There's almost always
some reason to dislike a venue. However, you don't pay attention until a bunch of things stack up and then one thing reminds you of another.
For me the worst venue around (which I've been to twice this year
) is the Fillmore.
1) They are owned by LiveNation. I despise LiveNation, who have now expanded not just to take over Ticket Master but now are also associated with TicketWeb (who suddenly raised their fees. Go figure.) where very little value is added by the promoter/ticket distrubutor but the usually charge half again the price of the ticket for this small value addition of providing web based ticket distribution for the venue.
2) Their ticket pricing is too high. Why? See point one. They are owned by LiveNation and feel entitled to a larger take, which is then increased again by 50% in fees.
3) Beer Prices are too high. After double dipping on the ticket prices, they now feel the need to overcharge for beer.
4) I have to pay for parking. This is not nickel and diming to see a show here. All of these don't slowly add up, they nail you fast and hard.
5) The sound is crappy. For all of the money I am paying get me a better sound system.
6) The venue tends to attract a douchey crowd.
7) You have to show your ticket to move from one area to another, so different kinds of GA and non GA tickets don't get access to each other's areas.
But for me it all starts at the price level. I don't think the venue is providing value addition for the price they are commanding. If all that money was directed at the artist, then I'd make the decision about whether the artist was worth it. Now I just decide that venue/promoter isn't worth it, and I lament losing an artist to that promoter and hope they go on to do well without me.
Right now, our best local venue is almost an hour drive, in Pontiac. They're called the CroFoot. They used to drive TicketWeb in this area. They charged for beer like a regular bar. They're ticket pricing was about right. Parking was cheap. They didn't rape you for convenience/promoter fees. They brought in a lot of national and local acts that exist outside of traditional promotion. And the best part is that they easily have the best sound system in Southeast Michigan with a well organized stage for maximum viewing angles. However, I fear that TicketWeb's selling their soul to LiveNation may ruin the CroFoot.
I don't know enough about their albums to know how much I'd dig on them in general. They've been playing "Comeback Kid" on the radio and it didn't grab me at first but the more it played in the background the more I realized the music is really early 90s pseudo industrial masked by a poppy sounding singer. The more I heard the music and accepted her voice as a juxtaposition to what I'm used to, the more I dig on it.
