The Perfect Venue

What makes a good concert venue? Since moving out to California, I’ve been able to get to quite a few more than the limited amount in Philly, DC, and Baltimore. And though I’m sure this list will be completely subjective, it’s been floating through my head over the last few weeks, so here goes:

Lighting: You have to be able to see, this is true. But a venue that’s as bright – or brighter – than it is outside makes it feel like Disney Channel’s version of a rock concert. Leave the lights to the acts, keep the house lights somewhat dimmer, and waaaaay down once the show starts (even between acts). The only time it’s appropriate to bring them to full is well after the show, when it’s just the few groupies getting the last of their merch (and trying to flirt with security for a trip backstage), and the techies breaking everything down.

Décor: again, leave Disney Channel to designing the next High School Musical set *cough*House of Blues*cough*. One of my favorite venues in the world is the 9:30 Club in Washington, DC. You know what’s on their walls? Nothing. On the floor? Trash…and old beer spills. Some old posters are cool, and of course the posters from upcoming shows, but there’s no need for you to have quilts and abstract art on the walls – the place should be dim anyway! The coolest design I’ve seen lately: Chain Reaction in Anaheim, CA. They’ve purchased tshirts from bands that have gone through in years past, and nailed them to the walls. Any wall space that’s not covered in thsirts is covered with bands’ stickers. And the bathrooms’ walls are covered with graffiti. Though most of it is stupid, it’s still pretty awesome seeing a really old All-American Rejects tshirt next to the sound guy, or an Anarbor sticker on the stall wall.

Layout: You should be able to see the stage from just about anywhere in the room. The best example of this is the Recher Theater in Towson (Baltimore). The entrance hallway is somewhat long, but once you get through, it opens out to the stage, directly in front of you. Along one wall is the bar, along the other is merch. Basically, once you hand your ticket over, you are three steps from being able to see the stage head on. Entrances on the side are understandable sometimes (you can’t always rebuild the building), but if it can be avoided, it should be. Long thin rooms like the Electric Factory in Philly don’t work – the people in the front have a great view, but the people in the back seem miles away, and there aren’t that many spots in front because of the width. The balcony (if there is one) shouldn’t obstruct the view of the floor below it, and there’s no reason why you should need TV feeds of the show playing in the same room *as the show*.

People: The people make the place, and the place brings the people. If the décor is too corporate or cheesy, the kids will be too. One of my favorite securities guards ever was “that guy” at the 9:30 club (so famous he even had a front-page article written about him in the University of Maryland campus newspaper). He had gauged ears, shaved head, full sleeves, and he scared the crap outta you…but he *made* the venue. The few shows I went to and didn’t see him up in front, watching for crowd surfers, I was actually kinda sad. I understand that you can’t hire people who don’t apply, but in a customer service industry, looks *do* matter (and anyone who thinks differently should look at the tips I made wearing tight jeans vs the nights I wore my men’s pants). So why not hire the person that fits the venue?

Prices: I understand that a lot of the problems with ticket prices have nothing to do with the venues, but if the choice is between, say, Sum41 (which would end up being $20 a ticket) and All Time Low (which would end up being $15 a ticket), why not book the cheaper band? Spend less on a ticket, you’re more willing to spend more on food and merch (which venues *do* get a cut of).



With all that being said, here are some of my favorites, some good ones, and the ones to skip:

The Best of the Best:
9:30 Club, Washington DC www.930.com
Small (1200 capacity) room, easily accessible by Metro, good layout, great grungy atmosphere, cool history, and a knack for booking a wide range of new and old (but all amazing) artists.
Random facts: won the Pollstar “Nightclub of the Year” honor four times, and for most of that time was Pollstar’s top ticket-selling club; was featured in multiple music videos and concert DVDs, including Jimmy Eat World (DVD), Bob Mould (DVD), and the Beastie Boys (“Triple Trouble” video features posters from their performance there).

The Recher Theater, Townson MD www.rechertheatre.com
Extra small (700 capacity) room, surrounded by free/cheap parking, good layout, good atmosphere, host plenty of local artists, even breaking a few into bigger venues.

Emo’s, Austin TX www.emosaustin.com
Extra small room, good layout, very accessible stage, cool local atmosphere, one of the main venues of the South by Southwest festival.

The Troubador, Hollywood, CA www.troubador.com
Small room, good layout (with a 2 seating areas good for parents), very accessible stage, laid-back atmosphere, has a *long* history of breaking artists, and is one of the places bands go when they need a 1 or 2 show break from the bigger venues. Plus, John Lennon got kicked out for heckling. ‘Nuff said.

First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA
Smallest room of all (literally a basement), no atmosphere, limited parking, the only good thing is that, well, it’s a church basement, therefore the max audience is 50. Help launch indie Philly/east coast bands. Extra cool: it’s on the National Register of Historic Places. *Held one of my personal favorite shows of all time: Alex Gaskarth and Zack Merrick acoustic, 6.13.07

Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ www.stoneponyonline.com
Small room, ok layout, very accessible stage, laid-back beach atmosphere (across the street from the ocean). The launch-point of Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi (the only good things to come from NJ).

The good:
Key Club, Hollywood, CA www.keyclub.com
Chain Reaction, Anaheim, CA www.allages.com
TLA, Philadelphia, PA www.livenation.com/venue/getVenue/venueId/1681
The Trocedaro, Philadelphia, PA www.thetroc.com
Starland Ballroom, Sayerville, NJ www.starlandballroom.com
Knitting Factory, Hollywood, CA/New York, NY www.knittingfactory.com
Chameleon Club, Lancaster, PA www.chameleonclub.net
Croc Rock, Allentown, PA www.crocodilerockcafe.com
Festival Pier@Penn’s Landing, Philadelphia, PA http://www.livenation.com/venue/festival-pier-tickets

The bad:
House of Blues - Sunset Strip, Hollywood, CA www.hob.com
House of Blues - Anaheim, Anaheim, CA www.hob.com
Electric Factory, Philadelphia, PA www.electricfactory.info

Ticketmaster and Live Nation (both suck)

I have a question. Why don’t venues sell their own tickets? I’ve been reading a lot recently about the Ticketmaster-Live Nation merger, and yes, I agree, it would be a bad thing. But why are they the only options for tickets? Maybe back in the day, before every venue had its own website (and myspace, and Facebook fan page, and twitter account…) you would need to go to a different site to buy tickets online. But now, most venues have their own websites (and they’re flashier and better organized than Ticketmaster and Live Nation), usually with someone on staff who runs it. Knowing that these venues already have some way of selling tickets set up (they do still have box offices, right?), how much harder would it be to open up a Paypal account and sell tickets themselves?

The biggest problem almost everyone I know has with online ticketing is merely that the convenience charges are almost as much as the tickets themselves. I just bought $35 Jimmy Eat World tickets for $54. Get rid of Ticketmaster AND Live Nation, and start selling tickets yourself! I had no problem paying $54 (well, I did, but still…I wasn’t going to miss Jimmy Eat World!!!), and had the venue charged it instead of Ticketmaster, they would get *all* of that money, instead of giving it to other people. If venues are so concerned about the future of the live music industry in this crappy economy, they should get rid of as many extra charges as possible, and focus on keeping ticket prices low.

Now, granted, I don’t know how to set up an account with Paypal to accept money. I do know, however, that the 11:11am Charity (a bunch of emo kids who love Something Corporate) could do it, all while in school (aka not too much time to spare). You already have people who work the box office, and probably a webmaster as well. It would take at most one hour to set up a paypal account, and maybe another hour a day for one of the people in the box office to log into the account, print out all the new sales, and stuff the tickets into envelopes and send them off. So raise ticket prices 2 bucks (hey, it’s still going to be cheaper than the $8 per ticket service charges), and pay someone a couple bucks extra to be in charge of that. Even better, keep the ticket prices the same price, get rid of service charges, and hire an *intern* to stuff envelopes (and maybe let them into a concert or two in exchange).

I realize that this may not be the best solution for a 50,000 person venue (a couple interns, instead of just one?), but for a lot of venues – the 500-2000 person clubs – I honestly believe this will increase sales and bring in more money in the long term, and it’s not like you have to give up that much money to start.

So, remind me, why are Ticketmaster and Live Nation so amazing?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/02/05/ticketmaster.livenation/index.html