Brixton Academy - Music Venue

Music Venue

Being one of the biggest non-arena venues in London, the Brixton Academy has been used by many very successful acts. The venue has also been voted venue of the year twelve times since 1994 in the annual NME Awards. In addition the venue has won the Music Week Award for Venue of the Year several times including 2009.

Madonna played a special (not during a concert tour) performance at the venue in 2000, to promote the release of her album, Music. The concert was broadcast live online and was watched by a record-breaking audience of 9 million.

Rammstein, Iron Maiden, The Clash, Deborah Harry, The Prodigy, Arcade Fire, Nine Inch Nails, Bob Dylan, HARD-Fi & Sex Pistols have all played five consecutive nights at the venue. The Mighty Boosh broke this record in 2008, with their second live show Boosh Live, playing seven consecutive nights.

Leftfield set the venue's decibel record in 1996. They were summarily banned from using the same sound system at the venue after the high bass levels started disintegrating the ceiling, resulting in showers of dust and plaster. They returned in 2000 using a different sound system.

In 2011, South Korean entertainment company Cube Entertainment became the first Korean company to host a full length concert in England. United Cube took place on 5 December, featuring the boy band B2ST, girl group 4Minute and female solo artist G.Na.

This was a stark contrast to what were arguably the Academy's finest moments, the gigs in 1983 and 1994 by Fela Kuti.