11/29/08

Good accustics, bad set up

by sillysuperdog

Parking dudes were cool yet efficient for $10 or find street parking among stripped down abandoned cars. Lots of warehouses and a homeless tent. I happened to dig the ambience but im a weirdo. Very long line for Dr. Dog but they kept it moving. It was an 18+ show but the way they restricted alcohol consumption was horrible. You had a limited selection of beer only (it was really cheap, though) and had to consume it within a 20x80 corral formed by folding tables. People were crammed in there like sardines. The security people were cool but they will get you if you smuggle beers out of the alcohol corral. Just bring your own pint and spike your cola. Bathrooms were hard to get to because of the awkward arrangement of the place and once you got there only a couple toilets worked. It was gross. What was cool, though, were these platforms on each side of the floor with dilapidated half circle vinyl "couches" with more folding tables. This was where I hung most of the show because of the excellent view and the sparse population. Just a side note, Dr. Dog is one of my favorite bands but the crowd seems to be changing from layd back hippie types to too cool for school kids in their urban outfitter fashions out to look at each other rather than being out for the experience. This band has absolutely infectious passion in their music and most people here seemed untouched.

Another thing, the signs outside say "polaris club" hmmm? I was confused, but thats easy to do with me.

• Pros: cheap beer, some good vantage points, nice staff, good accustics
• Cons: BAD set up, BAD toilet situation, dilapidated, The Alcohol Corral

North Chinatown no-man's-land venue comes alive when the band plays.

by Contributor

In Short
This venue that hosts national up-and-coming bands is sort of up-and-coming in its own right. Still, the Starlite is one of the toughest venues to pin down. Call it Starlite and folks know it as a cool live-act hall. Either way, keep tabs of who's coming to town in the alt-weeklies and cab it up to this warehouse district that's no doubt on developers' lists of 'hoods to redo.