Highline Ballroom

07/26/09

Very good place for concerts of upcoming artists

by ymiyazawa at Citysearch

It's actually a great place for concerts. I will be attending to one on Aug. 2 for A Special Matinee with Yuto Miyazawa, the 9-Year Old YouTube Guitar Sensation.

It's gonna be awesome!

• Pros: Overall Venue Quality

08/27/08

Nice Music Venue

by Fredg14 at Citysearch

My friends & I saw a show recently at Highline Ballroom and had a very good experience. The venue itself is very nice, and, unlike the last reviewer, I thought the sound and lighting were very good. Maybe he caught an off night. In any case, I'd definitely go back to Highline to see another show

• Pros: Venue, Sound

08/01/08

This place is a joke . . .

by BrianAC15 at Citysearch

Highline Ballroom was ridiculous. Since they're on 16th street they think they're some trendy Meatpacking club when they're really just a crappy concert venue. To start, the doorman was overwhelmingly obnoxious, not only to us but to everyone entering, including people who were performing that night and had all access passes. Good job. Second, they serve drinks in glasses as opposed to plastic cups common at comprable places, which might sound nice at first but really couldn't make much less sense when you're trying to stand and move to the music at a show. Plus there's a totally unnecessary restroom attendant in the bathroom, yet another lame attempt to be classy and trendy.

All of these problems would be forgivable if Highline actually allowed the performers to put on a good show. But no, the lighting was sub-par, shining blinding beams into the audience's eyes every few seconds, and, most insultingly, the sound was a joke. There wasn't one moment when the vocals weren't either too high or too low, and at the end of their set one of the performers even said "Thanks to the Highline Ballroom for making us sound like we're in outer space." To their credit, the place is very nice looking, but frankly I'll take friendly staff and a concert I can hear over tiled walls and wood floors.

The bottom line is, avoid this place unless you really need to see whoever is performing there. And if that is the case, be warned that you'll be treated like you're a nobody at a chic club when you're really just another guest at a trashy concert venue that can't even get sound and lighting right and doesn't deserve your business.

• Pros: Nice looking
• Cons: Obnoxious staff, bad sound, tries way too hard to be trendy