Forum Birmingham is a

music venue A music venue is any location used for a concert or musical performance. Music venues range in size and location, from a small coffeehouse for folk music shows, an outdoor bandshell or bandstand or a concert hall to an indoor sports stadium. Ty ...

located in Dale End,

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

, England.

Venue

Live music at the venue dates back to 1964 when it first opened as the Top Rank Ballroom. By the 1980s and 1990s it was known as the Hummingbird. In the late 1990s, the venue underwent refurbishment and, in 2000, reopened as the . In 2002, it was then

rebrand Rebranding is a marketing strategy in which a new name, term, symbol, design, concept or combination thereof is created for an established brand with the intention of developing a new, differentiated identity in the minds of consumers, investors ...

ed as the . On 6 November 2008, it was announced that O had purchased

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

for all

Live Nation's AMG venues Academy Music Group (AMG) is a leading owner-operator of music venues in the United Kingdom. They operate a number of medium-sized venues, the majority of which (until January 2009) took the name Carling Academy after their sponsor Carling. Som ...

, in a £ sponsorship deal, lasting until 2013. As a result, in line with O's branding, the venue became the O Academy Birmingham. In September 2009, the O Academy moved to the site of the former Dome II nightclub, located on Horsefair, Bristol Street. The decision to move to a brand new venue was decided twofold. The Dale End venue was unsuitable for the needs of a modern music venue and the building complex it resided in, along with the Oasis Centre above, was scheduled for demolition as part of a project called

Martineau Galleries Martineau Galleries is a proposed mixed-use development for Birmingham, England which was shelved in 2009 but re-approved in 2020. It was to connect the Eastside to the city centre core, a major retail area. History Pre-1960s development ...

The Used The Used is an American rock band from Orem, Utah, that formed in 2001. The group consists of vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides, and guitarist Joey Bradford. Former members include Quinn Allman, Branden Stei ...

played the last Academy listed show at the old Dale End Academy location. However, due to the credit crunch and reduced investment in buy-to-let projects, the Martineau project was put on hold and the location continued as a music venue under the name from 2011 until January 2013. It reopened as Forum Birmingham in 2021.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Music venues in Birmingham, West Midlands Buildings and structures in Birmingham, West Midlands Academy Birmingham Wrestling venues