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• Thursday, June 28, 2007 08:33 AM

  Location, Location, Location

  Central Park? On a hot night the Summer Stage venue is hellish and the sound is always terrible. I love Sloan but I wasn’t about to mess with that slab of hot concrete they have you standing on (and Siren Festival, much as I always love the line-up, is worse).

  One of the best shows I’ve seen in NYC was Rhett Miller playing (the sadly closed) Fez: it was basement club with chairs and table service that sat about 150 – very civilized. I sat on the stage and Rhett was great. One of the worst shows I saw, just a few years later, was Rhett Miller playing Webster Hall (it doubles as a bridge and tunnel rave/club after rock shows). The smoke machine made me sick and Rhett sounded like hell in that big space. As a huge fan of his I’ve seen him (and the Old 97s) play all over so I know he’s still great – but he sounds best in a smaller, more intimate venue and I’d rather bide my time and see that show. I’ve had similar experiences with lots of other bands. You think Wico sounds great in a large venue? You should have heard them back in the day when they were playing to half filled bars. Magic. That sort of feeling has spoiled me for big venues. Plus tickets for big acts are too expensive and too big a production.

  Hanging out at Mercury Lounge, Union Hall and Bowery Ballroom here in NYC I do see a lot of very green, iffy bands. But I also occasionally get a ‘Clap Your Hands Say Yeah,’ a ‘Say Hi to Your Mom,’ or a ‘Voxtrot’ that makes it all worth while. And the best thing I’ve heard this year – ‘Ghostland Observatory’ out of Austin was a blast if you want to get up and dance.

  —Anne in NYC Read Anne in NYC's other letters
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