Beacon does seem an excellent upgrade on the old venue. Was there for The Fast Show the other week.
The one thing I'd fault the Academy with is over-selling, I'm sure it doesn't because that'd be a legal nightmare if they got caught out, but taking 200 or so off the capacity would make it more comfortable. Remember when they used to have that horrible grille thing that ran behind the sound desk between the two sets of steps down, that was even worse.