34-661: 51°32′04″N 0°06′21″W / 51.5345°N 0.1058°W / 51.5345; -0.1058 The O 2 Academy Islington , formerly known as the Carling Academy Islington , is an indoor music venue situated in the N1 Shopping Centre accessible via Upper Street and Liverpool Road, in the London Borough of Islington . It is run by the Academy Music Group . The main venue has a capacity of 800, and
68-602: A Brighton -based management company that serves both as a record label and publisher. In 2009, Toploader got back together in a lineup that consisted of three of its five original members: Joseph Washbourn, Dan Hipgrave , and Rob Green, with touring and session member Patrick Greenberg (a former touring-bassist with Clean Bandit ). They signed a one-record deal with Underdogs Music and released Only Human in June 2011. The first single, "Never Stop Wondering", came out on 14 March 2011. Another single, "A Balance to All Things" (featuring
102-512: A joint-rolling technique, Toploader's career began playing with Coldplay and Muse in small venues across the UK. They later went on to support the likes of Paul Weller , Noel Gallagher , Tom Jones , Robbie Williams , and Simple Minds . On 20 July 2000, they backed Bon Jovi at the original Wembley Stadium , becoming the last British band to play there before it was demolished and redeveloped. By 1998, Toploader had been picked up by S2 Records ,
136-455: A magic square ) resided in these buildings, now replaced by Islington Town Hall . In 1837, the year of Queen Victoria's accession, Islington residents decided to create their own " lit & phil ". The Islington Literary and Scientific Society included a library, reading room, museum, laboratory, and a lecture theatre seating 500. The architects were the fashionable partnership of Robert Lewis Roumieu and Alexander Dick Gough . The library
170-434: A Friend , Hugh Cornwell , Tarja Turunen , Jello Biafra , Gackt , Girugamesh , Hikaru Utada , The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion , Coheed and Cambria , VAMPS , August Burns Red , Max Milner , The Script , The Rasmus , Tyler, The Creator , Fall Out Boy , Silversun Pickups , Yeah Yeah Yeahs , Paramore , East 17 , Morbid Angel , Dimmu Borgir , Sarah Harding , Tokio Hotel , R5 , My Chemical Romance (who recorded
204-563: A remix from Ash Howes ), followed on 20 June 2011. In May 2012, Toploader played at Lakefest festival, and in July, they appeared at the Tiree Music Festival in Scotland. During 2012, the band agreed to act as patrons for a UK-based children's charity called Time Is Precious. In 2013, Toploader released a new single, "Turn It Around", co-written with Eg White , as part of a four-song EP of
238-577: A subsidiary of Sony Music , and signed a six-album deal. On 7 May 1999, the band made their first live TV performance on TFI Friday , hosted by Chris Evans . Later that same year, their debut album, Onka's Big Moka , was released on 11 November and became a huge hit. It was produced by Dave Eringa , a longtime collaborator of the Manic Street Preachers . It debuted at number five in the UK Albums Chart and settled at number four. "Dancing in
272-535: Is Union Chapel , a working Congregational church , live-entertainment venue and charity drop-in centre for the homeless. Built in the late 19th century in the Gothic revival style, the church is a Grade I-listed building. In the 1970s and 1980s Upper Street was a focal point of the radical left . It was home to Sisterwrite , Britain's first feminist bookshop , as well as the Trotskyist Pioneer Books,
306-526: Is named after a local estate agent . Citations ' Sources [REDACTED] Media related to Upper Street, London at Wikimedia Commons 51°32′25″N 0°6′9″W / 51.54028°N 0.10250°W / 51.54028; -0.10250 Toploader Toploader are an English rock band from Eastbourne , East Sussex, formed in 1997, with over two million album sales and several top-20 hits both home and abroad. Their debut album, Onka's Big Moka , sold over one million units and peaked in
340-571: Is the King's Head Theatre , founded in 1970 as the first pub theatre in the UK. The Almeida Theatre is an important independent theatre and producing house. The former Islington post office is now the entrance to the large scale mixed-use development "Islington Square", centred around a converted Royal Mail sorting office. Further north is Islington Town Hall , where the joint first legal same-sex marriage in England took place on 29 March 2014. Adjacent to
374-825: The Islington district of inner north London , and carries the A1 road . It begins at the junction of the A1 and Liverpool Road , continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Pentonville Road and City Road and runs roughly northwards from outside the main entrance to Angel Underground station , then past the Business Design Centre , then splits at Islington Green (where Essex Road , formerly named Lower Street, branches off), then past The Screen On The Green cinema, past Islington Town Hall , ending at Highbury & Islington tube station on Highbury Corner, where
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#1732868771998408-556: The Reclaim the Streets movement took over the street, barricaded it to traffic and held a long party in the street. Upper Street was one of the settings for local resident Douglas Adams 's The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. The London-based sections of the later books are set in and around Upper Street, the home address of " Fenchurch ". In addition, the character of Hotblack Desiato
442-524: The anarchist Rising Free shop (famous for stealing stock from other shops to sell in theirs ) and the socialist Red Books. In the 1980s, Upper Street was home to the Islington Action Group for the Unwaged, a major far left campaigning and activist group, and to the squatter-run Molly's Cafe, a focal point for the anarchist and squatting movement. Upper Street made headlines on 23 July 1995, when
476-580: The drovers' road , channelling livestock from the Midlands and North of England towards Smithfield Market in the City of London . From the end of the 16th century, there was a significant inn at the bottom of what is now Islington High Street. It was known as the Angel by 1614 and lends its name to that area. The 1837 Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist states that the Angel is where "London began in earnest". In
510-420: The 18th century Upper Street began to be redeveloped from an agricultural to a residential area. Ten houses were built in 1768 (later named Hornsey Row), and a further group built immediately south of Hornsey Row in 1792. A William Beverley (identified with William Roxby Beverley ), the first to solve the problem of a "magic knight's tour" in chess (a variant on the knight's tour in which the numbered steps form
544-536: The A1 carries on as Holloway Road , part of the Great North Road . Upper Street contains many fashionable shops, pubs, restaurants and theatres, concentrated on the west side of the street, while the east side has several notable churches and chapels. The hilltop village of Islington originally consisted of two streets in addition to the High Street: Upper Street and Lower Street, which diverged from
578-518: The Blitz , and demolished. Islingon Council purchased the land fronting onto Upper Street and built a fire station. Tucked away behind this, though still with an entry fronting onto the main street, is the 1950s rebuilding. By the mid 19th century, the growth of London necessitated a bigger venue for agricultural and other shows. In 1862, a group of businessmen associated with the Smithfield Show opened
612-628: The High Street at Islington Green . Both date back to at least the 12th century. Henry VIII hunted duck in the ponds off Upper Street, while Walter Raleigh lived in Upper Street and owned a pub in Lower Street. Lower Street has since been renamed Essex Road . The fields around Upper Street, with their close proximity to the growing city of London, were a major farming area, mostly for dairying and market gardens. The street itself served as part of
646-689: The Moonlight" was the top single off the album, eventually reaching number seven in the UK Singles Chart , while "Achilles Heel" managed to get to number eight. The band received four nominations at the Brit Awards , though did not win any of them. On 24 June 2000, Toploader played at the Glastonbury Festival , as part of the Saturday lineup. In 2002, the band released a second album, Magic Hotel . It
680-552: The Royal Agricultural Hall on a large plot between Upper Street and Liverpool Road immediately to the west. Unusually for London, both roads were rebuilt with a high pavement - up to 1 m above the road surface for some of their length - to protect pedestrians from being splashed with mud and ordure created by the large numbers of animals walking along the drover's road to the hall. A number of pubs and shops existed along Upper Street to serve farmers and visitors to
714-543: The adjacent O 2 Academy 2 holds 250. The venue was purpose-built and opened in September 2002. The original occupant was the short-lived Marquee N1, a music and dining venue backed by Dave Stewart of Eurythmics and club promoter Mark Fuller. The venue re-opened in its current form in September 2003 and is the smallest of the four London venues within the O2 Academy Group. American punks Alkaline Trio performed on
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#1732868771998748-504: The former Islington Chapel, now Angel Recording Studios and the Church of England parish church . St. Mary's was rebuilt in 1754 and its spire dominates the Islington skyline. The church is a major venue for performances of traditional religious music . The Little Angel Theatre is a children's puppet theatre in a former Temperance hall, behind the church. Directly opposite the church
782-464: The hall. In the 1980s the exhibition venue was revamped as the Business Design Centre . In the late nineteenth century, the Upper Street area became notorious for its night-time entertainments. In 1870, Charles Dickens described the area as "amongst the noisiest and most disagreeable thoroughfares in London." and in 1885, it was widely known as "The Devil's Mile" on account of its prostitution, crime and
816-604: The level of drunkenness. Between 1936 and 1939, the former Methodist chapel in Providence Place, just off Upper Street, was the home of a drama school, the London Theatre Studio , directed by Michel Saint-Denis , with a conversion of the building designed by Marcel Breuer and F. R. S. Yorke . The students taught there included Peter Ustinov . In recent years Upper Street has become extremely fashionable, and contains numerous pubs and restaurants, The pubs along
850-402: The music video for their single Planetary (Go!) there), The Rutles , Stephen Dale Petit , Matt Stevens , Mick Taylor , JoJo , James Maslow , Achilles Heel , Toploader , Roger Chapman , Road Trip and Rolling Quartz . The Academy also hosts the weekly club nights Club de Fromage and not another indie Disco every Saturday. Upper Street Upper Street is the main street of
884-593: The number of antique traders in the nearby Camden Passage , though a weekend antiques market is still held there. Moving north, there is the Business Design Centre, mentioned above as the Royal Agricultural Hall. Islington Green is a small, triangular public park containing an artistically distinctive war memorial . At this point Upper Street splits, continuing north and northwest as a narrower street while Essex Road (formerly Lower Street) continues northeast. North of Islington Green, places of interest include
918-725: The same name. In 2013, they headlined the LeeStock Music Festival in Suffolk and the AmpRocks Festival in Bedfordshire . On 12 May 2017, the band released their fourth album, Seeing Stars ; "Roll with the Punches" was chosen as its lead single. The record was crowdfunded using an online direct-to-fan music platform called PledgeMusic . Toploader appeared on Ant & Dec's Saturday Night Takeaway on 18 March 2023 as part of
952-484: The street are also popular meeting places for supporters going to the nearby Emirates Stadium , home of Arsenal Football Club . Starting from the south, the first significant venue is a former tram shed , built in 1850 for commuter service to the City. By the 1940s the service had ceased, and the building was converted to an electricity substation , which was then closed by the 1970s. Following some years of lying derelict, it
986-535: The top five of the UK Albums Chart , where it remained for six months; it earned them four nominations at the 2001 Brit Awards . They are best known for their 2000 cover of King Harvest 's US hit " Dancing in the Moonlight ", which became a global hit for them. Their second album, Magic Hotel , reached No. 3 on the UK Albums Chart. The band broke up in 2003, after the release of their second album, but they reformed in 2009 and remain active as of 2024. Named after
1020-561: The town hall is Islington Museum . Upper Street also contains the Hope and Anchor , one of the most important venues of the 1970s and 1980s punk and new wave scenes. The Stranglers ' album Live at the Hope and Anchor was recorded here. The building is still in use as a music venue today. Further north, the eastern side of Upper Street is taken up by a long but narrow garden, Compton Terrace Gardens. Accessed from Upper Street through these gardens
1054-738: The venue's opening night. Other notable performers who have played at the O2 Academy Islington include MELYS , Iron Butterfly , Molly Hatchet , Tesla , Dan Reed Network , Night Ranger , Isolated Islands , Bladee , Blackfoot , Queensrÿche , KISS , Kamelot , KSI , Spock's Beard , Stratovarius , Terrorvision , Stryper , Winger , Paul Gilbert , Richie Kotzen , Steve Lukather , Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel The Winery Dogs , Diamond Head , Premiata Forneria Marconi , Edguy , Symphony X , Threshold , Big Country , Magnum , The Mission , Riverside , Satyricon , FM , Train , The Damned , MaNga , Melanie C , Zebrahead , Funeral for
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1088-434: Was poorly received by critics and failed to match the success of the first. They struggled with a backlash from the UK music press, and their single "Time of My Life" could only make it into the top 20. Due to the negative reception and the album not meeting the same success as the first, the band was dropped by S2. Not long after that, they broke up, in 2003. Julian Deane retired as a musician and in 2007 founded Raygun Music,
1122-407: Was reopened on 14 November 1979 as The Mall Antiques Arcade, and at its height housed over 35 dealers on its ground and lower ground floors. The building also housed other businesses, such as a restaurant in its upper floors, but the mall closed in 2008. Since 2013, the building has housed several chain shops. It is currently an Amazon Fresh store. The closure of the arcade reflects the reduction in
1156-606: Was sold off in 1872 and the building was disposed of in 1874, running through various owners and purposes over the following century, before becoming the home of the Almeida Theatre in the 1970s. In 1860 a Unitarian congregation decided to move out of the City (from Carter Lane near St Paul's Cathedral ) and build a large church in the Dissenting Gothic style on Upper Street. Half a century later its official history recalls: The spire and building were badly damaged in
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