Friday OT #1 - Singers Harmonize Til They Can't Hear Anything

[Angie]

Thanks so very much to @Entropy for today's thread idea!

What are your favorite venues to see bands/performers live?

In just central Iowa, I would say Hoyt Sherman is probably the best.

 

[BCClone]

When I was in HS, it was Duncan Ballroom. As long as you were over 4' tall, they assumed you were old enough to drink.

 

[Entropy]

For an inside venue, I’m going to go with First Ave in Minneapolis. It’s loaded with tradition and is a genuinely intimate atmosphere.

For outdoors, my best experience has been at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI. Landscape has natural style stadium seating and it’s just a cool place to chill and enjoy the music. (Red Rocks is on my bucket list, just haven’t been there yet.)

 

[Trice]

For an inside venue, I’m going to go with First Ave in Minneapolis. It’s loaded with tradition and is a genuinely intimate atmosphere.

For outdoors, my best experience has been at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI. Landscape has natural style stadium seating and it’s just a cool place to chill and enjoy the music. (Red Rocks is on my bucket list, just haven’t been there yet.)

Been to Alpine Valley numerous times. It's fantastic. Great tailgating too.

 

[JP4CY]

KC Power and Lights in the summer with a live band is great.

 

[NWICY]

Nothing wrong with C.Y. Stephens, though Hoyt Sherman is neater. I like 1st Ave in Minneapolis a lot but mainly because my table was about 30 ft away from Warren Zevon when I watched him perform.

 

[Angie]

For an inside venue, I’m going to go with First Ave in Minneapolis. It’s loaded with tradition and is a genuinely intimate atmosphere.

For outdoors, my best experience has been at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI. Landscape has natural style stadium seating and it’s just a cool place to chill and enjoy the music. (Red Rocks is on my bucket list, just haven’t been there yet.)

I have really, really enjoyed both of them. I've only been to one show at First Ave, but loved it. I was at a festival at Alpine Valley a long time ago.

Another good outdoor venue is in KC - the Providence Medical Center Ampitheater. It wasn't natural, but it was well set-up and convenient.

 

[JM4CY]

1st Ave is next level.

 

[Al_4_State]

For an inside venue, I’m going to go with First Ave in Minneapolis. It’s loaded with tradition and is a genuinely intimate atmosphere.

For outdoors, my best experience has been at Alpine Valley in East Troy, WI. Landscape has natural style stadium seating and it’s just a cool place to chill and enjoy the music. (Red Rocks is on my bucket list, just haven’t been there yet.)

Exactly this. I don't know that First Ave is a great venue from a technical standpoint, but when you're in there, you can feel the decades of rock and roll just peeling off the wall. The Replacements, Prince, Husker Du, that place just bred some absolute titans in the 80's and you can't help but be kind of in their presence the whole time. It's like a loud, sticky, drunk cathedral to me.

Seeing The Hold Steady there on 4th of July in 2010 was a damn near religious experience.

Alpine Valley is the best outdoor venue for all the reasons you mention. I saw Rage Against the Machine with Queens of the Stone Age there in 2007, and it was absolutely insane.

 

[Al_4_State]

I do really enjoy Simon Estes for outdoor venues. I've seen some of my favorite bands there (Black Crowes & Turnpike Troubadours), and it's always cool when they take the stage just before sundown and you get to watch the sun set behind the band with the Des Moines river and downtown skyline as your back drop.

 

[Gonzo]

Col Ballroom in Davenport was small, smelly, sweaty... the perfect place to see The Replacements. The Vic in Chicago is kind of similar, maybe a little more trippy, saw Pavement there and it was stellar. The Metro in Chicago is very cool as well, saw Morrissey there. Saw Smashing Pumpkins at Palmer Auditorium in Davenport and that was one of the loudest and most intense live shows I've ever seen.

I guess in my youth I leaned towards small, smelly venues with sticky floors, nowhere to sit and not much room to move around. Great times for sure but now that I'm 50, sounds kind of awful.

 

[Entropy]

This week I experienced Codfish Hollow for the first time, and I waited far too long to be there. It’s by far my favorite Iowa venue.

The acoustics of that place are amazing and the vibe was just what I was looking for after all the news this week.

 

[Al_4_State]

Codfish Hollow is incredible. How did I forget that one?

 

[madguy30]

I practically lived at the High Noon in Madison 10-15 years ago.

 

[Cyfan1965]

M shop or Alpine Valley with a mention to Hoyt Sherman and Park West in Chicago

 

[drlove]

Mission Ballroom in Denver is new, and awesome.

 

[throwittoblythe]

One of the most intimate shows I ever saw was at the Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, IA. Hard to beat $3 beer, too!

 

[Cyfan1965]

David Grisman at the Fox Theatre in Boulder was amazing!

 

[Farnsworth]

Sokal in Omaha is pretty sweet.

So was the Ranch Bowl for people old enough to remember that in Omaha.

 

[1UNI2ISU]

Surf Ballroom just for the amazing history. Everybody's played there.

As far as a great modern place, damn near impossible to beat Codfish Hollow.