Au Revoir, Astoria

So, after years of date-shifting and copious amounts of mmming and ahhhhing, the curtain has finally come down on the Astoria. Or been pulled down – I was there for the venue’s last ever show last night and the best bit wasn’t any of the bands, it was the concerned look on the bar staff’s faces as people literally started ripping stuff off the walls to get themselves a slice of Astoria memorabilia. “I think we better get security down,” said one to the other, quite obviously shitting himself. I didn’t stay til the end so i’m not sure if anyone prised the feet-sucking toxic carpet from the floor and even if it wasn’t exactly a send-off befitting a venue that’s hosted some of the best gigs ever, it was better than the Manumission meathead-fest that was originally planned. A round of applause to Get Cape’s Vera Duckworth, who organised the whole thing, for that, although there was an odd moment earlier in the evening where The Enemy weren’t allowed in unless they agreed to do a song, a bit cheeky, went Tom Clarke’s rebuttal, considering they hold the record for the most consecutive nights played there.

Of those who did play, Trail Of Dead were the highlight, Conrad and Jason having received a last-minute invitation from My Vitriol to do a few acoustic songs, as was the little-bit-weird sight of Mansun frontman Paul Draper coming onstage to do a version of ‘Wide Open Space’ with My Vitriol. It ended with Drew McConnell, VV Brown and Vera Duckworth orchestrating a big singalong to Bob Marley’s ‘Three Little Birds’, by which time I had accidentally stumbled onstage with Trail Of Dead’s Jason Reece, who, being the shy retiring type, had promptly grabbed a mic and started singing along. 

Then, everyone left the stage for the last time, punters went on a memento rampage and the Astoria readied itself for one last show, involving a big fuck-off bulldozer. Farewell, manky carpet…