Went to see Four Year Strong tonight, great Christmas present from the girlfriend there, was quite excited to go to the HMV institute for the first time.
Then i was disappointed, turns out it wasn't in the main room, just the shitty little one downstairs which i think is just the old barfly? Worst space for music ever! There's a stupid series of sloping beams running down both sides of the rooms so it makes the floor area that you're able to see the stage from much smaller, then they situated the bars on the sides about half way down the room so the queues intrude right into the middle of the room making it even more cramped.
The only place you can go to get away from the combination of frustrated queuers and sweaty people yet still be able to see the stage is the worlds smallest balcony, which is probably big enough for about 20 people.
An appalling excuse for a venue, at least Four Year Strong were awesome as ever and i'll possibly see them again in the summer as they've been announced as a support act for Blink182's much delayed UK tour.
Originally they had You Me At Six and Four Year Strong lined up as support, when the tour got delayed i was gutted thinking the supports would probably change, now they've got All American Rejects, Four Year Strong, Twin Atlantic and The Blackout, though i dont care for the latter. Fantastic news! I'm not sure that they're all doing all the shows though, other than All American Rejects who are doing everything so i can at least see if Tyson Ritter can match the performance i saw in Germany, which i'll add a video of below. Hopefully i'll get at least one of Twin Atlantic or Four Year Strong at the Blink gig in June though, fingers crossed for both!
Pretty sure Mr Ritter hates German people...