Nottingham is a city with strong music ties and is a common gig location for bands and artists, as the city is traditionally the most popular location in the East Midlands for touring bands. This article looks at the venues in Nottingham available for people to view live music.
Trent FM Arena
The Trent FM Arena is actually based inside the National Ice Centre, which is the setting for ice hockey and ice skating in Nottingham. However, the venue is well known for holding a wide variety of events – which includes gigs in Nottingham. The venue can hold 10,000 people and has held high-profile gigs by artists such as Sir Elton John, Rod Stewart, Oasis, Bob Dylan, Lady Gaga, and Green Day.
Nottingham Royal Concert Hall
The Royal Concert Hall is run by Nottingham City Council and its striking modern appearance is an eye-catching landmark for anyone visiting the heart of the city centre, opposite the more recently built The Cornerhouse complex. It has seen a wide range of performances from artists such as Robert Plant, Kylie Minogue, Boy George, and Norah Jones.
Rock City
The main room at Rock City has a capacity of 1,900 and is known throughout Nottingham for the hot and crowded atmosphere and sticky floors – so don’t wear your best footwear! The NME perfectly summed it up when they called it “sweaty, but truly indie”. Rock City is divided into three rooms which are the main hall, The Basement and The Rig, with the venue also proudly boasting six bars. Majors indie stars are likely to stop off at the venue, for example La Roux and Babyshambles in recent years, while even Radiohead played the venue in 1996.
Rescue Rooms
The Rescue Rooms is a small 450 capacity venue, which is tucked away behind (big bro) Rock City. It’s known as a fantastic springboard for artists that are soon to be playing larger venues. Bloc Party, Jamie T and Mumford & Sons have played the venue in recent years.
The Bodega Social Club
The Bodega, is located in the Hockley area of Nottingham City Centre, offering the best in live music and club events. The Bodega has showcased some of the most famous bands around to date, and boasts one of the nicest beer gardens in the City Centre. Bands like Mumford and Sons, The XX, Marina and The Diamonds have all played the venue recently, while The Strokes, The Libertines, Coldplay, White Stripes, Klaxons, and Arctic Monkeys all played there before hitting the big time.
Smaller venues
Nottingham also has small live music venues promoting louder rock or punk throughout the city, including The Old Angel, The Maze, The Central, and Ye Olde Salutation Inn.