Sunday, November 1, 2009
A Moment to Complain.
There are many things that I miss about Southern California. Currently missing: LA concerts.
Since this February I have admittedly become a regular concert attender. I miss the small intimate venues of LA where the sweet strummings of a girl and her guitar (and little else) seem to be acoustically magnificent. Then what am I here to complain about? UC Davis Freeborn Hall.
This Friday, I attended a concert at Freeborn Hall featuring the music of Art Brut and Princeton. I am a huge supporter and fan of live music. I believe there is nothing like that feeling of being so close to real instruments and real vocal chords that you feel like you are being serenaded at the back of the room.
So it was to my great dismay that I was incredibly disappointed by Friday's concert.
Perhaps Davis is not exactly the prime spot for the music scene but I find it to be a problem of our own creation.
The venue itself is huge. I was surprised by the size of the interior and was originally excited by the endless possibilities a large venue holds. Large venues have the capability of holding large crowds and thus supports the weight of more well-known artists. The size of the venue, however, seemed to be its greatest flaw on the night of the concert. There were perhaps no more than 100 kids in attendance. The effect of such a large room with such a small crowd was frankly embarrassing. Indie acts such as Art Brut and Princeton do not necessarily have the ability to fill such large venues. Sometimes it is better to sell out at a small and intimate venue than to play to a dwindling audience.
The hall interior is furnished with extreme contradiction. The lobby seems legitimate and almost too professional for a venue hosting events like electronic ravers and indie concerts. The inside, however leads to a large high-school-auditorium-like room. There are bleachers (although the seats are admittedly classier) lining the sides and a wood-floor reminiscent of a basketball stadium. Space is divided using large black curtains. These elements combined create a venue much more unprofessional than the lobby leads a person to believe.
Freeborn Hall would have been better off as a venue if it had been built smaller and with the extra money spent on a better interior for the venue has the lighting and audio capabilities of being a great concert space. Before solid musical acts can be booked, however, I think we need to go back to the design drawing board. The venue has an altogether too "multi-purpose room" look to it which is its major drawback. Freeborn Hall needs to decide on what it is - an indie concert venue, a lecture hall, a dance floor, etc. - in order for it to truly succeed at being any one of these things. Perhaps then Freeborn will attract the bigger acts it was originally intended to host.
10:35 PM by jamie.