Friday, November 07, 2008

Terminal 5 = Worst Sound Ever

It is official. Last night I went to see Drive By Truckers/Hold Steady at Terminal 5. I'd heard the bad reviews of the venue's sound, but i figured I'd give it a shot anyway since both bands were playing full sets.
The room absolutely had the worst sound I've ever experienced. Terrible. I had to leave in the middle of DBT's set. I'm never going back.

5 comments:

drischord said...

I've never even heard of that place. Where is it?

How were the performances? Could you even tell?

drischord said...

After writing that last comment, I just read a bunch of Citysearch reviews. It sounds like possibly the worst concert venue in the country.

http://newyork.citysearch.com/review/45678143

Eric said...

I saw Spoon there and through a combination of stupidity on our parts and assholishness on the streetside scalper's part (never again!), my friends and I bought three tickets but only one valid one. Although the door people were unhelpful, a manager came out and was chatting with us and ultimately let us into the show. So I have a soft spot for the venue for that reason only.

The sound's not great but I don't think it's worse than Roseland, Hammerstein or Irving. (I think that basically all of that sized venue have crappy sound). For what it's worth, Terminal 5 is new and run by the Bowery Presents people. They now run, in order of increasing size, Mercury Lounge, Music Hall of Williamsburg (where North Six used to be, D.), Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall, and Terminal 5. The latter two are less ideal of course (with Terminal 5 being much, much worse, to be sure), but I'm rarely on the ball enough to see up and coming bands when they're still at the former three.

Eric said...

I saw Spoon there and through a combination of stupidity on our parts and assholishness on the streetside scalper's part (never again!), my friends and I bought three tickets but only one valid one. Although the door people were unhelpful, a manager came out and was chatting with us and ultimately let us into the show. So I have a soft spot for the venue for that reason only.

The sound's not great but I don't think it's worse than Roseland, Hammerstein or Irving. (I think that basically all of that sized venue have crappy sound). For what it's worth, Terminal 5 is new and run by the Bowery Presents people. They now run, in order of increasing size, Mercury Lounge, Music Hall of Williamsburg (where North Six used to be, D.), Bowery Ballroom, Webster Hall, and Terminal 5. The latter two are less ideal of course (with Terminal 5 being much, much worse, to be sure), but I'm rarely on the ball enough to see up and coming bands when they're still at the former three.

texplush said...

I disagree with you about Irving. not my favorite venue, but the sound has always been decent when i've gone.
also, Bowery Presents just opened a new venue in Montclair, NJ. I can't imagine they're excited about the new economy with all the new openings in the last few years.