You have been a leading venue on the indie rock scene for over 20 years. Your bare wooden walls are charmingly inviting and your bartenders and bouncer staff friendly. But please. Hire a new lighting designer. Last night I was thoroughly enjoying the show, that is I was loving the acts I came to see but hating the blinding blue gobos in my eyes. During an unfortunate lighting cue that turned smoke machines on intermittently, loud enough to drown out the singer on stage, and then crawled egg like shapes in jagged steps on the back wall, my friend turned to me and asked "Is a cat walking across the lightboard?". It is horrific to think those were deliberate choices. Could there be talented and tasteful lightboard operators in a city based on the industry of entertainment? Hire one of them.

Labels: bars, music, reviews