Bowery Ballroom

11/07/08

Bowery Ballroom REFUSED my guest MARYJANE

by jahspirit at Citysearch

I went to see John Brown's Body at the Bowery Ballroom, and brought a few joints along. Expecting a reggae concert to be ablaze with sweet smelling smoke, I was surprised not to smell any. But what the hell, the songs are picking up and most of the songs are about toking up, so my friends and I light up. The concert's sick, the bands got smoke effects, and the smell's giving it a real reggae feel ? sick concert.

Suddenly I get a shove from behind by the bouncer who proceeds to kick us out of the building. Their other bouncer, some dumb throwback roadie from Styx with a cutoff tee and lame tattoos stepped in to give his two cents, "What were you thinking a holes?" Ya, maryjane at a reggae concert. O M G. The staff here, reflective of the venue, is the worst. From the guy at the door, to the guy who checks your stuff, to the aholes who think smoking at a concert is ridiculous. A bunch of jerks, which seems to be the norm among new york city venue staff. They get good bands, John Brown's Body and Rubblebucket Orchestra were great, but Bowery Ballroom completely ruins that by catering to the upper balcony dining tables (filled with 40+) and stepping on the people down on the floor. OVERPRICED AND TRENDY

• Pros: occasional good bands
• Cons: no maryjane

06/05/08

Worst staff ever

by henryrussell at Citysearch

I have never been treated with such disrespect before coming to this venue. My friend and i went to see a show and on arriving the bouncer informed us it was a 21 and over and my friend, who was 20 was not allowed in, which was fine. The bouncer rudely told us to wait in the corner to sell our tickets and then yelled at us when we asked him questions. I however am over 21 and when i showed him my id after helping my friend sell his ticket, he must have assumed that i was the same age as him and therefore found a fake id in time to make it to the show. Before even looking at the id he grabbed it away from me and kept it in his pocket. When trying to reason with me he told me to go f*ck myself and continued to be extremely rude. To be honest i wasn't that angry about missing the show but the fact that i got my id stolen at a concert venue and was told by one of their employees to go f*ck myself was really annoying and not the way they should be talking to your customers. After negotiating with him for a couple more minutes and asking to speak to the manager he then felt the need to grab me with both of his hands on my shirt and threw me out of the line. There was of course no reason for this seeing as i weight about 150 pounds and posed no threat and the bouncer was clearly much bigger, but was power trippin because maybe his job made him feel important or something. The way they acted was completely unprofessional and not the way someone should run a business in NYC.

• Pros: nothing
• Cons: The Staff

01/31/07

Great Concert, Rude Staff

by ajunet3 at Citysearch

Bowery Ballroom has great shows all the time. I usually have a great experience. I don't know what happened last night, from the door man hitting on me to getting my ID checked WHILE the concert was going...(.I'm 24 and my wrist band was showing), and then the coat check woman not giving me my coat at the end of the night. I swear on everything that means anything that she gave me one ticket for 2 coats, and would not give it to me.I even asked her about it when I first gave my coat to her and she just said "Next". It was 12:00 and they wanted us to wait until everyone in the venue got their coat!! The manager was nice enough to hear us out and gave us the coat.....After a while of pretty much begging. Go to Bowery Ballroom for the great shows, but don't expect much.....It's New York City, we can go anywhere for a great show!

• Pros: Great Shows!
• Cons: Rude Staff