Hall One

Another day at the Gateshead office - but it made a nice change to go out at lunchtime with some colleagues and have a guided tour of the Sage centre. We were taken for a sneaky look backstage. I could have done a blip of the colleagues standing on the main stage looking like rabbits caught in the headlights, but preferred this view of Hall One.

It seats approx 1700 people, has front seats that turn into a pit if required plus ceiling panels that can be adjusted to suit the acoustic qualities to the type of music. It turned out that between us we'd heard quite a selection of music in there over the years and the sound quality had never been less than excellent, wherever we'd been seated. Apparently the panels weigh approx 14 tonnes each so there's a serious system of counterweights. Our guide had worked there since it opened in 2004, but he said he's never been allowed into The Counterweight Room!