The Ten Best Music Venues in the World (that I’ve been to)

How important is the venue for setting the tone for a concert? Obviously the quality of the sound system (as well as some of the lighting rigs) can have a major impact, but some venues just have that little bit of stardust about them that helps elevate good shows into great ones.

I often joke that the best thing about living in Huddersfield is that you can get to lots of places easily from it. Pretty much every major UK tour will go to at least one of Manchester, Sheffield or Leeds, plus smaller venues in near by locations such as Halifax, Holmfirth and Hebden Bridge means I’m often spoilt for choice when it comes to deciding where to go and see an act, with increasingly the venue being the deciding factor as to where to get tickets for.

After much deliberation, here is the definitive list of my top ten best music venues I’ve had the good fortune to have been to. Obviously this is my personal list, but please comment at the end to recommend any venues that I really need to build trips around at some point in the future.

Brudenell Social Club, Leeds
The Brudenell Social Club shouldn’t work. A former working men’s club located outside Leeds city centre surrounded by worn down terraced housing doesn’t feel like the natural home for live music, yet somehow it always ends up being a brilliant. Of the two rooms where performances take place the older one feels more homely than the recently done up second room, although both have their charm.

In recent years the venue has been home to a number of album launch shows in partnership with Crash Records, seeing artists such as Suede, Maximo Park and The Last Dinner Party performing intimate shows to far smaller crowds than usual to promote their new releases.

Albert Hall, Manchester
Some venues create an ambience that is unique to them, with the Albert Hall in Manchester being one of them. The gothic design of the former Methodist hall helps to create a certain atmosphere that builds on the music of certain acts. Nowhere felt more suitable for seeing the Manic Street Preachers perform The Holy Bible in full and similarly it always feels the perfect venue for seeing Suede at (see here for a review of their 2019 performance there). Whilst this may not be suitable for all performers, for any rock acts with dark or gothic roots to their music the Albert Hall gets my vote.

White Oak Upstairs, Houston
I’ve only managed to get to one concert in America (if you discount seeing an Elvis tribute act in a Hotel bar in Vegas) and it definitely was a memorable night. After numerous near death experiences trying to navigate Houston’s terrifying highway system I somehow stumbled into a death metal performance in the downstairs venue which did little to settle my nerves. After eventually making it to the right room I was greeted with a beautiful tiki hut themed stage and despite the show being far from a sell out those who did attend made enough noise to fill the venue.

Also it was Halloween. Halloween is a very big thing in America so the stage was done up in typical spooky fashion whilst all the bands performing took to the stage in fancy dress. If you pick one day to go to live music in the USA I highly recommend making it on the thirty first of October.

Royal Albert Hall, London
Some venues don’t need an introduction, the Royal Albert Hall being one of them (not to be confused with the earlier discussed not-Royal Albert Hall in Manchester). I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that of the venues that have made this list it is the only one that has a dedicated Royal box (although I suspect the Queen may not have been in attendance when I saw Pulp perform there).

As you may expect, entering the Royal Albert Hall there’s a sense of grandeur that other venues simply don’t have. Whilst the cheap seats put you up in the heavens, the design of the building means that you’re still looking straight down on the performers rather than in some far flung location staring at match stick people in the distance. The annual Teenage Cancer Trust shows are always worth trying to get tickets for, both for the spectacle of the events and for the fantastic cause they support.

The Piece Hall, Halifax
Whilst the summer shows at Halifax Piece Hall have only taken place since 2019 they have already established themselves as one of England’s top outdoor concert venues, attracting some of the biggest UK and international names to west Yorkshire. Built in the eighteenth century to support the local cloth industry, the halls surrounding the courtyard make for a unique and scenic venue that other competing town centre concerts can’t match.

Unfortunately the success of the Piece Hall may be it’s undoing. Sadly, as seems to be the standard for such scale concerts, the audiences tend to display several of the behaviours that frustrate me the most – people holding loud conversations during songs they don’t know, insisting on holding phones up through virtually the entire show and blocking off the views of other, etc. Along with this the sheer number of shows being put on is threatening to make the shows seem commonplace rather than special; back in 2022 only eleven shows were put on, in 2024 this number had risen to thirty two.

Civic Hall, Wolverhampton
For some venues it’s easy to pinpoint why they are so special, for others less so. The Civic Hall falls into the latter… appearance wise it was nothing special (although the entrance to the building is highly impressive) and the acoustics were fairly standard. But somehow the atmosphere was always a notch above what other similar sized venues could muster, as mentioned by touring veterans such as Blur and Manic Street Preachers during shows I witnessed there.

Recently reopened after a forty eight million pound refurbishment (and rebranded as simply the Halls) I’m looking forward to finding an excuse to see the updated venue.

Pustervik, Gothenburg
When I have travelled abroad and built live music into my schedule it has generally been for big, outdoor shows which lack the intimacy of smaller venues. Luckily my summer 2024 trip to Sweden allowed me to get to a couple of shows at Pustervik, a delightful nine hundred capacity venue in Gothenburg’s city centre. Dark, dingy, bare wooden floorboards and a nice wide stage so where ever you stood you felt close to the band, Pustervik proved to be a charismatic and atmospheric venue full of enthusiastic Swedish music fans.

The Deaf Institute, Manchester
Following on from the Brudenell Social Club and the Trades Club comes the third of the nearby small venues to me, the delightfully named Deaf Institute. I’ve commented before about how the decor of the stage makes it looks like an eccentric’s aunt front room, whilst the seating area at the back allows for the rare combination of comfort, great views and still feeling close to the performers.

Loch Lomond, Balloch
This list is pretty devoid of large, outdoor (or indoor venues). That’s not to say they aren’t without charm or history – Olympiastadion in Berlin would have made the list if not for the atrocious sound quality. But one outdoor venue will always hold a piece of my heart – and not just for being the location of my first ever concert.

Setting it asides from other large outside locations where concerts are held in the UK, the bonny, bonny banks of Loch Lomond truly has utterly stunning views and even with forty thousand music fans present it felt busy rather than crowded. Sadly, since the demise of the Live at Loch Lomond festival in 2008 no large music events have been seen there. However, with Oasis reforming and the inevitable calls for a thirtieth anniversary show at Knebworth, perhaps they’ll revisit Loch Lomond too (those that were there know that Loch Lomond was the better show!)

Barrowlands Ballroom, Glasgow
When I was at high school, the NME’s end of year polls always seemed to result with the thrilling named Barrowlands Ballroom voted as the nation’s favourite venue. Somehow it took me a whole month and a half at University in Edinburgh before finding a reason to head through to Glasgow for a gig (Reef supported by Symposium in case anyone was wondering).

Sometimes you walk into a venue for the first time and know that it is a place where magic happens. The Barras was one such place, simplistic and slightly worn down in appearance hinting at more glamorous times in its past, the smell of stale Tennents lingering in the air, I’m pretty sure I never went to a poor show there, with the lively Glasgow crowd always on top form.

As with all great venues it’s steeped in both musical and cultural history – the mystery of Bible John still remains unsolved for those who enjoy a true crime/music venue cross over!

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And there we have it, my ten favourite venues for live music. Have I missed yours from my selections – please add a comment below and I’ll see if there’s a way for me to visit it!