small VENUES

Intimate settings. Definitely the way to go.

Take the Black Crowes for example. The first time I saw them was back in high school at the Orphium Theatre in Boston- medium sized venue. Since then I've seen them at Bonnaroo (large), Great Woods/ Tweeter (large), Hippodrome in Springfield, MA (medium) and Pearl Street in Amherst, MA (small). Of course, the Crowes put on a great show in each of these locations, but my favorite show was definitely at Pearl Street. My dad and I actually got to see them perform under "Mr. Crowes Garden." They played several of these small shows under this name during their hiatus right before they were going to start touring again.

I saw Ben Folds awhile back and thought that his opening band was pretty good (The Fray). A few months later I saw that The Fray was playing a show at The Parish in Austin (similar to Pearl Street). Diege, Amy and I went to the show and actually got to see another guy who has started to make it big- Mat Kearney- open for them. We got a pretty cool area to stand-- to the right of the stage (which was only about 20x15 feet).

You can't get the same experience when you see shows in big venues. May as well pop in a live CD.

I mean, you've gotta be happy for the bands who "hit it big." But, the selfish part of me wants to keep them small and underground forever. I guess I can always say "I knew them when..."