The Underworld: Camden’s rock and metal basement

The short version: the Underworld is at 174 Camden High Street, NW1 0NE, directly opposite Camden Town tube. Gigs usually open doors at 18:00 or 19:00. Club nights run 23:00 to 03:00 on Fridays and Saturdays, from £7 plus a £1 fee. Capacity is 500, so for the big names buy ahead.

Where it is and what it feels like

You go down from the World’s End pub, the big corner boozer just south of Camden Town station. Time Out calls the basement the quintessential Camden alternative, rock and metal venue, and describes a dark, wooden-floored room with an awkward layout. Its practical advice: get in early if you want a spot at the balcony rails. It also credits the place with air-conditioning, which you will be grateful for in a packed basement in summer, and a licence until 03:00.

The programme leans towards punk, screamo and emo, noise and metal hybrids, though Time Out is clear it is not exclusive. Licklist lists Carcass, Fall Out Boy, Skrillex and You Me At Six among the acts who have played. Time Out adds Queens Of The Stone Age, Radiohead, Pulp, Enter Shikari and Foo Fighters.

Gigs: times and prices

• Doors: mostly 18:00 or 19:00, so a band can be done before the late club night starts. Some Fridays have a gig and then the club night in the same room.
• Tickets: sold through the venue’s own site, See Tickets and Ticketmaster, with booking fees on top. One headline listing was £25 plus a £5.13 fee, so budget for the fee.
• Sell-outs: the big metal weekenders and special club nights do sell out. If a listing says sold out, it means it.
• Changes: dates do move. One goth night was shifted to Nambucca, and another listing shows as cancelled on Songkick. Check the event page on the day.

The venue’s own what’s on page is the place to see who is actually playing. Songkick shows dozens of upcoming concerts, and the programme runs a long way ahead.

The club nights

Both regular nights are run by the Camden Rocks organisers, and Dice bundles them as Underworld Club Nights, every Friday and Saturday.

• Blackout Club (Fridays): billed by the venue as Camden Town’s biggest weekly alt-rock club night, with resident and guest DJs. Past guests include Wargasm, Gallows and FVK. Doors 23:00. Dice lists it at £8, and the venue’s own pages show £7 plus a £1 fee.
• Camden Rocks Club (Saturdays): doors 23:00, running to 03:00, £7 plus a £1 fee.
• Camden Rocks Fest Takeover: held on the last Saturday of the month, so the Saturday club night gets a festival-style bill.
• Metalworks: a free-entry covers band the venue says has played Camden for over 20 years, with tribute nights including AC/DC and Iron Maiden. Free entry beats nearly everything else in NW1.

Club nights are 18+. Special nights sometimes run later than 03:00, up to 04:00, so check before you plan the last Northern line train. The Dice bundle lists both nights together.

A plan for the night

Meet upstairs at the World’s End, which also runs its own events, then head down when doors open. If you are going for an early gig, eat before you go in. If you are going for the club night, remember that the room is busy and the layout is awkward, so pick a spot and settle in.

On age, the only guidance in the notes is an old one: no age limit by day, with the bar age applying in the evening. Treat that with caution, and read the age line on each event listing.

The history, in brief

The tavern on this spot goes back a long way. According to Wikipedia, it was known as Mother Red Cap or Mother Damnable’s, and by 1751 the Mother Red Cap and Mother Black Cap were both trading. In the late 18th century the Mother Red Cap stood at the present location, with a tea garden.

The modern story starts with Andrew Marler. The pub then held about 200 people. In 1988 he bought the whole island site, enlarged the pub to hold 1,000, and built the 500-capacity Underworld underneath. In 1994 he bought the BBC Television Theatre and relaunched it as the Shepherd’s Bush Empire.

Spooky Isles puts the first known tavern reference at 1690 and repeats a ghost legend that the cellar was once a torture chamber and gallows. That is folklore, nothing more, but it makes a fine story to tell at the bar.

Before you go

• Address: 174 Camden High Street, NW1 0NE. Songkick lists a different Camden Road address, so ignore it. The venue and See Tickets both use the High Street.
• Nearest station: Camden Town.
• Fees are added to every ticket, so the headline price is never the final one.
• The venue is on Time Out’s music venue list with the address and transport details.