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• Thursday, June 28, 2007 09:41 AM

  It's the Venue, stupid.

  After seeing many live bands, I realize it is many times the venue that you can most trust. Here in Minneapolis the best sound is at the Cedar Cultural Center - world music and folk music, best sound south of the Winnipeg Folk Festival. Chairs. Clairity. Quiet. Extraordinary.

  I saw the Drive By Truckers in the 400 Bar a few doors away, and this is a 'shit' venue... one boxy room standing room only, all echoes, no staff. Crap sound. And their lyrics got lost, and THEY sucked. I never go there. A bad venue will ruin a good band.

  First Avenue, one of the top clubs in the U.S. here in MPls, has good sound and sightlines, but it is packed for big shows. Get there early! There is always a debate between my friends who want 'perfect sound' in this room and me who wants a front row or close seat to see the 'faces'. It's live, so I don't think of it as an 'audio-file' experience exactly.

  I've heard about "Red Rocks" and I want to go. We want a roadtrip to Austin, but it now sounds too fucking crowded and over-discovered.

  Best Live band? Of the hundreds I have seen, it was the post Jerry, "Dead" playing outside in Wisconsin twice..., at Alpine Valley (a venue that needs a little more nature...) and FloatRite Park, actually beautiful acoustics and ... mood. No band better than the Dead, 3 hours of a semi-religious experience. I saw the Dead again at the dreadful, beer-soaked, loud and echoey lakefront pavillion during "Octoberfest" in Milwaukee, and again, the venue helped denigrate the concert.

  —ELYDOG Read ELYDOG's other letters
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