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| - I've never heard anything positive about The Marquee. I've always heard that it was the worst place to see a show in the valley. It's because of this reason, I never went there to see any shows.
Last night Ellie Goulding came to the valley for her first headlining show here. I immediately bought tickets knowing that I was going to be disappointed with the venue...
...I was wrong.
I was actually very impressed with The Marquee. I didn't see what it looked like before their recent renovation, but it was very nice inside. Compared to other venues in the valley it is small. If you wanted to you could stand in the lobby and see the stage clearly. The restrooms were actually clean (men's restroom, I obviously didn't see the women's restroom), but it was a female performer so the female ratio was higher that night.
I also had heard that the security there was the worst; that they would throw you out if you looked at them wrong. Again, it may have been the softer crowd of Ellie Goulding fans, but I didn't get that impression from the security. They were actually nonexistent where we were.
I was also very impressed with the sound. For brick walls and a concrete floor, the acoustics in the venue are really clear. I had ear plugs in for the show and I could hear Ellie's great voice perfectly!
I think that the people who complain about The Marquee should be complaining about the crowd and not the venue. I've attended concerts in other cities with other crowds and by far Phoenix has the worst crowds! They are rude and obnoxious. Case in point, we had just settled behind the sound equipment because my wife is short and there was no one in front of her, she could see the stage perfectly, and she was super excited to see Ellie. Right after Ellie took the stage the sound guy had some 10 year old and her mom come into the sound area and had that 10 year old stand up on a riser right in front of my wife! Needless to say we were pissed! Wonderful considerate Phoenix crowd. If I was security at The Marquee I would be mean too if I had to crowd control the bastards who are the Phoenix fans.
Parking tip... there is a parking garage on the other side of Washington. It's $7 to park, but a very short walk across the street to the venue. The parking attendants were very nice. We got out very easily after the show too. Not too bad for a sell out!
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