Jimmy M.
Yelp
Went to the 3/12 Great Good Fine OK concert and wanted to make sure my experience at this venue was shared with all:
Venue and concert time management:
My girlfriend and I showed up at 7:15 for what the ticket said was an 8:00 concert. However, the doors did not even open until 8pm. Horrible communication! to anyone who's ever gone to a concert, you always know if you want a decent view to show up early. But apparently that just isn't how it works here. Then, the first band didn't even play till 9PM, so you were forced to stand around waiting for nothing or spending money on drinks. Now I don't mind spending a few dollars on drinks before a show, but waiting nearly an hour after the doors opened for the first act to play is absurd. This meant that GGFOK wasn't even going to play until nearly 11:30 when you factored in the first act (45 min set), a 30 min intercession (excessive), the second act and more than 30 mins wait for GGFOK. To me, that's just taking advantage of the customers.
Concert experience, crowd, and staff/security:
During the second act, my girlfriend and I (who showed up early) were about five rows back from the front, not really concerned with proximity to the stage, since we were there for the music and not the group instagram photos so many teens seem obsessed to capture, so that they can show off on their Social Media. A group of young college students, most of them wasted, tried to bring their entire group in front of my girlfriend and I. If you show up late, you can't just try to push your way in front of everyone.
After my girlfriend would not budge, another girl got in her face and began calling her slurs, eventually inciting her entire "crew" to bully and essentially pick a fight. They chided the two of us the entire set, while we did our best to ignore them. But apparently our joy of simply enjoying the concert was too much, too offensive to this drunk and angry group of entitled college kids. While minding our own business, after the second set my girlfriend was approached by security, who informed her that the entire group behind us had complained about "Rowdy behavior" on her part, that she was starting fights and antagonizing the group! Exactly THE OPPOSITE of what happened.
These kids had gone to security to tattle because they didn't get their silly little spot closer to the stage - and wanted to make us pay for it. Security then tried to escort my girlfriend, who was calm and confused at the situation, out of the crowd. After exclaiming that I wanted to speak to them about the matter in a quieter space, they brought us toward the back door, but then proceeded to try and get us to go outside to talk. Little did we know this was their clever way of escorting us out of the complex, upon which we were informed that she could not be allowed back in. Needless to say, at this point I was upset with the conduct of the staff and demanded to speak to the manager.
The manager, whose name is Tony, was completely devoid of any problem-solving skills or critical thinking, and exclaimed that he could do nothing and that "I can't speak for security", who had clearly seen none of the conduct that had actually occurred-- despite there being two levels at the venue and security onlookers to watch over the crowd. Even more, the manager offered ZERO help to us, even going so far as to exclaim (after we understandably raised our voices due to the staff not listening) that she couldn't go back in because she "is a DANGER to the crowd" - a completely asinine statement.
After further attempting to explain to him the situation and the heckling that occured, the manager had the audacity to exclaim to us that WE should have gone to the security first if we wanted to not have had security kick us out. Apparently, if you don't want to get blamed falsely, you better tattle and blame the other party first, even if you don't desire to incite conflict for conflict's sake. The manager and staff took zero initiative to properly question security or even the other half -- the accusing group -- who were allowed to stay and enjoy the concert, presumably because having ten wallets contributing (no matter how much you ruin the experience) matters more than two people who are minding their own business and trying to enjoy themselves.
Overall experience:
All-in-all the staff had no backbone, proper training, or problem solving skills. They were completely incapable of handling a conflict situation rationally or trying to remedy the issue. The manager was incompetent, the crowd was terrible, security didn't do their job, and overall it was a very poor experience. Based on our experience at Music Hall of Williamsburg, they care about the short term amount of money that gets put in their wallet that night, more than the customers who would come back to their establishment for future events if they had a pleasant experience. We certainly won't be back again.
Would I recommend: Absolutely not!