Despite the Carling Academy in Sheffield smelling of curried rubber chutney, the Barfly in Birmingham utterly aces out any venue so far for all-round vileness (both inside and out). I now look back fondly to the European venues we visited - even the ones I previously had a moan about. All the British ones we've been to so far have been pretty horrible, the Islington Academy being the only exception. They're under-staffed and never cleaned, the in-house equipment is barely capable of doing the job, the dressing room facilities are third-world and the catering is usually non existent. Normally I wouldn't tolerate a Frenchman telling me my country sucks but I have to say Demians have a point as far as our concert venues are concerned. Very embarrassing.