The Picket Warehouse

The Picket is a famous music venue in Liverpool but it is pretty underrated, with only music nerds having heard of it. It was formed a long time back in the 80’s, and has seen some big names play on it’s stage, wuch as The Wombats and Elvis Costello.
It’s not a luxury arena by any means, it’s very basic and is situated amongst an industrial site but this makes it all about the music. Music is life in this place.
The venue was saved in 2004, after a campagin called Save The Picket, which had some famous backers. The success of the campaign led to it reopening in new premises.

The Picket or originally The Flying Picket or The New Picket is something of a legendary Liverpool institution. Formed back in the 1980s, it has provided a nurturing environment for new musical talent and diverse international acts.
On the brink of collapse back in the early part of this decade, the Save The Picket group found an amazing amount of support from throughout the industry to re-​open in a new home in the cutrural and arts district of the city down by Jamaica Street.
A couple of years ago I saw RZA play here to a really appreciaitve crowd. There is a real community feeling to the venue and being slightly outside of the city centre it also seems to attract those more serious about their music.
It is a very humble and basic venue with few luxuries, no comfy chairs and just a patio for smoking and getting some air facing the industrial warehouse of the street but that’s all because the place is focused solely on the music. Many gigs do have a strong social conscience as it will lend itself to fundraisers and awareness campaigns.