| rev:text
| - I've experienced the Fillmore in two ways: private events and concerts. This review isn't about the former; the Fillmore is just fine for private events, and the success of such an event depends on the event organizers rather than the venue management. As for the latter...
Well, the Fillmore sucks. I apologize to its fans, but it does. My most recent visit totally destroyed whatever respect I had left for the place.
We saw the Flaming Lips, and being the Flaming Lips, they were awesome. The Fillmore management, however, was so awful that we ended up leaving with at least 30 more minutes of Lips left. I shall try to break it down for you:
1) Staff. The staff at the Fillmore is consistently, outrageously rude. The one pleasant person we met was in the will-call box. It was downhill from there. Entry security treats everyone as though he or she is a suspected terrorist, and the bar staff consists mostly of snotty twenty-something girls who don't seem to realize they should at least try not to directly insult customers, since they are working for tips, after all. Speaking of bars...
2) Drink prices are ridiculous. I paid 7 dollars for a Dixie-cup of watered-down Miller. A more reasonable portion would have set me back nearly 10. I expect to pay higher-than-usual prices at concerts and such, but that is truly ridiculous. The Fillmore knows it, too: there's a strict no re-entry policy so you can't go next door for a drink while you wait for the main act.
I could have lived with the above things. The music is what's important, right? Bear with me while I explain the breaking straw.
3) Crowd control. The Fillmore is a small space, with no dividers of any kind on the floor. Combine that with what I suspect is the management's habit of overselling tickets, and things can get quite unpleasant as a bunch of drunk people try to cram as close to the stage as possible.
I'm almost 6' 8", and people seemed to view me as an obstacle to be overcome. My feet were stepped on constantly; I was shoved more than once, and someone actually put her hand on my shoulder and tried to push me downward so she could get video with her iPhone. All this is beside the fact that everyone around us was smoking, and given the no re-entry policy, it's impossible to step outside for some fresh air if this causes you to start sneezing.
So, one might ask, why wasn't security keeping people from more or less stabbing each other in the back to touch the hem of the Lips' robes? Well, security was back in the VIP section, chatting it up and making sure no commoners violated the sanctity of that space. Useless, they were.
I understand shows can be messy, and shows like the Flaming Lips even more so. But the Fillmore ruined this experience. I will think twice before I ever spend money on tickets there again.
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