With a main hall holding around 3,000 standing and two smaller rooms beneath it, the O2 Academy Birmingham is one of the largest dedicated live-music venues in the city centre. The complex on Horsefair, at the lower end of Bristol Street, brings three interconnected spaces under one roof: the principal Academy, the mid-sized Academy 2 and the club-scale Academy 3, giving a combined capacity approaching 3,900 across simultaneous shows. The venue moved to its present building in September 2009, r.....

A 1960s A-frame church became South Austin's best seat for a song. The 04 Center at 2701 South Lamar Boulevard - the name comes from the 78704 zip code Austinites wear like a badge - is a fully seated 370-capacity listening room carved out of the former Faith United Methodist Church, built in 1969. Austin New Church took the building over in January 2018, and the concert operation run alongside it earned a Best New Venue nomination from the Austin Chronicle in 2019. The A-frame bones do the aco.....

An industrial block west of Weston Road hides one of Toronto's busiest warehouse stages. 131 McCormack Street, in the Junction-area industrial strip south of St. Clair Avenue West, operates as the Black Creek Assembly - a venue run by Lands Black Creek Arts and Culture and dedicated, in its own words, to the creation and presentation of artistic works by a diverse range of artists. Film screenings, runway and fashion shows, and live music and dance performances share the big assembly room. The .....

A garment factory in the warehouse district now runs some of LA's heaviest bills. 1720, at 1720 East 16th Street just west of Santa Fe Avenue in downtown Los Angeles, opened in late 2017 when a trio of local rock musicians converted the old factory into a multi-purpose, all-ages venue. Designer Brant Ritter kept the raw industrial shell - high ceilings, exposed pipes, steel beams, painted concrete, a Nick Knudson triptych mural on the wall - and dropped best-in-class sound and lighting into it. .....

When Factory 93 wants a sunset, it books Naud Street. 1756 Naud Street, an industrial lot on the edge of Chinatown beside the Los Angeles State Historic Park, is downtown LA's favourite open-air techno yard: the outdoor venue where Insomniac's underground brand Factory 93 has staged Carl Cox, Green Velvet, Nicole Moudaber, Amelie Lens, Charlotte de Witte and Honey Dijon, and where the Secret Project festival planted its first editions. The formula is simple and beloved: a warehouse-district bla.....

A pandemic-born art hub anchors a Sherman Heights corner. 1835 Creative Studios at 1835 Imperial Avenue, on the edge of downtown San Diego, packs 7,000 square feet of two-storey building with working studios, a gallery, private offices and retail units - workspace for clothing and streetwear brands, barbers, painters and the underground San Diego art scene, assembled by creative managers David Castillo and Riza Clave when the studios opened in 2021. The event side runs on two rooms. The Hub is .....

The small room in Memphis's old bread factory punches at every weight. The 1884 Lounge, inside the Minglewood Hall complex at 1555 Madison Avenue in Midtown, is the 400-capacity sibling of the 1,700-plus main hall - the intimate stage where rising touring acts and the city's own talent play before they graduate next door. Live music can run up to seven nights a week between the two rooms. The building began life in the 1920s as the Tasty Bread factory; the venue conversion opened for concerts i.....

Built in 1901 as a schoolmaster's residence beside a former Victorian school, the 1901 Arts Club is an intimate salon-style recital venue on Exton Street in Waterloo, a short walk from the station and the South Bank. The restored period house has been turned into a candle-lit chamber music room that seats only a few dozen guests, offering a deliberately small and personal alternative to London's larger concert halls. The performance space is built around its acoustics and atmosphere. A Steinway.....

Occupying a converted warehouse in the warehouse arts district on the edge of downtown Tucson, 191 Toole is a flexible live-music and events venue that takes its name directly from its address on East Toole Avenue. Operated by the same team behind the city's long-running Rialto Theatre, it was developed to give Tucson a mid-sized, general-admission room that could host touring bands as well as private functions, filling the gap between the city's small clubs and its larger theatres. The main ha.....

Behind the butcher counter of a century-old former auto body shop, the 1st Ward is a 5,000-square-foot concert and event space tucked inside the Chop Shop complex at 2033 West North Avenue in Chicago's Wicker Park neighbourhood. The building sits just west of the Milwaukee-Damen-North intersection, one of the city's busiest nightlife crossroads, and brings together encased meats, craft beer, cocktails, and live entertainment under a single roof. Designed by event professionals, the venue holds .....