venue just sold plastic bottles or let you drink from cans rather than insisting everything gets decanted into flimsy plastic cups when the only place you can physically go with it is the Great Spill Fest that is the dance floor.