Venue Ratings and Reviews

woodust · Post by **woodust** » Saturday Feb 28, 2015

Lets use this post as a place to report on venues, bars, clubs, etc. that hire bands.
how were they to book, "kept giving me a run around" or "very easy".
how were they to play, "loved/hated our music, bitched all night"
How was the crowd, I know that one is variable, but just an idea.
It's getting harder and harder to find good places to play and we need to help each other out !
Hope this works !!

Name of place,
City,
And maybe a rating from 1 - 10.

bassist_25 · Post by **bassist_25** » Saturday Feb 28, 2015

The only venue I really have anything seriously negative to say about is the Ironwood Grill in Indiana, PA. They booked an opening acoustic act that was already performing when we arrived for load-in and were not told about, which pushed back our start time (however this was somehow our fault for not starting on time). Wait staff was incredibly rude throughout the night. Then their bar manager stiffed us at the end of the gig, asking in a condescending manner if we "thought we deserved being paid?" because it was a slow night. Mind you, this is after giving that venue a lot of really good nights. The owner, who was not even there that night, proceeded to cut us down to anyone around town who would bother to listen.

I've played a lot of venues in Central PA and the surrounding areas, from rural VFWs to large dance clubs. That's the one and only room still in existence that I refuse to ever walk into or perform in ever again.

jon5150 · Post by **jon5150** » Saturday Feb 28, 2015

It can be pretty tough to rate the "We will not be back places" Because every band may have a different experience....(And boy would I love to..)

We have our "No-Go" List and its pretty funny through out the bands Ive been in, they are all the same places...BUT with that said..Keeping it to myself is the best way..because blasting a venue this day-n-age..can be bad..lol. I wish I could but it would turn ugly..lol

I can say Curwensville Moose is great if you don't mind the drive
Mr. Smalls in Pittsburg..Awesome...
Shadow Lounge in Pittsburg was pretty cool (Steve Ray Vaughn played there)
The Arena in State College is one of our "Go To" places

Im out of the loop for the inner State College venues..as I remember the first question they ask is "How many people can you bring"

Altoona...Been To Aldos and 30 something way back...Things might have changed but it was a Metal crowd.

Floating around Philipsburg..Oceola Mills..Clearfield your gona get what you get, the music scene is kinda meh....but the right night with the right moon phase...worth the looking into

Its pretty simple though

Book a bar..you Get a bar crowd
Book a Club..you Get a club crowd
Book a festival...now your into some fun
Fireman's carnivals and Fairs can be a blast

Freebe events like Relay for Life and Benefits can be great for exposure as long as the Organizer is on top of things...If the organizer is running it by the seat of his paints..RUN!!

Its a constant struggle to find venues now that are willing to pay as well. We had Great nights in certain gigs..that later found out they could book a DJ for 250.00....Needless to say those venues now book DJs and expect a band to come for the same price...not really a good thing for us bands that lug around thousands of dollars of equipment..Times are changing..Get a goal, and stick with it.

RamRod 1 · Post by **RamRod 1** » Sunday Mar 01, 2015

Paul Said:

Then their bar manager stiffed us at the end of the gig, asking in a condescending manner if we "thought we deserved being paid?" because it was a slow night.

When that crap used to happen to us (White Shadow) back in the mid "70's", our drummer Jerry would tell the bartender to give us the money we agreed upon and when he wouldn't, he would punch him out, lay him out on the floor, go and open up the cash register, take out the money we agreed upon for the gig and we would leave. Of course this would cause big problems like the cops, court hearings etc. buy Jerry always handeled everythings.

I know that things are different today but a deal is a deal and a verbal agreement is an agreement and should hold up in the district courts.

woodust · Post by **woodust** » Sunday Mar 01, 2015

Slammin Sams 10 easy to deal with, good crowd, (kinda smoky tho)

Ohio Street Lounge 8 concerned about being too loud, crowd varies

Mels 10 easy to deal with, nice crowd

Kiels 1 play phone games...has a "clique" of bands and that is all they want

onegunguitar · Post by **onegunguitar** » Sunday Mar 01, 2015

McGarvey's-A+ We,NailDriver,always get treated great! Rich,Jason and the rest of the crew make it worth our time to play there!

kayla · Post by **kayla** » Monday Mar 02, 2015

Aviation Inn - Duncansville (10) It's small so he only runs acoustic acts. But it is one of the most fun places to play. The owner always takes care of us from pay to drinks and he loves music. Great place. The crowd is usually really into it but there are off nights. food is excellent as well.

McGarvey's - Juniata (9) I just really like playing here. Especially with the right person running sound. Cool venue and I see more and more people when I'm there for shows.

Shaw's Bar - Juniata (9) Small place but sooo much fun to play (hopefully its back up and running soon). They take care of the band as far as drinks go and they always pay what they agreed to. Fun crowd.

Bad Venues - Only one comes to mind (not sure if i should name the place or not). it was terrible to try and get booked. When we got there we were told "don't mess up my floor with your equipment". The crowd coulda gave two shits less if we were there or not - it was a weird experience. The owner did pay us what we agreed on, thankfully.

- kayla.

Lowender · Post by **Lowender** » Tuesday Mar 03, 2015

I can second this about the Ironwood Grill. We had a horrible experience there from there and cant recommend that place on any level. Stay away..

bassist_25 wrote:The only venue I really have anything seriously negative to say about is the Ironwood Grill in Indiana, PA. They booked an opening acoustic act that was already performing when we arrived for load-in and were not told about, which pushed back our start time (however this was somehow our fault for not starting on time). Wait staff was incredibly rude throughout the night. Then their bar manager stiffed us at the end of the gig, asking in a condescending manner if we "thought we deserved being paid?" because it was a slow night. Mind you, this is after giving that venue a lot of really good nights. The owner, who was not even there that night, proceeded to cut us down to anyone around town who would bother to listen.

I've played a lot of venues in Central PA and the surrounding areas, from rural VFWs to large dance clubs. That's the one and only room still in existence that I refuse to ever walk into or perform in ever again.