Playboy's Top 10 Rock Venues
You've known it for years: it's not just T&A and Mariah Carey photo spreads that draw you to Playboy. You read it for the articles. And, at least this month, your excuse will sound slightly less absurd 'cause the bunnies have named America's ten best rock clubs to catch up-and-coming acts, compiled alphabetically (via BV):
12 Galaxies (San Francisco, CA)Head here for commentary, justification, and at least one gratuitous cleavage shot.
Black Cat(Washington, D.C.)
Cake Shop (New York, NY)
Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR)
The Earl (East Atlanta, GA)
The Echo (Los Angeles, CA)
Emo's (Austin, TX)
Empty Bottle (Chicago, IL)
First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN)
Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)
Posted at 11:46 AM
how bout Troubadour and Casbah, Hef?
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Empty Bottle? Really? There are better places than that in Chicago.
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And where's the Croc? Doug Fir beats it out? Hef has other things on his mind, obviously.
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Cake Shop? Really? There are better places than that in New Jersey.
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The Earl is four blocks from my house so naturally I agree. I think that it's the best place in Atlanta to see a band before they become real-popular and start playing larger venues.
The old Echo Lounge (also in East Atlanta) used to give it a run for its money.
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Although the talent they manage to book can be impressive for such a small venue (Beach House sublimely rocked), there is no way Cake Shop is a top 10 rock venue. I enjoyed Beach House cause I was in the very front row. However, if you're in the back of the venue, you can't see a damn thing. Also, sound is just alright.
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I, uh, like Cake Shop.
I mean, it sucks.
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I agree with Kim re: The Bottle in Chicago. That venue is actuially about three years past its prime. What about SubT, Schuba's, Hideout? Those all book schedules far more solid than The Bottle does anymore.
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shit yeah the echo rocks. I saw deerhoof there and it was prolly the best concert i've ever scene ;)
(besides radiohead of course)
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The Echo ftmfw! Saw The Unicorns and Akron/Family there, and most recently caught Xiu Xiu. The Unicorns show is one of the best I've ever seen.
Although I do prefer the Troubadour to the Echo, but that's probably because the Troubadour doesn't look like an abandoned building.
Y'know, I've yet to go to the Casbah, but I'm gonna catch Stephen Malkmus there next Sunday, so I can't wait.
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For those of you that have never been to the Doug Fir in Portland, you are missing out on a truely wonderful experience. In addition to having the best accoustics of any venue I've ever been to, the place looks like a combination of a lodge in a national park and a 70s night club where you can do coke in the bathroom.
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they're all dumps. ask the bands and i'll bet the mention THE BLUE NOTE in beautiful downtown COLUMBIA MISSOURI (best looking crowds,too)
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The Earl is actually The EARL - it's an acronym for East Atlanta Restaurant & Lounge. And sure enough, it's a cool venue. The solo Cat Power show there a few weeks back was one of the musical highlights of '06 for me.
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what on earth are the chicago peeps here smoking?
schuba's is too crowded and the schedule sucked this year, and i haven't seen anything great at subterranean lately either (though grizzly bear is coming in february). ditto hideout (though i may have changed my tune had i gotten andrew bird tix...)
between the empty bottle and their booking deal with logan square auditorium, they're the clear winner in this city.
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12 Galaxies is on the bottom tier of San Francisco venues. It's like choosing the Sugarcubes over the Bjork catalog.
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The Black Cat is a great venue, but the 9:30 Club, down the road, is the best sounding club I've ever been to.
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While Doug Fir has (by far) the best sound in PDX, it's still a little sterile for my taste. Where's the tagger scribble? Where's the stale beer and puke smell? Those are staples of any rock club IMHO
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The Doug Fir is fine, if a bit overpriced, but it doesn't book up-and-coming acts of any kind. Primarily it books vintage 80s-90s acts like Sky Cris Mary, MountainGoats, Low, Trans Am and Stan Ridgway. This dovetails nicely with marketing the hotel to the 25-45 crowd, but again, up and coming? No.
As for the decor, every venue in Portland has great decor.
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Sunil said exactly what I was going to say. They must be trying to go for cred, because the Black Cat is considered the cooler club, and they do get a lot of great acts. But the 930 is the best place to see a show anywhere. Great sight lines, great stage, and by far and away the best sound I've ever heard.
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Really? The Earl? They might book some great acts, but the place is a pit. You have to love PB's creative writing:
"cozy performance space" = tiny stage
"Antique beer trays and yard sale cast-offs" = JUNK
"shots are served in paper cups" = you wouldn't want to drink out of their glasses
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The second-hand smoke in the EARL makes it impossible to breathe. It's absolutely gross.
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Really? The Earl? They might book some great acts, but the place is a pit. You have to love PB's creative writing:
"cozy performance space" = tiny stage
"Antique beer trays and yard sale cast-offs" = JUNK
"shots are served in paper cups" = you wouldn't want to drink out of their glasses
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Bottom of the Hill is the Echo of San Francisco.
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12 Galaxies? Really? There are better places than that in San Francisco. Did the people making this list actually go see shows at these places? The only one they seemed to get right was The Echo. Perhaps because the listmakers all live in LA that might actually be the only place they know anything about?
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Playboy, let's keep the interns away from the Top 10 lists, OK? Cake Shop? The only -- and I mean only -- good things about that venue are (1) the Arctic air conditioner during hot summer months and (2) its proximity to many far better venues. It's not even the best music venue on its block, and it has the worst sound of any club in NYC.
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THE SOUL BAR in augusta, georgia also had CAT POWER play solo years ago.....and of course, JAMES BROWN'S band played a late night set saturday night after the funeral. One of the band members mentioned, "holy shit, they've got 40's!" Which is true....40 oz. of Olde English for $3.....doesn't get much better than that!!!! http://www.soulbar.com
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jen, you know MPShows and Housecall are actually booking most of Logan Sqaure Auditorium's entratinament, and not The Bottle, don't you? The Bottle is suspposedly invloved in that place up near the Reckless up north.
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ummm... the 40 Watt?
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Cafe du Nord beats the shit out of 12 Galaxies anyday out of the week, as does the Rock-it Room and the Red Devil Lounge. 12 Galaxies is only notable for having a second story/bar, and the damn thing isn't open half the time anyways.
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Wow, I came to give big ups to the Earl, and then half the other folks on here have already said something about it. Regardless, it totally rules. My favorite ATL venue by far.
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Ditto the Bottom of the Hill comment for San Francisco. 12 Galaxies hosts gul-darn Battle of the Bands concerts fer chrisakes! Bottom of the Hill always has best bands for Noise Pop, and I think that is quite telling.
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Well, the article said that Playboy came up with the list "after consulting with musicians, music journalists and industry insiders." If that's true, I'd guarantee that the places that are the most friendly to musicians are not necessarily always the ones that afford the best sight lines or that have the cleanest glassware. Yes, there are at least half-dozen clubs that were overlooked (Beachland in Cleveland, for one) but I'd say this list is pretty right on.
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i think the reason cake shop was selected is because it's the only club in manhattan with such forward-thinking booking. yes the space is SMALL, yes the sound is murly (due to the aforementioned small space) but the strength of their booking is what sets them apart from the miriad of other predictable, vanilla rock clubs in the city. i agree with their selection of the mercury lounge as well. those are the only two clubs that i go out of my way to check who is playing. if you want to go to a corny, crappy "indie rock" show then go to pianos or the million other goofy places like pianos (tonic, sine-e, knitting factory, take your pick zzzzzzz)
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