Micro Venues

[parsonjack]

Mason's Arms.....IYKYK

Sadly no longer with us 😢

[stuie]

On 2/3/2024 at 9:00 PM, Little Andy said:

Dunno if this is a good example of what you want, but The Miniscule Of Sound, a nightclub that I reckon could have squeezed in about 8 people max (plus the DJ booth) was great fun.

Miniscule of Sound appears all over the place and isn't a Glastonbury creation.   I've seen them at Bestival, Dreamland, Southbank and Glasto. 

[Mr. B]

7 hours ago, parsonjack said:

Mason's Arms.....IYKYK

Sadly no longer with us 😢

This was a great loss

[donthaveacoolname]

back in the early days of Shangri-la I stumbled on a room with white walls, and two holes in the walls one was for the DJ booth the outer sold margaritas and it was full with less than 30 people, the music was great and we just got lost in there for hours, when the gang of us finally left one of the guys asked why they had turned the lights on, he was shocked to hear that that wasn't the lights but the sun had come up, one of my favorite Glastonbury memories 

[4AssedMonkey]

Spent most nights in Shangri-La in 2009 and 2010, hidden gems aplenty those years.  I'm sure I've posted some stories on here more than once.  Nods go to the hidden real ale bar with the water feature, Fish & Tits, Kamikaze Karaoke and a nameless cupboard I wandered into through a "no entry" signed door which had a woman in a tweed suit with a fake moustache selling Bloody Marys from a water cooler while a guy in a beanie was singing protest songs in the opposite corner.  Utter delightful madness.

[blutarsky]

On 2/3/2024 at 9:00 PM, Little Andy said:

Dunno if this is a good example of what you want, but The Miniscule Of Sound, a nightclub that I reckon could have squeezed in about 8 people max (plus the DJ booth) was great fun.

This was at Lollapalooza too. 

[Miniscule Of Sound]

Sorry! We're Full!

www.minisculeofsound.com

 

 

[CharlotteB]

There was "the world's smallest nightclub" one year, that accommodated about 5 people in a booth. A novelty for 2 minutes.

[stuie]

5 minutes ago, CharlotteB said:

There was "the world's smallest nightclub" one year, that accommodated about 5 people in a booth. A novelty for 2 minutes.

they just posted above you! 

[Crazyfool01]

3 minutes ago, stuie said:

they just posted above you! 

Or someone did ?!! 

[stuie]

Just now, Crazyfool01 said:

Or someone did ?!! 

Well I guess people do strange things with alt accounts but it looks like a genuine bit of SEO posting to me! 

[dingbat2]

One of my favourites was a small venue in the Shangri La lanes where they had a DJ and all he was playing was Commodore 64 games music, it was ace, right up my street

[joe_bee]

This 2014 thread has a few.  My favourite was the Bad Idea Bar by the Secret Garden Party crew in 2010.  Hidden woodland lounge bar accessed via a red telephone box behind Arcadia when it was on its original site near Avalon. 

They had many things there that were bad ideas.  The shot ski was fun (three shot glasses glued to a ski).  Also brine shots.  Not so fun.  Had to have a flyer to get access and people were randomly handing them out round the site.

<Edit> Forgot the link to the old thread...

 

Edited February 22, 2024 by joe_bee

[Crazyfool01]

7 minutes ago, stuie said:

Well I guess people do strange things with alt accounts but it looks like a genuine bit of SEO posting to me! 

Yeah fair I’m a tad cynical these days . Age thing and hearing the Coldplay thing yesterday was a windup there’s a shed load of it about 

[Yokel Again]

Have the memory if finding a bar with a topless mermaid on swing, swinging over the top of everyone. Pretty sure I've not made it up! I'm guessing 2010 or 09. 

[sjseabass]

I’ll never forget the HR Department in 2014. Set up like an office, staff occasionally passing you a folder and asking you to staple the papers, answering old fashioned phones and being told to hand the receiver to someone on the other side of the venue to receive instructions, etc etc. With a DJ playing cheesy work Xmas party bangers. We went there every night.

[parsonjack]

2 minutes ago, sjseabass said:

I’ll never forget the HR Department in 2014. Set up like an office, staff occasionally passing you a folder and asking you to staple the papers, answering old fashioned phones and being told to hand the receiver to someone on the other side of the venue to receive instructions, etc etc. With a DJ playing cheesy work Xmas party bangers. We went there every night.

Where was that?  Sounds like a right laugh 😅

[sjseabass]

Shout out also to the secret bit of Heaven in 2013, you had to answer riddles from a faun to get in and then there was a bar selling straight absinthe. Tbh even the main bit of Heaven was cooler that year than any venues now, had to take your wellies off as it was carpeted, dancing on the sofas in your socks to Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich DJing. Miss those places even though by all accounts I only caught the last couple of years they were commonplace. Luckily there is still Boomtown to scratch that itch.

[sjseabass]

5 minutes ago, parsonjack said:

Where was that?  Sounds like a right laugh 😅

One of the hexagons in Shangri-La. Think there was another one playing non-stop Blondie and black-and-white silent films.

Edit: Forgot about Brainwash that was there too! Plastered with washing machine adverts and full of bubbles, guy playing chiptune off his laptop. Could be what dingbat2 mentioned above.

Edited February 22, 2024 by sjseabass

[parsonjack]

1 minute ago, sjseabass said:

Shout out also to the secret bit of Heaven in 2013, you had to answer riddles from a faun to get in and then there was a bar selling straight absinthe. Tbh even the main bit of Heaven was cooler that year than any venues now, had to take your wellies off as it was carpeted, dancing on the sofas in your socks to Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich DJing. Miss those places even though by all accounts I only caught the last couple of years they were commonplace. Luckily there is still Boomtown to scratch that itch.

We got into Heaven in 2013 I think it was, like you say we had to take boots off but they gave you these really cool Heaven branded bags to put them in.  We were told Jesus was coming by an angel so we hung around until about 0400 when this tiny Australian guy in robes appears on stage and does a very sweary routine about being Jesus himself....wanders around the audience offering salvation, absolution etc and telling non-believers to 'F*ck off'.  Very funny.

Think it was this guy..... https://www.themoviedb.org/person/3617045-imaan-hadchiti

[CharlotteB]

2 hours ago, stuie said:

they just posted above you! 

Oh, is that the one? I don't recognize the name from when I saw it tbh, but it was a long time ago.

[Johnnyseven]

2 hours ago, Yokel Again said:

Have the memory if finding a bar with a topless mermaid on swing, swinging over the top of everyone. Pretty sure I've not made it up! I'm guessing 2010 or 09. 

There was a venue called the Snake Pit that had a swing in the middle over the crowd, I think it was in Trash City.

[Crazyfool01]

12 minutes ago, Johnnyseven said:

There was a venue called the Snake Pit that had a swing in the middle over the crowd, I think it was in Trash City.

think this is it ? 

Edited February 22, 2024 by Crazyfool01

[donthaveacoolname]

Not sure if it qualifies as a micro venue but definitely a small venue, one year I spent an amazing 2 hours at a life drawing class at about 10pm in a tent in the common. As the night went on a DJ played in the corner while naked models posed on a shezlong on a small stage, crazy place with a fantastic welcoming vibe

[parsonjack]

17 minutes ago, donthaveacoolname said:

Not sure if it qualifies as a micro venue but definitely a small venue, one year I spent an amazing 2 hours at a life drawing class at about 10pm in a tent in the common. As the night went on a DJ played in the corner while naked models posed on a shezlong on a small stage, crazy place with a fantastic welcoming vibe

Yup that was in Glasto Latino.... there was a Mexican Cinema next door which did great margaritas while showing Mexican political documentaries. It was really atmospheric with flickering wall lights and the like 👌