Upstate Concert Hall

Reviews 3

KA

kaity stardust

WORST VENUE IVE EVER BEEN TO. I traveled four hours to see Gogol Bordello play because they are definitely one of the best life acts Ive seen EVER and ive seen them many times. Never have I had such a bad experience seeing them until i entered Northern Lights. the show was a complete and utter disappointment- but not because of the band! it was the HORRENDOUS and what i consider DANGEROUS venue, because there where way too many people in there for a band notoriously known for getting the crowd pumped up. they must have have booked that place at least 5 or 10x its capacity. people were being shoved around because everyone was trying to get to the front . it wasnt a normal mosh pit, it was just people swaying back and forth stomping on little girls like me. im 54" and 115 lbs. the concert goers kept trying to push their way to the front in giant blockades of huge men holding each other in chains. i saw about two or three men that had to be 200lbs getting smashed to the floor and they left after the first song and i heard them make a remark about how ridiculously overcrowded the venue was. i tried to get out from the front row, because i was having an extreme asthma attack. luckily a girl there who was in with the band helped me jump the gate. next thing i know there is some bouncer grabbing me screaming "youre out of here!!!" when i was clearly unable to breathe. they took me out back and gave me a bottle of water, which was nice. but, when my boyfriend tried to get information as to where the f*** they took me he was shoved by the security as if he was trying to climb the fence which he WASNT and still received NO information AT ALL as to whether they kicked me out or where i was. i was scared out of my mind. if it was not for the girl who was with the band who asked security what was going on after she saw my boyfriend being ignored, i truly feel as if he would have never been relayed any information as to my whereabouts. this was a totally DREADFUL experience. gogol bordello is one of the best acts live EVER and i am so upset. we had to leave after only four songs, because from the door to the stage people were cramped together and i couldnt even hear the band because the acoustics were so horrible unless you were in the pit getting annihilated by the "moshers" who werent even moshing. i felt like i was just being attacked!!! if i could I would give this venue A RATING OF ZERO because they clearly do not care about the safety of the concert goers unless you are "with the band" or a hot chick. they need to limit their max capacity ten fold. i have been to many shows before and i must say this was the worst show ive ever been to solely because of the venue- and thats pretty bad coming from an avid concert goer and extreme fan of punk and gogol bordello in general. i am not new to slam dancing or mosh pits at all. this was just CHAOS which was solely due to the venue being overcrowded. the girl also was able to get me three free tickets to see peter murphy (lead singer of bauhaus) who i also love. as big as a peter murphy fan that i am, id rather throw those tix in the garbage than subject myself or anyone else for that matter to that bullsh*t venue.

DA

dana v

I spent months planning a surprise for my fiance to go see Trapt, his favorite band, at the upstate concert hall. I pretended we were going somewhere else, invited some of his friends, and then the night before surprised him with tickets. On the way there he talked about how he couldnt believe we were actually going and it was a dream come true. We drove 3 and a half hours to get there, paid for a taxi from our friends apartment and I foolishly left my ID in my purse 30 minutes away at his apt. I was let in but with out a wrist band. We ordered a drink and shortly there after I was approached and said I could be kicked out bc even though I was clearly of age, I did not have proper ID- fair enough. I said I understand and gave my drink to my friend. We later went to the restroom and used the same stall as most girls do, and next thing I know, the door is being pounded on and were being kicked out for using the same stall. My fiance and myself purchased 2 T-shirts when we got to the venue to support the band we love, and we never even got to see them perform. The bouncer kicked my fiance and his friend out as well while they were just sitting at the bar watching the opening bands, bc i had made a mistake and used the same stall as my friend (which the employee that was in the bathroom could have said something before we went in the stall so we knew we werent supposed to). He later said he would let the guys back in since they didnt do anything, and no less than 5 minutes later, said he changed his mind, they couldnt come in bc he didnt feel like it. My fiance and myself own our own business, we rarely get to get out just for fun, and weve never been treated this way in our lives. Even the other bouncers and other employees were unimpressed with what was going on. Needless to say we will never again return, never recommend it to anyone, and unfortunately after all of the time and money spent, we never got to see our favorite band perform. Never had such a bad experience.

JE

Jeremy Krantz

Went there last weekend for a trio of amazing metal bands: Katatonia, Steven Wilson Band and Opeth. The venue was pretty easy to find and is located in a strip mall... pretty much in the middle of nowhere. Theres plenty of parking and getting through security and inside was a breeze. Upon walking in, we noticed that the stage was all the way down this weirdly shaped room, slightly at an angle and separating us from it was a crowd of a few thousand people. The place was hot, and the A/C helped a bit was only one for a few minutes at a time every hour or so. It was pretty painful. We eventually inched our way up and got closer to the stage and made it until we were near dead center, about 15-20 people deep from the front which wasnt bad and mostly thanks to the moshpits that broke out. That being said, the techs there took 40+ minutes to do soundchecks in between the acts. Extremely long. The stage isnt elevated enough so getting a good vantage point, especially since its already at an angle is horrible and all in all, my experience with the venue wasnt all that great. Security had a lot of issues dealing with the drunks and idiots and it took them 4 songs to clear this one guy that was bothering everyone and who was clearly high on something despite everyone pointing and trying to help them get him out. The only redeeming factor are there bar which doesnt seem to serve extremely ovepriced beer which was nice to see. It was about $4 for a Yuengling if I recall correctly. In comparison to venues that Im used to, in Boston, thats a bargain. All in all, the venue sucks. Its not a good place to watch a show and probably is the single worst venue Ive been to for any show ever. Or just about. The accoustics arent even all that great. It would make for a decent bar if they re-arranged it but making it a "premier" music venue is a mistake.

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