Shed a little tear, The Astoria, the rock venue at the top of Tottenham Court Road, is finally scheduled for demolition to make way for the expansion of the station for the Cross Rail project. It may not have the significance of the similarly irradicated Hammersmith Palais, subject of a (repeated?) documentary Last Man In Hammersmith Palais which I watched on the BBC 4 iPlayer this week, and The Astoria hasn't got the same level of mythology as the Palais (where seemingly half of London met their spouses and which was famously hymned by The Clash...) but it will always hold memories for me. The first and so far only Radiohead live video was filmed there in 1994, a gig I was at (you'll have to wait for the full story) and they also played a fanclub show there a couple of years later, which was pretty memorable. I always got a little lump in my throat whenever I walked past the place on my way across London and I shall miss it.
Here's the end of that gig May 1994:
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