Two Colorado Music Venues Named Among America’s Best

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Gorge Amphitheatre is a 20,000+ seat concert venue, located above the Columbia River in George, Washington. It offers lawn-terrace seating and concert-friendly weather. Administered by Live Nation, it is considered one of the premier and most scenic concert locations not just in North America, but the world. The venue offers sweeping and majestic views of the Columbia River, as well as extreme eastern Kittitas County and extreme western Grant County. It is also known for its spectacular views of the Columbia gorge canyon. Pearl Jam released a box set, featuring their entire performances from 2005 and 2006, aptly titled, Live at the Gorge 05/06. Brooks & Dunn's "Only in America" video was filmed here. The amphitheatre has played host to many popular music festivals, including The Sasquatch! Music Festival, The Area:One and Area2 Festival, Ozzfest, Lilith Fair, Creation Festival and The Vans Warped Tour.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Bowery Ballroom is a music venue in the Bowery section of New York City. The structure, at 6 Delancey Street, was built just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929. It stood vacant until the end of WWII, when it became a high-end retail store. The neighborhood subsequently went into decline again, and so did the caliber of businesses occupying the space.[1] In 1997 it was converted into a music venue. It has a capacity of 550 people.[2] Directly in front of the venue's entrance is the Bowery Station on the BMT Nassau Street Line (J Z trains) of the New York City Subway. The club serves as the namesake of Joan Baez's Bowery Songs album, recorded live at a concert at the Bowery Ballroom on November 6, 2004.[3] It is also appears in the 2000 film Coyote Ugly as well as the 2008 film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist.[4]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Empty Bottle is a nightclub and concert hall located at 1035 N. Western Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. Located in Chicago's Ukrainian Village neighborhood, this has been one of the many venues for Chicago's alternative music scene. This venue hosts a variety of forms of music, ranging from indie-rock, electronic, experimental and jazz. This venue opened by Bruce Finkelman in 1992 was originally a simple neighborhood bar. In 1993 the club moved to its current location, two blocks from its original location. The venue also owns a connected restaurant next door called Bite. The offices of indie record label Flameshovel Records are located directly above the venue. The Empty Bottle is open 7 days a week and hosts performances every night of the week. In August 2009, The Empty Bottle lost Radley, its house cat of nearly 20 years.

From Metromix: Even more than the 625-capacity theater itself, what artists seem to love most about playing Boulder's best venue are the mostly college-aged fans. "For me, it’s not about the venues as much as it is the people," says rapper David Banner. In Boulder's case, "because it’s a college town, it’s conducive. I don’t say this much, but even the police support the party environment." Latin rock 'n' soul singer-songwriter Rene Lopez agrees, calling Fox crowds "the most enthusiastic audience who are real live music fans." For Boulder natives 3OH!3, the Fox will always occupy a special place in the band's mythology: "Our first show there was unforgettable," says 3OH!3's Nat Motte. "Sean almost got crushed under the giant disco ball (that had been hanging unmolested since the '70s) which decided to choose our show to fall onstage."

From Metromix: Just across the Charles River from Boston proper, in the college town of Cambridge, Mass., lies the Middle East, the best live music venue in all of New England according to the bands we polled. Originally opened as a Lebanese restaurant in 1970, the club began hosting live music in the late '80s and eventually expanded to include four spaces: a corner café featuring jazz, comedy and belly dancing; the hip ZuZuBar, a bar/restaurant mostly featuring local bands; an upstairs 200-capacity rock club; and the spacious downstairs, a converted bowling alley hosting national acts. Florida rockers Fake Problems love the Middle East no matter what room they're playing: "We've headlined the upstairs room numerous times, and it is consistently the highlight of the tour. Packed house, sweaty crowd, lots of singing along.…We've also had the pleasure of supporting some of our favorite bands in the downstairs venue," including Thursday and Dillinger Escape Plan.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Great American Music Hall is a concert hall in San Francisco, California. It is located on O'Farrell Street in the Tenderloin neighborhood on the same block as the Mitchell Brothers O'Farrell Theater. It is known for its decorative balconies, columns, and frescoes and for its history of unique entertainment, which has included burlesque dancing as well as jazz, folk music, and rock'n'roll concerts. The hall was established in 1907 during the period of rebuilding that followed the 1906 Earthquake. Its interior was designed by a French architect. It was originally called Blanco's, after a notorious Barbary Coast house of prostitution. In 1936, Sally Rand, known for her fan dance and bubble dance acts, acquired the property and branded it the Music Box. After World War II, the venue went into a long decline that nearly ended in the destruction of the building in a fire. In 1972, newly refurbished and painted, the building was renamed the Great American Music Hall. In 1974, the new line-up of Journey debuted there, also Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead debuted and recorded a live album with Legion of Mary, his jazz influenced rock band in 1974, and again later with the Jerry Garcia Band as well as The Grateful Dead's album One from the Vault. In 1982 Robin Williams filmed his HBO special, "An Evening with Robin Williams". In the early '90s, radio station KKSF 103.7FM hosted several large "Music Without Borders Listener Appreciation Concerts", with performances by Opafire as well as other Contemporary Jazz groups. Traditional burlesque was brought back to the Great American Music Hall when the Velvet Hammer Burlesque troupe performed in 2003 and 2004. Today the Great American Music Hall continues to thrive as a respected venue for music and entertainment in San Francisco.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: Nightclub 9:30 (originally known and still commonly referred to as the 9:30 Club) is a nightclub and concert venue in Washington, D.C. Originally located at 930 F Street, NW, Washington, D.C., in the 1970s it was called the "Atlantis Club", and hosted primarily rock, New Wave, and punk bands. After the Atlantis closed, in 1980 the venue reopened as the 9:30 Club, the name reflecting its address. Co-owned by Rich Heinecke and Seth Hurwitz,[1] it later moved to its current location at 815 V Street in Northwest Washington. The 9:30 Club is served by the U Street/African-American Civil War Memorial/Cardozo station of the Washington Metro. The club has a capacity of 1200 people and is a standing-only venue. It won the Top Club award at the 2007[2] and 2009[3] Billboard Touring Awards.

From Metromix: "The eighth wonder of the world" is how Denver rockers Be Brave describe this stunning natural amphitheater, and it's hard to argue with that assessment. "Its natural majesty makes for one incredible evening," agrees My Morning Jacket's Patrick Hallahan. Edging out the Gorge in Washington as the most popular outdoor venue on our list, Red Rocks has been hosting concerts since at least 1906, though it's believed that Native American Ute tribes held performances and ceremonies there for centuries prior to the brass band concert that was the amphitheater's first "official" event. Red Rocks' amazing natural acoustics have played host over the years to such legendary acts as the Beatles, the Grateful Dead and U2, the latter of whom recorded a 1983 performance there and later released it as a live album and concert film, "Under a Blood Red Sky."

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: The Fillmore Auditorium is a historic music venue in San Francisco, California, made famous by Bill Graham. Named for its original location at the intersection of Fillmore Street and Geary Boulevard, it lies on the boundary of the Western Addition and the Pacific Heights neighborhoods. In 1968, Graham moved his concerts to a different venue in San Francisco, formerly known as The Carousel Ballroom and El Patio at Market Street and South Van Ness Avenue, that he renamed Fillmore West. The original Fillmore Auditorium continued under the name The Elite Club. Graham began presenting concerts at the original Fillmore Auditorium again in the 1980s, but it was closed due to earthquake damage in October 1989. After much structural work, in 1994 the original Geary Boulevard location re-opened as The Fillmore. As of 2008, The Fillmore is leased and operated by Live Nation.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia: First Avenue and 7th Street Entry are two music venues housed in the same building in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The names are derived from the building's location: the corner of First Avenue and 7th Street in downtown Minneapolis. Locally, First Avenue and the 7th Street Entry are respectively referred to as The Mainroom and The Entry. They are considered to be a cornerstone of the Midwest music scene, and serve as a landmark of downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota in the United States. The building is marked by 531 stars on its exterior along the First Avenue and Seventh Street sides.