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I've always hated that place, yet I go back from time to time, hoping for it to be better. I was really hopeful when House Of Blues (or whoever it was) took it over a couple years ago.
We went to see George Clinton and P-Funk on Saturday. You could tell they put on a great show, but I'll be damned if I could even tell what song they were playing half the time. When I could tell, it was usually because I could hear the audience singing. We were up front for the first part of the show. Great views, but could it sounded like liquid Mud. So we decided to give up our prime real-estate and move to the back so we could hear it, and maybe have a little room to move around. At the VERY back, the sound was worse, the crowds were almost as tight, and now we had to contend with big I-Beam poles blocking our view. It was WAY overpacked, and you couldn't make it 30 seconds without people having to move you out of the way because there was no way for them to move. (I've been to many concerts, I don't mind the crowds, and don't fault the people. But when it's this bad at the BACK of a GA show, it means they've oversold capacity)
Finally we moved to the area to the right of the stage, in a semi-hallway between the main room and the lobby. Sound was actually best there, I assume because the upper balcony made a barrier to the PA Speakers, which somehow gave us better sound. (Oddly, the last show I saw there was Dropkick Murphy's some 3+ years ago, and that was the sweet-spot for sound there too.)
We finally got frustrated and left. I mean I wanted to stay, but what was the point, I was not able to really hear or see the concert, but I could tell people were having fun.
FWIW, I "think" they put on a great show, just that the venue SUCKS! People in the audience were really cool too. My complaints about the back of the house were more about crowd size, people were VERY patient and understanding. My coworker told me his daughter actually passed out, due to the overcrowding.
Am I the only one that thinks this? I wish they'd get rid of the venue, so bands would either play somewhere else or skip altogether. I hate having to choose between seeing a band I love at a bad venue, or not at all.
[/Rant]
For larger venues, I love Red Hat and DPAC. For huge venues I like Walnut Creek. I don't care for Arena and Stadium shows in most cases. My absolute favorite venues in the area are Haw River Ballroom (absolutely the best) and Lincoln Theater and Cat's Cradle. I like Pour House for a smaller venue.
Really good friends of ours who are experts in sound engineering were screaming about how bad the sound was on Saturday night. Like, out of their minds, ranting on Facebook.
Apparently, it's a known issue and a somewhat correctable one, should management ever decide to do something about it.
I have always wondered about the Ritz because the online reviews have not been kind to the venue. Fortunately for me, I've only had one occurrence where they were hosting a musician I wanted to see. In that case I didn't bother buying a ticket, only for the performers to change venues to the Haw River Ballroom. The show was sold out by that time.
I've been twice in the last year, a local/regional show and one larger national act. Both times the sound was horrible. The capacity is rated about twice what it should be. Its way too crowded for my taste. You literally cant move without pushing through wall to wall crowds. I wont be going back.
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