City Halls

Ok, as I regularly work at City Halls I’m not going to review the venue but a performance I went to. Yup, that’s right, I went to my work on my day off ;-)
I went to see the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra (BBC SSO) who I don’t work for. I get to watch a lot of orchestras in my job and the BBC SSO are my favourite. They really get into the music and their passion is infectious.
Every so often they put on free performances and this was one of them. The composer was Panufnik whose work I didn’t know but I’m glad I went. The orchestra were on top form and obviously relished the chance to perform work not normally in their repertoire.
The composer lived last century so it was fairly modern but with influences from his Polish roots and religious beliefs we were treated to an amazing afternoon of music with oomph. The last piece, Sinfonia Sacra, saw four trumpeters perform off stage on the balcony and the sound was so big that it filled the room swirling behind us and hitting up from all angles. At points the concert reminded me of a Mogwai gig with the power and tenderness they can employ on stage.
Left with a smile on my face and a spring in my step.

Sound in here is pretty great down in the stalls and due to the pitched nature of the floor you can see everything going on in the orchestra too.
The bar is pretty fast moving (and purple lights ooooh) — but like other venue spaces also very expensive (In this part of town you can always just pop around the corner to one of the other cheaper and better bars and I’d suggest you probably should anyway).
Five stars because of the sound and proximity to the many great watering holes in this area. A combination that is sure to make every night here as special as the first.

City Halls (also encompassing The Old Fruitmarket) are probably my favourite gig spaces in Glasgow.
I’ve visited City Halls many times for classical performances — it’s home to Scottish Orchestra (Symphony and Chamber) and regularly plays host to travelling orchestras from around tge world.
I was here a few days ago for the Scottish Symphony Orchestra Icelandic Voices performance — it was, well mental. A few technical hitches with the computers being used (well, it is experiments Icelandic stuff), but that was quickly sorted. Although not overly keen on the compositions, the musicians were excellent, as always.
The acoustics in City Halls are astounding — much, much better than the Royal Concert Hall. The staff have always been friendly, and it’s immaculately clean.
Given the choice, I’d always go to something here — Fruitmarket, I’ll be seeing you next week :)

My first visit to City Halls was for the Banff Mountain Film Festival — and it won’t be my last! What a great venue! It’s a typical theatre set up when you first enter, with the box office on the right. Staff were getting through ticket collections super fast which was very much appreciated. We collected our tickets and headed upstairs. We didn’t check out the bar as it seemed to be mobbed (understandably!).
Set up for a film screening, the hall has a good amount of seating and was comfortable for a 3 hour event. We were seated along the sides of the venue which I probably wouldn’t have picked if I’d been able to see a seating plan, but in fact they were some of the best seats. We were raised above the rest of the audience so had a perfect view of the screen.
I’ll definitely be keeping my eye on upcoming events here as I was really impressed with the space.

City Halls used to host Bazaar, an eating outlet, but it proved not to be profitable, so the area is just a bar now. Plenty of other eating options nearby.

The City Halls are apparently Glasgow’s oldest performance space although it doesn’t look very old to me. I’m not sure how it looked before the refurbishment in 2006 and whether this has tarnished some of the ye oldie charm.
On the outside the building isn’t particularly grand looking and on the inside it looks like an ok theatre. It is traditional in style with racked seating and a balcony but what the City Halls are world famous for are the unrivalled acoustics with make it an excellent venue for classical and jazz performances.
At the City Hall you can also take part in the learning and participation programme which allows people of all ages to get involved with music.
All in all I think you have to appreciate this venue for what it its. Your not going to see any rock or indie bands complete with boozed up twenty somethings making a half assed attempt at a mosh pit. At the City Halls it’s all about sitting quietly and appreciating more delicate musical genres in a venue with top notch acoustics.

Ashamedly, before going to the City Halls for a gig, i had never even noticed it before. I didn’t know it existed as a music venue, and wouldn’t have gave it a second glance whilst walking (stumbling) past on a night out.
From the outside, it’s just a big stone building, nice enough but nothing that excites me greatly. Inside kind of reminds me of a theatre, which takes away from the excitement of going to see a band, although i think it mainly houses classical and opera, which i suppose is more for grown up’s anyway.
We sat in the bar for a drink before the gig, which again, is reminiscent of a café, not very ‘bar-​like’ if you know what i mean. It’s also bloody expensive! They gave me a red wine in a plastic cup too, which made me feel slightly like a baby, and i wasn’t impressed with that at all.
We climbed up the stairs, of which there were loads, to our seating on the balcony, and the vastness of the place is pretty awe inspiring. It is a gorgeous building with loads of seating, but i couldn’t help but think it looked like a school auditorium. A fancy one, but kind of strict and rigid, which i don’t often associate with gigs.
The gig itself was amazing, The Swell Season as part of Celtic Connections, and the hall was a sell out. No one stood up and danced, or moved really which i found a little strange. Everyone was very well behaved. Give me the grubby Barrowlands any-​day!

It has been refurbished recently, with improved sound quality and is a fit home for the national orchestra. It is a little bland as a venue– it feels like a Presbyterian church, making the music be on its best behaviour– and it makes me long for the days when the SSO would turn up at Tramway, a grubby venue, but exciting, and put on strange multimedia events.
But, classical music does have a sensible home now, in the Merchant City (so hip), in a clean, safe environment (so respectable) — it is just that I get this one confused with the one in Buchanan Street, as they have the same ambiance, the same good quality sound, the same sense of… safety. Sometimes, I long for a bit of danger with my modernist tone poems.