Last Friday saw Arcade Fire play the first gig back at the newly renovated Camden venue to launch their upcoming album WE, before Luciano headlined the first ‘KOKO Electronic’ night the following evening to celebrate the venue’s major £70 million renovation.
Literally everyone in the music biz seemed to descend on the new venue. Olly Bengough, who founded KOKO in 2004, was very pleased on their new setup. “It’s great for us, but it’s also great for London and culture,” he said. “KOKO’s always there and people can always buy a ticket to a show. The House Of KOKO gives our community the opportunity to become a member if they want to experience backstage and enjoy a little more luxury.
That means there are five floors where they can entertain their friends and their guests, we’ve built a 40-cap jazz club speakeasy with Nick Lewis from Ronnie Scott’s programming that. We’ve got this incredible townhouse where you can go and watch shows in the theatre, or you can go to our new small gig space Ellen’s and watch a show, you can go to the studio where we’ll have listening parties and events, radio station facilities to showcase emerging talent, plus we’ve got vinyl-listening booths for anyone who really enjoys and loves music." Sounds like the place to be. Via NME