Alexandra Palace

Alexandra Palace in London centres its largest concerts in the Great Hall, a 6,426-square-metre, pillar-free room that holds 10,250 standing guests or 7,000 seated. Its scale comes with Victorian history: the first Palace opened in 1873, burned sixteen days later, and returned in 1875. The result is a grand, open-floor concert setting where a crowd’s location shapes the experience, while seated shows use an entirely different room.

Fire, rebuilding and a dawn set

The Alexandra Palace Company Ltd. began erecting the building in 1866 as a “Palace of the People,” intended for recreation and entertainment. It opened on 24 May 1873 with concerts, recitals and fireworks; fire brought that first season to an abrupt end sixteen days later, and a rebuilt Palace welcomed the public in 1875. In 1900, Henry Burt led a campaign that raised funds to preserve the site for public use, placing Park and Palace in trust through an Act of Parliament. The Great Hall suffered another devastating fire in 1980 and underwent restoration through 1988. Its sharpest music snapshot came in 1967, when Pink Floyd played a sunrise set at the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream benefit, amid sets by The Move and Soft Machine.

The room now

Today’s diary spans classical, electronic, R&B, metal, rock, jazz, indie and folk. Great Hall gigs are primarily standing, with seats when an event specifies them; the hall can also shift to a 7,000-seat layout. Its pillar-free expanse creates a continuous open floor, so early arrival matters for choosing a preferred position. Organisers seeking a booking submit an event enquiry plus three references from comparable London or UK venues. Festival Village brings bars and street-food traders onto Great Hall concert nights.