Happy 50th Birthday to The Horn
Tonight, The Horn in St Albans is celebrating its 50th birthday. It’s at the centre of the Hertfordshire music scene and it’s a venue I love and hopefully there are many more to come.
The history of the Horn is a bit hazy. It is believed it was a railway hotel until 1974, when it changed hands and became the Horn of Plenty and started to host live music. Over the years it has seen many great bands play its venue who have gone on to bigger things and many Hertfordshire bands have cut their teeth in the venue.
I have to admit, in the late 90s, I lived a few hundred metres away, but hardly ever used it. At the time, I wouldn’t go to gigs on my own and if I was going out, I would head into the town centre. It didn’t help that the Crown was literally a few doors away which always had a match to watch. My memory from the time was that it mainly put on covers bands. I suspect then, like now, that’s the wrong impression many have of the venue which programmes new music most nights of the week.
My use of the Horn increased as my gigging increased, especially after I shifted away from big venues gigs after I found I enjoyed small venue gigs so much more. After moving away from St Albans in 2000, I didn’t return to the venue until 2013 for a Bo Ningen gig and since then my attendance has steadily increased. Until lockdown, I was probably attending one gig a month, usually for touring bands. But since lockdown, I have been using the venue more, preferring a trip to the Horn, rather than heading into London.
To celebrate its 50th anniversary, I decided to try and attend 50 gigs at the Horn. At the time of writing, I managed to attend 57 gigs. It has been an interesting experiment. I have seen many of the new local Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire bands and while there isn’t the depth of talent London has. There are several young bands with potential and this is what makes venues like the Horn special. They give an opportunity to young artists to the learn their trade. Sadly, many of these bands split up after the kids go to University and other music scenes benefit. But that’s why every small venue is important, their reach is often much wider than the local scene. The Horn, as a grassroot venue, has more than played its part in underpinning the UK music scene.
That doesn’t mean there hasn’t been touring bands this year. The Horn has done well this year, featuring artists such as Steve Mason, Personal Trainer, Hotel Lux, My Life Story, Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard, Lost Alone, Sleeper, Dead Pony, High Fade, Laughter, Welly, King No-One, Divorce, Alien Chicks, Alias and this week the excellent FEET.
Like all grassroots venues. It is the team behind the venue that makes it special. The team at the Horn know how to get the most from its tiny 200 capacity room making sure it has great sound and lighting for touring bands and they work hard to make sure the venue is on the radar of touring bands. It goes without saying they all love music.
The list of bands I have seen at the Horn is impressive and I have loads of personal favourites such as Porridge Radio, Bo Ningen. Black Honey, The Wytches, Sleeper, Warmduscher, Kid Wave, Talk Show, Big Special, Slow Readers Club, HMLTD, Metz, Avalanche Party, LIFE, Personal Trainer, Reverend and the Makers, Girl Scout, Pale Blue Eyes, Enola Gay and Ash. Even my favourite band, Sea Power even played the venue in 2019.
A pair of gigs that highlight what is great about the Horn and probably your own local venue too, is seeing Slaves (now Soft Play), a band broke not long after playing the Horn. In 2016 they returned as a thank you for taking the risk of putting them on and they only charged the audience £1 to see them too. You may look at your local listing and think there is nothing on because you haven’t heard of anyone, but the following year you might be kicking yourself for missing the artist when you had the chance.
When Slaves played the venue in 2014, there was a little bit of a buzz, they had some early radio play, but they hadn’t released their first album. That first time, the early evening crowd attending to see the local support bands, had slipped away by the time they played their set with only a handful watching them. Returning in 2016 to celebrate the release of their second album, the tickets sold out in minutes with people complaining they couldn’t get tickets unaware they had already missed them the first time. They were on blistering form and the rammed room was sweaty mayhem confirming the potential a few of us saw in 2014.
And this is why the Horn and venues like it as so important. They underpin the music scene. They are the heart beat. Hopefully, the Horn will have many more birthdays and continue to stay young at heart. Thank you for all the memories. Here’s to many more.
