Who's the biggest band you've seen in a small-ish venue?

Mono might have played there, but if they did it was after my time. I found the EITS gig on setlist.fm - was Feb 4th 2004. No set list up, but it was around the release of The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place, and I remember it being pretty heavy on that record. It was really good.

Well I missed that then.
Balls.

I did see Sigur Ros support Godspeed in the Music centre though.
It put me off post rock for years.

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Still probably arctic monkeys at a tiny venue in Sheffield. Kaiser Chiefs, Bloc Party, M83 and others at the social in Nottingham.

MBV and Ride reunion gigs maybe?

I saw Yeah Yeah Yeahs at the Zodiac in Oxford. Also saw The Killers there. Bloc Party at I think it’s Roadmenders in Northampton.

Also saw Arcade Fire at Birmingham Academy 2. That was probably the best one.

Yea in was at all of those also (minus hauschka)

Think my favourite tin angel gig (I think it was there -tiny cafe with record shop by the church - was Peter Broderick. Sublime

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Was also at that (was a year before I started working for them) - he crawled through the crowd during Games Again and ended up by my feet for about twenty seconds.

I saw The Stupids there (Burberries) supported by Bad Beach and The Varmits. Crazy scenes with stage diving from that centre night club small stage. Afterwards there was a Hitman & Her style nightclub where they played Wham. The night club only people caught the end of The Stupids gig and it must have made an impression on some of them. Not a big band but great gig all the same (Jesus Meets The Stupids era). The STUPIDS - Jesus Meets The Stupids - YouTube

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Talking about Yeah Yeah Yeahs, did they play The Garage in London once with The Liars and Har Mar Superstar or am I mixing up two different gigs into one in my mind?

Smashing Pumpkins at the old Astoria on Charing Cross Road in 1994 - one of my first gigs and an absolute belter!

Oh yeah forgot that, he played two gigs, a month between them, I went to both, it was pretty amazing.

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yeah exactly I was at I’m pretty sure the second one but to be honest to have been at just one was incredible

I remember they were the same day, same date, in Feb and March & one of my friends thought they’d totally missed it when I said to them I’d been at the gig the night before

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yeah! I remember being very confused by that too ha

I saw Placebo at Phoenix then too! First band I ever saw at a festival. I think everyone else was stuck in a traffic jam.

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-Beastie Boys at Randy’s Rodeo in Texas. (Same venue as infamous Sex Pistols’ show.)
-Faith No More at a tiny club that held maybe 150 people. Now defunct, can’t remember the name of it.
-A Tribe Called Quest in the small auditorium of an all-girl’s college.
-Prince at 1,500-capacity Irving Plaza in NYC.
-Elton John at the Hollywood Palladium.
-Beck ‘secret’ show at the 250-capacity Echo in LA. I also saw a Breeders ‘secret’ show there.
-Big Business in my friend’s living room.

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Some mentioned already:

Supergrass at Dublin Castle
A few at Leeds Cockpit - GYBE! w/ Sigur Ros; At The Drive In; The Libertines
Arcade Fire at the Leadmill a while back and Scunthorpe last year
The Killers at Sheffield Fuzz Club
Arctic Monkeys at Cambridge Soul Tree
Bloc Party at Bedford Esquires

Yeah the infamous traffic jam… One of the all-time hottest weekends
i can ever remember too.

Pretty sure I went to a YYYs, Liars and McLusky gig at The Garage. YYYs were on early; place was packed, then everyone left when they finished because London.

Might be it. Wonder if Har Mar Superstar supported either YYYs or Liars another time. I remember going in and seeing a bloke dancing in his underpants and later found out that’s who it was.

Melvins in the Bristol Exchange was a good recent one, depends on your definition of big band I suppose but the capacity is 250.

Mclusky to a scant smattering of people around the time of their first record was quite common in various Cardiff shitholes, once was playing after a ska band - half the crowd left after they finished which must have been a kick in the guts. It was amazing to see them reformed (kinda) playing the Welsh Club packed to the rafters with everyone singing the words a few years ago. I did try to tell people at the time how good they were, but it was all about the Strokes and the dying embers of nu metal.

I could have seen Coldplay in the Cardiff SU, but left after the support band JJ72 as they were the only band I was interested in. I think seeing Queens of the Stone age in the same venue was a good catch as well, pretty sure it was Songs for the Deaf tour though - with Lanegan, no Dave.