Back after a very long absence! Cant believe I've only written one review in nearly 2 years! Anyway ...
Back after a very long absence! Cant believe I've only written one review in nearly 2 years! Anyway back now and hope to be reading, rating and writing lots!
Member since:16.09.2001
Reviews:160
Members who trust:49
Now what is Nottingham famous for? No, no, not just that bloke in green tights who just ran around poking evil nobles! It also looks like it was famous for some lace stuff, but I didn't notice that either! Nope, 'tis Nottingham Rock City, lauded amongst rock fans, almost whispered of in revered tones by those who haven't been there, almost mystical in its existence. Nottingham Rock City fast become the Mecca of rock fans everywhere, if you hadn't been there, you just hadn't lived, it had to be the one place to go.
So I did! Saturday as a matter of a fact, yes I must admit that it was one of the deciding factors in choosing where to go on our weekend away, I wanted to see if all the hype was true.
First of all, its not just a night club, in fact many of the people who have been there, have been there for the gigs, 'tis one of the few places in the Midlands that is big enough for large gigs, but not over-the-top capacity like the NECin Birmingham. Coming up at Rock City in the next couple of months are the likes of Ash, NOFX, Bad Religion and more. The ticket prices average around the £15 mark, so its not too bad. Capacity is quite small though so you have to get your tickets early, I believe it fits in around 2000 people.
I of course went for that dancing and the drinking! As we were there over the weekend we decided to go on the Saturday BUT if we had been there the whole week we would
have had a couple of nights to go to.
Crash - Tuesdays in the Basement, plays the like of the White Stripes, Datsuns, etc. Sets you back £2 before Midnight.
Tuned - Thursday, declaring itself a 'premier' student night, plays chart, pop and alternative. I find it quite bizarre that it costs £3.50 with an NUS card as Crash will cost you only a pound!
Love Shack - Every Friday, in 3 rooms, outrageous 60's, Disco 70's and cheesy 80's. £5.00 on the door.
Distortion - Saturdays, mainstream rock, hardcore, punk, ska, Indie & hip hop, will cost you a fiver without a a NUS Card or flyer.
Nailed - Saturdays, in the downstairs room, plays all that dodgy American metal stuff
Reloaded - Saturdays, in the Rig, DJ Dave plays classic Rock
Alternative Under 18's - Sunday, does what it says on the box, No beer!
So there you go, summat for practically every alternative person out there. We ended up going on the Saturday night.
I finally got all tarted up and was glad to find out that it was a 5 minute walk directly up the road from our hotel! Rock City right, premier gig and night club place, got to be smart right? Bright lights, big outside? Wrong, we were rather gobsmacked to see this dingy, quite small entrance that bore an uncanny resemblance to a cinema foyer. It was only a small queue, so paid our £5, and got past the rather unfriendly bouncers, there was a small cloakroom but we bypassed that and I went straight to the loos as for some reason I had to a penny in my boots that had to be removed ( I still don't know how it got there!). They were serviceable, only 4 cubicles so I can imagine there's a bit of a queue at peak times! They were quite clean, but this was the beginning of the night!
There were 3 rooms, so it was straight up to the main one to have a look and get a drink, walking in was quite a surprise, its certainly a lot bigger than it looks from the outside, there's a stage and a balcony and people were dancing all over the place. There were 3 2 large bars on either side, but both were understaffed for 11.15 let alone later. But the highlight of the night had to be the drinks offer, until Midnight all drinks were £1.50! All of them, even the lovely alcopops that I consume, Smirnoff Ice, £1.50? Certainly sir, I'll take 6, and what would you like Alan? And glasses!, we got glass bottles and pint glasses, no more drinking Smirnoff Ice out of a plastic pint glass that threatens to wobble and break all the time! By this time we were thoroughly fed up with the Nu-Metal stuff pounding out, so decided to take a look in one of the other rooms, the 2nd was slightly dodgy to say the least, a very small amount of seats along one wall and a sunken dance floor and stage, the lighting rig above it meant several young men were using them as monkey bars, obviously amusing to some. In my local club, you'd have been whipped down pretty smartish and chucked out! Not here though, in fact there seems to be this pretty open relaxed atmosphere around the place, or a couldn't care less attitude whichever way you wish to take it! One of those dreadful American Nu-metal White boy rapper songs later, and we were off to the last room, the Rig.
I walked in and I was in Heaven! This is the bit that could truly be called Rock City! There were rock chicks everywhere, in their tiny hotpants, thigh high boots and halter tops (Needless to say, this was Alan's favourite rooms!, and lots of men with long hair headbanging and giving it some air guitar on the floor! The music took me back to my teens pretty smartish! Guns n Roses featured quite prominently and so did Metallica, but we were treated to the likes of Extreme, Love/Hate, Skid Row, Whitesnake, Van Halen, etc. As the evening wore on, Alan began to look quite horrified, I'm guessing it was Bon Jovi that was finishing him off. I think the comment that went somewhere along the lines of 'I hate this big dumb-ass American Cock Rock crap' was telling me he didn't enjoy half as much as I did! So at 12.30 we found ourselves wandering back to the hotel.
But I left with no regrets at all, I did'nt once moan that I had paid a fiver, the drinks were cheap and I wanted to stay, and it was way too early to go. Why? (Most unlike me, I have to say!), because I was ever so slightly bored, it wasn't special or out of the ordinary, just an every day nightclub, that was playing predictable music. I didn't massively feel the urge to get up and shake my booty or get all excited at a particular song. In fact I've had much more fun at the smaller night clubs at home. It wasn't the people, I have to say the absence of posing, and the snobbery 'I'm more rock than you' attitude was definitely missing. There wasn't big bouncer wandering everywhere, telling people to stop dancing on the tables and to not sit on the stairs, everyone was basically doing what they wanted. And by the time we left at 12.30 you could see the effects of this blasé attitude, there was litter, glass and bottles everywhere, the floor was completely sticky, couples in obscene positions or basically just throwing up on the floor. The toilets? We wont mention the toilets! I think spitoons should have been provided as well! A 'Have a good evening' from the bouncer wouldn't have gone amiss either!
Will I go back? Yes, I probably will, but probably not with Alan, (He doesn't dance, you see) But I would get a big gang of the girlies together and have a wander up (When I say wander, its a near enough 3 hour drive away!), get completely arsed and dance like loons to Iron Maiden! It was good....................but not that good.
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Advantages: 3 rooms to choose from each playing different styles of rock music. Bands playing live as well. Disadvantages: Can get VERY busy, beer some nights is a little pricey
Apr 12th, 2004
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