Profil von jethromuzz

The Carling Academy in Birmingham is a good night out because they have so many decent bands on, a good Indie club night on Fridays called Ramshackle and a good old head banging rock night on Saturday called Subculture. There isn’t many weeks when there isn’t something worth going to see in either the main venue or the two smaller ones associated with it, Academy 2 and the Bar Academy.

The service is very fast and friendly but the drinks can be expensive on a gig night unless your drinking Carling which is less enjoyable then drinking a pint of the barman’s piss

Its usually quick and easy to get in as the crowd is well controlled and the ticket touts are nearly always around so you can save yourself a few quid by buying a ticket off them.

All in all, despite some fairly shocking sound quality, going to the Carling Academy is a good night, especially when your favourit band is coming to town.

For an awesome night out you can’t go far wrong if you go the Medicine Bar at the Custard Factory.

It offers versatile range of music so it might be advisable to look up what’s on before going in if your music taste isn’t too diverse. Normally they have top quality DJs there playing the best of minimal techno, breaks, electro, DnB etc. but sometimes you get some very cool alternative groups there on in the mid week who are really far out. The sound quality is ace and even if you aren’t drinking or dabbling you soon get swept up by the music which acts like a drug.

Its cool, chic and glamorous. It is situated in a cool setting, with a pond area outside for a chill out garden and smoking. Sometimes on the bigger custard factory nights this pond gets drained and turned into another dance arena which is really cool. They aren’t strict on what you wear but if you like dressing up for a night out then this is definitely the place to head. This comes at a cost, drinks are pricey and sometimes the entry fee can seem a bit steep but as soon as you are in you don’t give a toss about that because you instantly just get lost in the music. The service at the bars is peaty quick and you never have to wait long outside to get in. Occasionally there are free parties when the music is still top notch.

There is always a good vibe here, never any fights as everyone is just there to have a good time and party. Whether you are going for the music or just to meet people and have a good time the Custard Factory is one of the top nights in Brum.

I spent one of the worst nights of my life in Oceana and vowed never to go back. It was actually quite good fun, I was with a lot of friends and we were celebrating the end of term but I could have been anywhere with those guys and it would have been more fun. To have fun in Oceana you have to make it fun, and I would suggest that it would be far easier and probably a lot more enjoyable if you just went to one of the other great clubs in Brum and dont have to try to make it fun, it just is.

The music is enough to make you want to follow Van Gogh’s example and rip your own ears off and as if this wasn’t bad enough it is badly mixed by the so called DJs. The quality of the sound is poor and it is so loud you couldn’t possibly even have shout in the ear hole of the person next to you. Forgive me if I’m wrong but I thought clubs were places you went to to socialise and meet new people. No chance here, unless your on the pull.

If you on the pull there are plenty of horrid girls flaunting there stuff and plenty of sleazy perverted middle aged men trying to get with them. I don’t think I have ever been in a more sleazy place and I’ve been to bondage clubs.

If you don’t have a ticket you have to cue for hours to get to get in and when eventually you do get in you have to wait for an eternally long time to get a drink. All that standing outside in the cold builds up quite a thirst, at the risk of looking like an alcoholic it is worth buying as many drinks as you can hold in one go because you don’t want to have to keep on visiting the bar.

The layout makes it almost impossible to find someone if you loose them even if you know exactly where abouts they are from phoning them, itself a hard task because you have to try and find an area of reception that isn’t subject to about 120 decibels of noise.

So, its cleaner than a lot of the clubs in Birmingham and its not often you hear of fights there, but that doesn’t make it a good night as far as I’m concerned. Don’t go unless you are with a bunch of friends and even then do yourself a favour and go somewhere else.