The Brook, 466 Portswood Road, Portswood, Southampton SO17 3SD
Box Office Hours - 1.00pm - 7.00pm Mon - Sat (023) 8055 5366
Or Buy 24 Hours On-line ::

The Brook is a 600 Capacity live music venue. Because of the calibre of bands that we have, people travel from all over Hampshire, Dorset, Sussex and the Isle of Wight. People often come from Portsmouth, Winchester, Bournemouth & Poole, to see our shows. We host national and international Blues, Rock, R'n'B, Tribute, Funk, DJs, Indie and many other styles of music.

"This is the best gig in the South!"

Doors £

Since forming in the summer of 2004, Crystal Castles, the Toronto-based duo of Ethan Fawn and Alice Glass have amassed a cult following through their uncompromising and intense delivery, a slew of limited edition singles, and shows packed solely from word of mouth. Their 7” singles have sold out almost instantly, they have toured extensively in the UK, Europe, and North America with artists such as the Klaxons and Metric, and remixed songs for Bloc Party and the Klaxons, among others.

Crystal Castles have attracted much attention from those trying to pigeonhole the band as leaders for such media hyped subgenres as “8-bit” and “nu-rave”, however their nihilist aesthetic and diverse body of work suggests their intentions and potential are worth much more. The following is a selection of frequently asked questions that the band would like to clarify, of which their answers are completely sincere and not contrived.

"Their name may conjure up images of Jim Morrison wandering the arctic tundra in search of The Golden Compass, but judging by ‘Air War’, Crystal Castles’ mission is far more sinister. Having just completed a tour which resulted in “fan riots, crowd surges, and metal barriers destroyed” (it says here) these electro anarchists seem set to cause further havoc in Fluoroville with this brutal burst of bleep-pop. Daytime radio programmers will despair at the cut-up vocals, but the soothing waves of synths at the close will ensure the bouncers at their forthcoming gigs will have their work cut out." - NME

Crystal Castles have more recently appeared on Channel 4 British Drama 'Skins' (Series 2 Episode 3) Performing as themselves playing 'Alice Practice'

Doors £

Mick Slacker & Co's tounge in cheek tribute act just gets better and better.

The BOG ROLLING STONES have earned a reputation as one of the most authentic sounding tribute acts around. Satisfaction's always guaranteed when these long haired boys come home to the Brook!

Their tongue in cheek humour, wigs, stripy trousers and boundless energy make them an act not to be missed. The question is.....would you let your daughter go???

Early Beatles, late Beatles, dead Beatles, living Beatles, you get them all with the Silver Beatles.

Doors £

"...Cover bands are big business these days, but this quartet are clearly a cut above most with suits, mop-tops and jerking stage manoeuvres all in place as they blast out 'From Me To You', 'Roll Over Beethoven' and 'Please, Please Me' with note-perfect aplomb."

The Daily Telegraph.

There seems to be two different methods employed by tribute bands in copying their heroes. One is to immerse themselves totally in character, become the band. The other is to still do this, but do it with tongue very much in cheek. So how to interpret the greatest pop group of all time? The Silver Beatles go for option B, not taking themselves too seriously and this approach definitely works for them. They indulge in banter among themselves and with the crowd, making the most out of the fact that every Beatle is instantly recognisable. The first half of the gig is the young Beatles, suits and mop tops, covering all the early hits; 'Saw her standing there, Can't buy me love' among others before finishing on 'Twist and Shout'. Then it's a quick break and costume change where they miraculously transform into the older, hippie era Beatles; the period where they wrote some of their finest songs. Just point non-believers to songs like 'In my life' and 'Let it be' which show, more so than the early years, why the Beatles are still held in such esteem. Not that anyone here needed convincing. The 500 plus crowd, arms held aloft, nah-nah-nah-ing during the encore of 'Hey Jude'. Nope, no non-believers were present.

Review by Thomas Christie

One of the classiest acts to emerge from the Britpop era, as songs 'Slight Return' and 'Marblehead Johnson' will attest. Cultured indie pop.

Doors £

Article taken from Wikipedia

The Bluetones are an English indie rock band, formed in Hounslow, Greater London, in 1994. The band are comprised of Mark Morriss on vocals, Adam Devlin on guitar, Scott Morriss on bass guitar, and Eds Chesters on drums. A fifth member, Richard Payne, came on board between 1998 and 2001.

The band's biggest hit, "Slight Return", was released in 1995 and re-released the following year. They achieved eight Top 20 UK chart placings in total and retain a loyal fanbase.
The band's commercial success waned after the fall of the Britpop movement, yet they have continued to tour and release new records and are therefore often labelled as "Britpop survivors".

After the release of two singles on Fierce Panda Records, they released Expecting to Fly on the Superior Quality Recordings label. The album (one of only a few debut albums to enter the charts at number one) featured the singles "Bluetonic" and "Slight Return", with the latter being beaten to number one by one-hit-wonders Babylon Zoo's "Spaceman". Following the touring and promotional duties for Expecting to Fly, the band released a standalone single, "Marblehead Johnson", as a bridge gap between albums.

The second album, Return To The Last Chance Saloon, was released in 1998 and possessed a decidedly Mexican flavour. While failing to generate the commercial success of their debut, it did spawn hits in the form of "Solomon Bites The Worm" and "If..." and remains a favourite amongst fans.

Whilst many of their mid-'90s peers had disbanded by 2000, The Bluetones released their third album, Science & Nature, which again reached the Top 10 and featured the hit singles "Keep The Home Fires Burning" and "Autophilia". Due to a change in musical climate and lack of press (most notably from the NME) the album failed to generate the commercial success of the previous efforts.

After releasing a best-of album in 2002, the band followed up with Luxembourg, somewhat stylistically spikier and less jangly than previous efforts and highly influenced by the bands of the day, such as The Strokes. The album received little attention in the music press and failed to produce any hit singles. After signing a three-album deal with the Cooking Vinyl record label in late 2005, a comprehensive boxset of all singles and B-sides, A Rough Outline, was issued in early 2006 by Universal.

A new single, entitled "My Neighbour's House", was released in the United Kingdom on September 18, 2006. The single is taken from their self-titled album, which was released on October 9, 2006. Despite largely positive reviews for the album, it failed to chart in the Top 75 UK Albums Chart after its first week on sale. The album was also released in the United States, the first such occurrence since their debut. On October 1, 2006, it was announced that a planned nine-date tour of North America and

Australia had been scrapped.[1] No reason has yet been given.
On November 1, 2006, the band began a month-long tour of Europe in support of their new release, including two sold-out nights at Glasgow's King Tuts.

The band have built a strong live following over the years, and remain upbeat about their music and their career. In a December 2006 interview with stv music, Mark said of the Cooking Vinyl deal that it felt like "the start of a new era" for the band, which was partly the reason behind self-titling the album.

The South's finest tribute to the timeless sound of Pink Floyd.

Doors £

Perfect Alibi play perfect Pink Floyd! With a psychedelic light show. Perfect Alibi aim to give the audience not only authentic reproductions of the music they love, but also a show with sophisticated lighting and pyrotechnics, filling theatres and clubs wherever. With an ongoing desire to better each and every show they have become the definitive tribute to the music of Pink Floyd. There is no dark side... Read Review of Perfect Alibi @ The Brook ::

Wonderful Folk Singer

Doors £

RAGGA PUNK METAL! Skindred is quite simply unlike anything you've heard. Elements of Metal, Dancehall, Punk, and Drum & Bass.

Doors £

RAGGA PUNK METAL! Skindred is quite simply unlike anything you've heard. Elements of Metal, Dancehall, Punk, and Drum & Bass, all swirling into a concoction of lethal addictiveness. Their debut CD Babylon spawned three singles including the smash hit "Nobody" and proved to be one most important and impressive releases in heavy music in years. In an era of fakes, frauds and imitators, Skindred delivers.

"For Skindred, its all about the Music, Education, Entertainment and 100% vibes. We deliver our live set more like a reggae sound system than a metal band but the punches power and hard heavy weight guitars hit just as nasty. All we try to do is bounce up the building, set the pit off making the place buzz with X-sightment, Dread heads rock metal heads skank and when we finish with the stage, YOU DONE KNOW that SKINDRED RULE the Original Ragga-Metal style." - Benji Webbe

Two floors - two bars - great sound - great stage - disabled facilities. Limited seating around the balcony bar. Extended floor space and larger stage downstairs. New larger balcony bar is now on several levels. Creating an intimate atmosphere to experience the music.

Opening times and showtimes vary, depending on the day, the artist, and whether there is a support or not. The times shown below are given as a rough guide and may be subject to change. Please check the times when you book your tickets. To avoid disappointment buy your tickets in advance and get here early.

Box Office Hours are 1pm-7pm Monday to Saturday 023 8055 5366

Monday - Wednesday Shows - Doors @ 8pm - Main Act on @ 9pm Close @ 11pm

Thursday Shows- Doors @ 8pm - Main Act on @ 9pm Close between 11pm & 1am

Friday - Saturday Shows - Doors @ 8pm - Main Act on @ 9:30 We may be open to 1am

Sunday Shows - Doors @ 7:30pm - Main Act on @ 8:30 Close @ 10:30pm

The Brook is an eighteen plus venue, (apart from Joiners Live Promotions) although children of fourteen and upwards can come to shows if accompanied by an adult over the age of twenty one. Anyone under sixteen MUST be out of the building by midnight. This is the law.

No more than two fourteen plus per adult.

Please note that on the advice of Southampton Police - we only accept Passports or Photo Driving Licences as acceptable proof of age to buy alcohol. We do NOT accept any other form of age identification. We do NOT accept any national proof of age scheme cards. If you are lucky enough to look young - you will need I.D. If you are bringing under 18's with you, we accept any form of I.D.