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| - Went here for the first time last night to see X. I've been to many concert venues including "supper club" type places elsewhere offering rock shows, most notably Rams Head On Stage in Annapolis. They tend to book bands that draw a lot of older people who may want to sit and have some food/ drinks from a table instead of standing up and bopping for the whole gig, which is a fine idea; I fit the demographic and while I still attend some stand-up-and-bop shows, I'm more cognizant of my need to sit down than I was when I was 20.
Music Box is new and obviously still working out some bugs. Right now I'd give them about 2 1/2 stars. Since Yelp doesn't allow for a half star, I decided to round down rather than up because 3 stars is what I give to a place when everything is basically all right, and, while there are some good things to say about Music Box, there's definitely room for improvement.
First the good things:
- When you buy advance tickets, you can choose your individual seats from a seating chart and decide whether you want to be in front, in back, away from the sound board, etc. There is no need to become a VIP member to do this (the website is a wee bit misleading in that regard).
- The concert room is nicely decorated and there are good sightlines from almost all seats, although you may need to turn your chair sideways to watch the band (this is normal for supper club venues with tables). I chose to sit in the back at a raised table area facing the stage where there were individual seats - works well if you're attending by yourself and don't want to sit at a table facing strangers, provides a great view of the band, you are close to an aisle if you want to get up and dance, and you get the best sound back there.
- The sound at the X show was XCELLENT. Really top-notch.
- The seating, while not the most comfortable chairs I've ever plotzed in, was OK.
- A server came to take my drink order within a couple minutes after I was seated and the servers were reasonably attentive throughout the show, at least at the back area where I was.
Now, the "room for improvement" part:
- There was NO food served at this show despite the "supper club" ambience. None at the tables and I don't even think you could get any at the back bar. Very weird for a "supper club" that has been touting its food offerings, especially since a large crowd was attending so it wasn't a case of "too few people to justify opening the kitchen". I wasn't expecting a three-star Michelin experience but I did expect to be able to order a good sandwich, fries, maybe even a decent salad since this is a fancier club setting. Since I was attending by myself and also probably wouldn't be able to make it down there much before the 8:30 show time due to work, the idea of a sit-down meal in the separate restaurant didn't appeal to me, and not having food during the show meant I also couldn't drink alcohol, so I sat at a table all night with no food and drink and for no discernible purpose.
- The tables in the room are really mooshed together to the point where people were practically sitting in each others' laps. If you stand up to dance or cheer, you might elbow someone in the nose. I was happy to see most patrons realized this and stayed in their seats. It also made it hard for the servers to visit the parts of the room that didn't have an aisle (basically everyplace but the back and sides).
- The very back of the room had tables advertised as window view seats; however, the curtains were pulled all along the back of the room so if there was a view (likely, the club is on the river with nice city views),no one could see it.
- The process by which you enter the club and get to your seat needs improvement. There was no sign to direct advance ticket holders to go right upstairs so I had to stand in a line for several minutes behind ticket buyers to learn this. When I got upstairs another person scanned my ticket and was going to seat me, then told me to wait till she scanned two more people behind me and she would take us all together, then another usher came out and she told HER to take the two people behind me. Meanwhile a third usher had come out and was supposed to seat me but she instead got into a conversation with some manager type. Then a FOURTH usher came out and finally showed me to my seat. It should not require four ushers and ten minutes to show one person (me) to a seat and people should be seated in the order they arrive. A half hour later I saw all the ushers in the middle of the club having another conversation while people were walking in and seating themselves - the guy in front of me sat in the wrong seat and had to be displaced by the other folks at the table.
- Parking (non-valet) is 7 dollars, on top of a $35-40 ticket, in a city where parking for shows elsewhere is often free.
So, A+ for music & sound, C+ for everything else, plus it's pricey = I'm not in a hurry to return.
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