As much-loved venues like the Spitz and Hammersmith Palais closed their doors forever last year, we began to worry that the small gig would one day become an endangered species. One of our favourite things to do in this great city is to pack into a tiny, sweaty club and damage our hearing as much as possible before last orders. Without that in our lives... well, we'd probably be loads more productive with our Sundays instead of spending them eating late breakfasts in old cafes, but we'd have a lot less interesting stories to tell the grandchildren we vow never to have.
Thankfully, the Mayor agrees that London's vibrant music scene is part of what makes it a world class capital. Within the next two weeks, Indie Ken will publish a report detailing his plan to not only protect existing small and medium-sized establishments, but also secure an environment in which new venues can emerge. With the Electric Ballroom and the Astoria both currently struggling to survive in the face of transport development plans that would close them, these propositions could not arrive in a more timely fashion.
So if you see Ken out at a gig, kids, remember to buy him a thank-you pint. Without the Mayor in your corner, you could be relegated to arena rockin'.
Photos of the Electric Ballroom and the last night at Hammersmith Palais taken from the author's Flickr photostream.
