Starland Ballroom

Screw the haters take it from me. I lived 3 miles from this place for years and saw countless shows here. Ticket prices are always fair and its $7 to park. I actually think they have a discount rate for cars with 4 people. I've even snuck into this place...walked around the back of building and snaked my way into the smoking area between bands when everyone was outside smoking. No way they can check every ones ticket between bands...I DID THIS DURING MUCH BROKER TIMES!

One of the best things about this venue is that it is not hard to meet the bands playing. On the right side of the building behind no security just a railing they expect you to respect are the tour bus' and where all the bands kick it after a show. On a summer night your almost guaranteed to meet whoever you want unless they are ass' that just rush into their bus. I met The Black Dahlia Murder here and they brought me onto their van (before they had a bus after 2nd cd before 3rd) and we kicked it hard. They put on the new (3rd) Mastodon album before it came out. Sweet! While we listened we actually watched the bouncers beat the crap out of a couple of dudes as they were getting thrown out the back door.....

The bouncers....the most serious group of crowd control you will ever see is at Starland Ballroom. They are pretty fair with letting people mosh during metal shows, but once you have crossed a fine line you are in for some trouble. I don't know what the people being kicked out were doing but when myself and BDM were watching them get thrown out they caught a beating. One dude got punched in the gut while another bouncer held him then thrown down 5 or 6 concrete stairs OUCH! Just don't be an d!ick and all should go well.

Depending on the amount of tickets sold they may close off area's of the venue to make it a smaller setting and probably less to clean after the show. They have 3 bars and sometimes announce crazy specials in between bands like $3 shots for next half hour. Sometimes when a crap band or tribute show is happening soon they give out tickets with every drink purchased.

I love this place ALOT of different music comes through here.

My first tome checking in, but at least my twentieth time here. It's a lot cleaner than it used to be, and there's a lot more room since they knocked down the wall that separated the VIP area from the rest of the venue. As always, the show was amazing. Affordable tickets and a nice atmosphere.

This review is called "Starland Ballroom for Dummies", as in dummies like me who decide they want to see a band after the shows in three major nearby cities have sold out, leaving a drive to the wilds of New Jersey as the only option.  Actually I think the Starland show was more or less sold out too by the wall-to-wall bodies in the place making walking anywhere inside nigh impossible (including to the bar and the restroom) but I also got the feeling this place would keep selling tickets until every square inch of space inside was packed with bodies.

First thing:  Directions.  I appreciate the club's website trying to be helpful, but their directions messed me up as bad as Google Maps, which wanted to steer me diagonally around various blocks in an effort to minimize the short distance between NJ 18 and the club.  If you use Exit 9 from the NJ Turnpike and head towards "New Brunswick" you will end up going NORTH on 18, rather than south, and eventually find yourself having to make a u turn at Piscataway.  Also, there are TWO possible exits called "Main Street Spottiswoode" and taking the wrong one puts you on 613 instead of 615...look at the map if you don't believe me.  Here's all you need to do, really:  get off NJ Turnpike at exit 9, get on NJ 18 SOUTH and drive for a while through a busy shopping area (note that this is not exactly the middle of nowhere as the other reviews led me to believe) until you come to the SECOND "Main Street- Spottiswoode" exit, make a left at the end of the ramp, another left at the Dunkin Donuts and there you are.  Quite easy once you know how.

Second thing:  Parking.  If you arrive anywhere close to "show time" expect both the Starland lot and the VFW lot across the street to be full.  You will be directed to an overflow lot which requires you to walk in the pitch dark through gravel, along the side of the road with cars whizzing past, and/or across muddy puddly strip of land in the dark to get to the club.  It's a miracle nobody gets hit by a car on the road part, but hey, rock n' roll isn't supposed to be safe and tidy, eh?  This is not a place for your 5-inch stilettos; wear your Converse, flat biker boots, or the like.  

Third thing:  Getting in.  LOOOOOONG line even though it was an hour and  a half past official door-opening time.  More inspectors than the TSA.  On the plus side, they were all nice and in a jokey good mood.  Once inside the merch, coat check, food and a men's room all seemed to be jammed in the same tiny room - and the merch booth was taking up so much space I almost couldn't see the merch on its far back wall  - but again, the merch sellers were such nice professional guys, and in a good mood to boot, that I couldn't complain.

Fourth thing:  The show.  I opted to watch from the back bar area, which was jammed with bodies making it almost impossible to drink but was raised enough off the main floor, and with big enough windows, to actually see the band, which was not going to happen from any other vantage point.  The light show (above average) and sound were also particularly good from the back.  Unless I was so in love with a band that I absolutely had to be down front looking up the bass player's nostrils, I'd probably view every show from the back bar.  

Also be aware that this club has a mirrored wall making it look twice as big and creating an unpleasant illusion that there's a restroom on that side of the club, when in fact it's just a reflection of the "Restroom" sign.  KNOW BEFORE YOU GO, since worming your way through the crowd to get there will not be easy.

I'd still go to this place again, since not only were all the staff from the parking attendants to the ID checker way nicer than average for a rock joint, but also the fans are true blue Jersey rocker types, without all the annoying hipster posers you run into at big city venues.  And yeah, that light show was real nice.