Broad Street might be closed to most traffic all week because of metro tramline repairs, but all of Westside’s bars, restaurants and hospitality venues are still open as normal.
And if there’s one place where you can truly escape the sound of drilling and grinding it’s inside Velvet Music Rooms, Broad Street’s independent home of big screen sport for the Rubgy World Cup as well as live bands.
Watch the video here to see three of this year’s finest bands all putting on a show to remember at the venue.
City outfit Hard Graft starred on the night that mechanical diggers were outside excavating the street. They played a mixture of classic rock like Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, with some funkier alternatives added to the mix.
Complete with raucous vocals from Sophie Quinn who can go full Robert Plant and Ozzy Osbourne, the heavy metal work outside didn’t stand a chance of competing for the audience’s attention.
Former city poet laureate Spoz (Govianni Esposito) leads Rubery’s punk cover band Vaseline and they went down a storm at Velvet on Friday, 8 September. They played everything from The Jam, The Clash and The Stranglers to the Banana Splits’ Tra La La Song, evoking memories of the days when Tiswas was broadcast from Birmingham on Saturday mornings.
Velvet Music Rooms hosts live music on Henry’s Blueshouse Tuesdays, Bandit Fridays and Birmingham Rocks! Sundays, programmed by Jim Simpson, the original Black Sabbath manager.
Sabbra Cadabra will be back on Sunday, 17 September to perform the whole of the Paranoid album, 53 years after it became the band’s first No 1. Jim says Manchester’s Sabbra Cadabra are the best Sabbath tribute band he’s seen.
They will be supported by Midland rockers Moose Jaw who cover ‘stadium bands’ like AC/DC, Van Halen, Aerosmith. Established in 2017, their two-set show will begin at 4pm before Sabbra Cadabra then play.
Yesterday evening, Henry’s Blueshouse band was Rich Dickinson’s Driving Force – the 20-year veterans who love to play the electric blues of Joe Bonamassa, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore and ZZ Top, plus their share of originals.
The Henry’s Blueshouse line up for the next few Tuesday nights is:
- Jamie Thyer & The Worried Men (19 Sep)
- The Shufflepack (26 Sep)
- Toby Walker (USA) and Jamie Scott (3 Oct)
- The Piranha Brothers (10 Oct)
- Beki Brindle Band (USA) (17 Oct)
- Jo Carley & The Old Dry Skulls (24 Oct), and
- Chickenbone Blues (31 Oct).
All gigs are admission free.
The next two ‘Bandit Friday’ shows include The Heels (15 Sep) and Mr Wolf (22 Sep), with Birmingham Rocks! on 24 Sep featuring Jimmy Regal and the Royals.
The family-run Velvet Music Rooms venue is at 200 Broad Street, Birmingham B15 1SU – Tel 0121 248 0500 or visit https://velvetmusicrooms.co.uk/live-music/ for more details
● Broad Street’s transport network is set to return to normal on Sunday 17 September. In the meantime, allow extra time to reach your chosen destination. For more details about the Midland Metro Alliance work see our report here.
