Old Vic Tunnels: Visionary Venue

It’s great having Oscar winning actor/director Kevin Spacey living in London, and so say all of us, apparently. There aren’t many other people who would be called on to introduce legendary rockers the New York Dolls under Waterloo Station one day, and to host President Gorbachev’s 80th at the Royal Albert Hall the next.

“I’m excited that the tunnels are becoming a cool new scene for live performance,” Spacey, appointed artistic director of the Old Vic Theatre Company in 2003, said of the first occasion. “The New York Dolls are the perfect fit of glam and anarchy to launch our live music series.” I’m not sure if he actually turned up to see them himself, or if he was rehearsing for the former Soviet Premier’s bash, but it was a great night.

Local Geography

Despite clutching concise instruction about how to find the place, it took about 20 minutes to get to the tunnels from Waterloo. And that included several question and answer sessions with shopkeepers in the area. I found it in the end, about two minutes away from where I’d started, the discreet entrance surrounded by graffiti, and Dolls fans of all shapes and sizes. Inside, surprise surprise, there’s a labyrinthine run of tunnels. I looked in on the main room, already very busy some 60 minutes ahead of the headline act, before following the noise to the bar, to relieve it of a couple of the American ales there for the occasion.

While the tunnels have been used by Tinie Tempah to launch his Lucozade advert, by the Lazarides Gallery for an exhibition, and as a picturehouse, both for Banksy’s Exit Through The Gift Shop premiere, and the Secret Cinema club, the atmosphere and feel of the space reminded me of those old school shots of New York. The backstreet fire escapes behind the high rises, and the sleazy bars of the downtown. Perhaps that’s just its inherent flexibility, but a perfect place to see the Dolls either way.

“Producing a pop up live music venue in a damp Victorian tunnel underneath a rumbling train station already screams rock ‘n’ roll,” Tris Hoffman of MOF Artist and Event Management, who booked the band and put the show together, crackles down the telephone line afterwards.

“In an industry that is diluted with boring bands and the same old venues, the Dolls still embody the punk aesthetic and were a perfect match with the tunnels. It was timed well, with the release of the new album, and I think they really enjoyed playing there. It’s something a little different, a little off the wall and unconstrained, which is definitely the New York Dolls!”

Certainly it was popular. With former Blondie man, Frank Infante, who played on the 60s soaked Dancing Backwards In High Heels LP, released in March, unable to do the tour, none other than Bowie axeman Earl Slick stepped in, bringing an edge and a look that would have made Johnny Thunders proud. And with fairly low key promotion, the two nights 1,400 tickets went very quickly.

Venturesome Spirit

Committed to taking the tunnels wherever he conceivably can since the Old Vic bought the lease from BRB, formerly British Rail, at the beginning of last year, creative director, Hamish Jenkinson, reels off the positives without stumbling into the ‘blank canvas’ cliché. And while there was some unnecessary queuing, and what appeared to be a dearth of toilets, the atmosphere and energy of the place is really special. You’re treated like an adult, you get to see a gig with no trace of soul sapping air conditioning, and it restores something of the impromptu vitality and edge that was everywhere in this city not all that long ago.

“It was a devious and strategic plan that got us the Dolls,” he chuckles. “A year ago, four teenagers in a band called The Shoestrung came and played the after party for a production we’d done at the tunnels, and they were amazing. Together with their promoter we started a plan to help promote them, and bring some epic talent to the tunnels. And through Tris, we managed to book the New York Dolls and give The Shoestrung the support slot. It was meant to be.

“There’s something magical about finding a space that’s been forgotten for decades.”

Hamish Jenkinson, Creative Director of Old Vic Tunnels

“I really wanted to give people the same experience I had when I first discovered the tunnels,” Jenkinson tells this magazine. “People are craving something different in the arts, something that’s a bit rough around the edges, not the traditional proscenium arch theatre experience or a white box art show. We’ve actually just had £40,000 worth of sanitary and toilet equipment installed,” he adds affably, when I mention my search. It’s got it all then.

 

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Contact the editor: olivia.vanstraten@oceanmedia.co.uk