27/11/2007 Kill Cartel @ the new ’Marquee’...

Subject	Kill Cartel @ the new ’Marquee’...
PostedDate	11/27/2007
	This was my first visit to the 'new' (yes, another one) Marquee in London's West End. I was very interested to check this place out. This is the fifth version of the legendary Marquee Club that I've been to, and it has a lot to live up to. I found the previous two short-lived venues very disappointing - the Leicester Square one was just unsuitable as a venue for live rock bands and the Islington one was simply too big to be a 'Marquee Club'. This one has a good location in the West End as it should be - next door to the infamous sleazy millionaires hangout Stringfellows and only a couple of minutes walk from Leicester Square tube. So far so good. First impressions as you walk in the door are favourable, although there is no box office cubbyhole as you'd expect from a proper rock venue - just a girl sitting at a table by the door.  There is a large and comfortable bar area, and pictures of rock stars through the years adorn the walls to help create a suitable ambience.  As regular readers will know, the bars at music venues figure highly in my ratings - here things start to go downhill and I'll only give this 4/10.  It's nice and long - plenty of room here, and if you are a lager drinker you would probably be quite happy with this bar, but I'm not.  If you like your beer in the various brown coloured varieties like I do you are going to be very disappointed at the Marquee - there is a wide selection of lagers on offer, but apart from the usual Guinness there is nothing else. Not even bottles of Newcastle Brown or the like behind the bar - surely not that difficult to arrange?  The bar isn't cheap either - then again if you are in a West End venue then maybe you expect to get ripped off? However, other rock hangouts in the West End like the Intrepid Fox and 12 Bar Club can supply beer at reasonable prices... There is another bar downstairs where the bands play... So, I make my way down the winding spiral staircase (that's going to be fun when loads of boozed up rock fans try to negotiate it) to the area the bands play in. This is where things really start to go downhill. After the spacious area upstairs, this seems very small. The stage is low, and so is the ceiling over it - any energetic guitarists (especially taller ones) leaping into the air are likely to end up with concussion!  The 'house' PA looks rather puny - basically a vocal PA on stands running through a mixer-amp. I can't somehow see rock legends like Kiss, Aerosmith, Metallica, G'N'R (not to mention the Who & Stones) who have played previous Marquee's playing in here! The mixer is set up in probably the worst spot in the whole room - right under the open spiral staircase! All would take is for one person to slip on the stairs and spill their pint... Another surprise - the walls and ceiling are painted white! Hang on - isn't this supposed to be a ROCK venue?  This is supposed to the the legendary Marquee - everything should be painted black and the floor should be sticky underfoot. Did the people who designed this venue never visit the famous venues in Wardour Street and Charing Cross Road? This looks like it was all thrown together in a hurry on the cheap - buy the 'name' and slap some paint on the walls and you are in business. But for how long? The 'Marquee' banner precariously gaffer-taped to the wall behind the stage hardly creates a favourable impression - it's already starting to fall down and looks like something else done in a hurry.  There is another (rather small) bar in this downstairs room - and in spite of there being far more people downstairs than up - it remains shut.  This also increases the chances of a pint being spilled on the stairs and over the PA below as everybody has to go up and down stairs whenever they want another drink... On stage are four Marshall 4x12 speaker cabinets - provided by the venue. There is also a house drum kit provided. On paper, this looks excellent for the bands and the promoter has told them they don't need to bring a drum kit or speaker cabinets - just amp heads. Kill Cartel took this literally and brought along only the gear they were told they would need... The house drum kit turned out to be as 'Mickey Mouse' as the PA - it was small and the cymbals were "like ash trays!" The mic'ed up bass drum sounded like someone slapping a tea-chest with a wet fish. Mind you - most thrash/death metal bands seem to like their bass drums to sound like that! Those metal bands would also have been delighted to see the 'wall' of Marshall speaker cabinets the venue have provided. What the promoter had failed to tell Kill Cartel was that these speaker cabinets were purely for show - they were dummies and had no speakers inside! So if the bands did as they were told and just brought along amp heads but no speakers there would be no show! Kill Cartel did exactly that, and it was only the guitar combo, etc that the other band on the bill brought along that enabled them to play at all! So, onto the music - the reason I'm actually there. Although the house kit and PA left something to be desired, Kill Cartel went on to give an excellent performance. This new outfit is a whole different animal to the band it rose from the ashes of. The Roolettes had some decent songs, but often tended to sound under-rehearsed. Kill Cartel are tight and powerful - tonight in spite of the limitations of the venue they really go for it. This is a re-invented band with all new songs, and they play with a new fire and enthusiasm. The turnout for this gig isn't that great - it's early days for this band, but they still drew noticeably more people than the headline band - a Tom Petty/Stones influenced act who's name escapes me. In spite of the low crowd numbers, Kill Cartel play as if they were performing to a packed club full of rabid fans - this band look like they are loving it! Well it's certainly been an interesting first visit to the 'new' Marquee - a venue that falls a long way short of doing justice to it's legendary name. There is a lot that needs to be changed if they hope to attract the sort of 'name' bands that used to play at the previous venues. It's sad to see the great name of this world famous club continuing to be progressively devalued. It used to be every musician's ambition to be able to say they have played along with all the other big names at the Marquee - now it means virtually nothing.  Playing 'The Marquee' should be something all up and coming bands aspire to - I can't see that tradition continuing at this venue in it's current state. All this place is fit for at the moment is intimate 'showcase' gigs by acoustic or jazz acts - not full on rock bands - it's just not equipped to deal with them. It will be interesting to see if this new 'Marquee' survives any longer than the previous couple...

PS: This incarnation of the world famous 'Marquee Club' didn't last long - the writing was on the wall from day one as it was so obvious the management didn't have a clue what they were doing.