The drinks are thrown, the crowds are feral – and the bands are right in your face. On independent venue week, musicians talk about their most cherished concert sweatboxes
I love the bit in John Niven’s book O Brother where he goes back to where he saw the Clash at the Magnum Leisure Centre in Irvine and only the foundations of the building are left, so he reimagines the gig by standing on the footprint. He writes about how concerts can have such a powerful effect when you’re young that years later you feel the vibrations, even after the building has been knocked down.
