The Underground

On September 24, I experienced The Underground in Cincinnati for the very first time.  I found it to be a pretty neat place for a smaller, intimate concert venue.  It appeared to be clean, even the restrooms, at least the men's restroom was.

Myself and my group went specifically to see BarlowGirl.  I bought numerous VIP tickets for people at a cost of $25 each, which was a good deal for BarlowGirl VIP.

I was very disappointed that the venue chose to have not one, but two opening acts.  They were both so lousy that I didn't take time to even learn who they were.  The second act was a little better than the first.  However my friends and I drove 2 hours to see BarlowGirl.  No where in the advertising did the venue say they were having opening groups.

It's irritating because I paid money to see BarlowGirl, not these other two acts.  

Not only was time wasted with these other two acts, but then BarlowGirl was told they only had 40 minutes to perform.  What!?! Are you kidding me?  I paid $25 numerous times for tickets, drove two hours one way and BarlowGirl, the ONLY reason I'm at the venue only gets 40 minutes to perform?  Seriously!?!

Having promoted and hosted BarlowGirl's Love & War Tour;  I know a thing or two about how concerts should be done and people who came to our show knew what groups were going to be there.

Had I known there would be to less than wonderful opening acts and only 40 minutes of BarlowGirl, I don't know that I would have driven 2 hours and it has NOTHING to do with BarlowGirl, they were wonderful and friendly as always.

Standing in line, waiting for the doors to open, they had a special line for VIP ticket holders.  Now I arrived early enough with my group that we were first in line and we refused to allow anyone to cut in front of us.  However venue staff repeatedly allowed late comers to cut into the VIP line, drawing complaints from those who had been standing in the back for a while.

But it was obvious that Venue staff had people there who were their friends and they allowed them to cut line in front of other people who had already been standing in line for a while.

The other positive is that the Venue had a snack/food area and they accept credit cards and the prices were very reasonable.

In the future I wold recommend the venue making it crystal clear if there are opening acts and who they are.  I wasted time listening to what I consider to be awful music.  For $25 the entire night should have been given to BarlowGirl.

The Underground is a great medium size venue for some great bands. They always try to get top notch people to play. Something else that is great about this place is that they are all about opening their doors to local bands.

They also try to reach out to their surrounding community by having Jr. High nights so the kids can have a place to go. They have the nicest staff around who are more than willing to help out when needed. Great place, great people, great bands, go there.