Another one bites the dust

Hot on the heels of the closures of both the Point and the Barfly, Cardiff's gigging scene has suffered another blow with the news that one of my former home's newest venues, the Millennium Music Hall, has closed its doors, the website enigmatically citing the cause as "issues relating to a planned move of premises".

Judging by the comments on this forum, where it's criticised for everything from poor drinks to bad sound to general soullessness (did someone say "Downstairs at the Academy in Oxford"?), the demise of the venue itself won't be much mourned by local gig-goers - but the suddenness of the decision has left a number of promoters in the lurch, including Swn founder John Rostron.

Even if alternative venues can be found for all of the gigs that had already been booked, then it's doubtful that in future existing venues will be able to attract bands of a similar stature to those the Music Hall was regularly booking i.e. too big for Clwb or the Globe, but too small for the CIA. The lack of a medium-sized venue looks to be back to blight the city's scene.

(Thanks to Suresh for the link.)