School of Rock East

Theres nothing wrong with the place. I saw a few bands here including hypercrush, filter and chronic future. I never had a problem with anything and felt that was the general consensus among my groups of friends that go with me here. Its affordable entertainment for up and coming bands and bands that are on their way out. The place is no better than irving plaza or starland and only stands out due to the small bathroom  - but would you really skip a concert for that? I really think this is a great place for local kids to keep them off the streets and out of trouble. Every friday and saturday growing up i wish i had a $10 concert venue to go to. Honestly, i hope its still around when i have kids.

I can say without any doubt-- this it the worst venue I have ever been to in my life (and I'm working on my 140th show).

When I saw "The School of Rock" on ticketmaster, I assumed it was a themed venue-- like The Knitting Factory (not really a Knitting Factory!) Well, I was wrong.

In the industrial ghettos of Jersey, you will find this "venue" to be quite literally a run down music school by day, torture chamber by night. The rules of the school: no cursing and have fun! Oh, did I mention they don't serve alcohol? They tell you this after you get in the venue and then insist on no reentry.

The venue consists of a men's bathroom, a women's bathroom (with one toilet, I didn't see the men's), a long hallway (that you are forbidden to stand in) and a large room with a stage. This room with a stage has no air conditioning and one fan. Once the audience arrives this room is about 5000 degrees Fahrenheit and has not one chair, couch, or even ledge to sit on. If you are dying of heat exhaustion you can sit on the floor for about two minutes before the one security guard in the building will tell you to get up. There is no medical staff.

The band I saw (a band I've seen energetically perform on a number of occasions) just complained about the heat under the lights and gave a half hearted performance.

In conclusion, if you'd like to go to a sketchy neighborhood, deal with a bitter venue staff, wait on line a half hour to use the bathroom (just to get away from the heat), enjoy a stale pretzel and a Gatorade, stand for three hours (sober and sweating), and watch your favorite band suck-- this is the venue for you.

I had no idea what to expect, because I couldn't find reviews for the venue anywhere. And you know what? I'd go back again for sure!

The auditorium is pretty large, bigger than I expected, with a decent size stage. Obviously it's at a "school" so you can forget about booze. They had some stale looking pretzels and soda for concessions. But that didn't matter.

Sound was pretty decent, better than I expected, and the lighting was great. I got a lot of great photos, so I was a happy camper. The kids are so talented. Wish I'd been able to go to a school like that when I was younger!

They had limited fold-out chairs out, which people sat in for the first part of the show. Later, people moved closer and stood near the stage.

HEADS UP: It's a bit hard to find, since it's down a tiny street and not well-marked. You'll see the large parking lot (free, yay!) right next to it.