PA's Lounge

Let me start by echoing what others have said- if zero stars were an option, I'd have picked that.

My band played at PA's several months ago. In advance, I asked the booking agent if they had three DI boxes as this would be necessary for a band. DI boxes are needed for bass guitar, keyboards, and basically anything that does not use an amplifier. He assured me that our technical needs would be met and that we were ready to go.

We arrived at the venue at the load-in time mentioned by the promoter. The sound guy was nowhere to be seen. A half hour later, the sound guy is still nowhere to be seen. "Doors" are allegedly at 8 (I say this loosely, because this place has been open all day and some people have been there actively drinking all day; they saw the show for free) and it was 7:30.

At 7:45, the sound guy strolled in. I went and asked him if there would be a sound check. He asked when we were slated to play, and I said last. He said there would be no sound check but there would be a line check (a polite way of saying "we'll make sure everything technically works, but your first two songs in your set will be your sound check." I voiced concern that we had an atypical (but easy) setup, and that it may make sense for us to do this before the show. He assured me all would be well.

Throughout a too-loud show wherein microphonic feedback (ring out your damn room) and a complete and utter lack of vocals, the bartenders clung to the regulars, and when someone there for the show approached they'd give condescending looks and act like they were doing a favor by serving drinks. Thanks, guys. I really appreciate you taking the time out of your hectic schedule to serve me a warm and watered down PBR.

We were finally up at the end of the night, and got our equipment ready. We had our three lines for DIs ready and I handed them to the sound guy.

"What are these?"
"They're our DI lines. The first one is computer, and the last two are the synthesizers."
"We only have one DI."
"Are you kidding? The guy who booked the show said you had three?"
"This one has two inputs though. We can plug two things into it and it'll sound really good."

I need to stop the story here. I have a degree in audio engineering, but anyone who has ever used a DI box knows that this is NOT the case. Seeing a lack of options and an increasing delay in our start, I acquiesced and plugged two things into the DI box. We borrowed our first amplifier from another band, then he started checking the signal, and it was coming through very distorted and low in volume through the monitors. He walked over to us.

"Huh. I guess using two signals in the DI won't work."

We borrowed our second amplifier.

He started raising up the computer volume in the monitors. It provides our drums, so it's a necessary part of our show. He could not raise the volume, which was maxed out on my end, beyond what amounted to the volume level or someone speaking loudly. My amplifier was on 2.5, where it always is, and it easily drowned out the monitors. He turned it up as loud as he could, and it just kept distorting.

"Do you have some kind of limiter on the monitors? It's definitely turned down far too low, and this is what it sounds like is happening." I got a blank stare in reply.

We continued to struggle with the levels, and I was growing increasingly furious. I was assured that the venue was equipped to deal with the not-too-crazy demands that we had, and here we were struggling with a guy who had an entry level grasp of audio equipment (and I am being polite in saying so) to get things working to a level where we could actually perform. In our practice space, it takes us about five to ten minutes to get set up from zero. We were now in the 15-20 minute range. That's when one of the bartenders got involved:

"YOU'RE CLEARING THE BAR!" she yelled directly at me, making eye contact. She would heckle us later between songs, as well.

I approached my bandmates and suggested we walk the hell out, but we had a good number of friends there who had all paid to get in. They outvoted me and made the right choice to slug through it.

The show itself was nightmarish. The monitor situation was never resolved, so we played quietly and still managed to hear nothing but a wash of distortion coming from the monitors and my quiet amplifier masking all detail, so the rhythm was all but lost from us. I apologized to the audience at one point in the set for the terrible sound issues and the awful performance we were giving as a result, but I realized at this point that the sound guy could actually STILL make things worse for us. I backtracked quickly and apologized, hoping he wouldn't intentionally sabotage us further than he had already done so unintentionally.

At the end of the evening, we had the pleasure of getting paid $20 for bringing in 10-15 people at $8 each. I strongly recommend no musician ever play at this anti-musician venue unless you're ok with being treated like trash.

Third stop on our bar crawl, and I'm a bit more observant that I anticipated. It was a late Saturday night and I think they closed at 1, so we had the tail end of a crowd. Space for a live band, though we missed that. Bartender was hilarious, drinks mediocre. No problem moving on to our next bar.

Echoing what others have posted, I'm embarrassed to say that I attended a well-attended show at PA's Lounge this week, and messaging with the band the next day learned that NONE of the bands were paid. When I pay a cover I'm contributing to the band -- the establishment makes money off the drinks sold to the crowd the band draws. The booking website has so many warnings, you KNOW that there is a history of mistreating bands. An owner doesn't post such a detailed policy unless s/he's received MANY complaints (there were definitely more than enough attendees to surpass the door fees... unless the bouncer was pocketing cash).

That cover charge is the last money that sleazy place is getting from me. I refuse to support an unscrupulous establishment.