Review Title: I Love The Warfield [ View All Reviews ]

Yikes, Arsnova, I'm sorry you had such a bad experience at The Warfield. It is my favorite venue because most of my favorite musicians tend to play there. I also prefer the small, intimate setting to my two least fave venues that everyone else plays, Shoreline and HP Pav (the sound is awful at both and the view way back is non-existant -- the only good thing about them is that they are only a 15 minute drive for me, and if you don't mind walking, there's free parking.)

I've never had a bad experience at The Warfield. I've only sat in the seats twice; I prefer to get floor tickets if I can. I guess that explains why I never really had to deal with the ushers. The last time I sat in seats was for Linkin Park, and after my friend left to use the bathroom, two Asian guys who didn't speak much English came and tried to sit in his seat (I guess lousy ushers and their lack of English comprehension explains that one.) The bathrooms I figure are like any other bar or club -- you'd be hard-pressed to find a nice bathroom in those kind of establishments. There was one month when I practically lived at The Warfield (I saw 3 or 4 concerts in that time.) I have never been to a bad concert there.

The first time I saw my musical hero, Moby, was at the Warfield in 2000. I am also seeing him there again May 6th! :) I've also seen some of my other favorites there -- Audioslave, Velvet Revolver, Zwan, Linkin Park, Box Car Racer, Neil Finn (of Crowded House), Seal and many others...

The only other venues that are comparable are The Greek Theater at UC Berkeley and The Oakland Coliseum. Slim's and Bimbo's are also nice intimate settings. None of my favorite musicians have played Bill Graham Civic, The Fillmore or the like (and I have been to at least 50 concerts in my concert-going career) so I haven't been able to experience them. Like I said, they almost always go to The Warfield.

I am sad to hear that The Warfield is owned by the evil conglomerate, Clear Channel, tho. They are horrid. I literally cannot stand half the crap Channel 104.9 plays, yet they also play some of my very favorites bands, and Live 105 doesn't always come in well.

I love music and going to concerts so much that I honestly can't say I've had a really bad concert-going experience. The worst concert I've ever been to was one of my favorite bands, Coldplay, at Shoreline. God, they were awful. They were phenomenal at The Greek in Berkeley a few months before. They just really went downhill after Gwyneth and I am not expecting much from their new album. The singing was subpar and the concert was the shortest concert I've ever been to. They had two incredible albums out at that time, so you can't blame lack of material. I felt cheated. It was really the first time I had gone to a concert and had to listen to the band in the car on the way home because they didn't play enough or well.