The DC Scene Turns On Itself

There's an absolutely fascinating article and comments over at Brightest Young Things about DC's Black Cat venue. To sum it up, they don't like it. And by "they" I mean the author Martin Royle (lead singer of Washington Social Club).

I have absolutely no idea how many of the facts quoted are accurate, but the anger and bile from many of the commenters is really entertaining. It reminds me of the flame wars that break out in the Brooklyn Vegan comments every time the whole Bowery Presents vs. Live Nation vs. THE FANS, MAN! comes up.

As a recent transplant to DC, my own take on the Black Cat is that it's fine. Nothing great, nothing terrible.

The folks that work there have been nothing but pleasant to me. Yes, the lines and hand stamps are annoying, but they're primarily the fault of the fact that the club has multiple rooms and the main stage is upstairs. It's not a big deal. My only real complaint about the club is that the stage is too low. It's way too easy to find yourself, whether you're 5 or 50 feet from the stage, blocked out by someone just a hair taller than you. Oh, and the ceiling's too low too, though I'm sure that's part of the reason for the stage being low. It's not anything they can change at this point, obviously, but the overall effect is to make the room feel claustrophobic. And the post-show egress down the single staircase can be sloooow.

That said, the Black Cat has had a consistently good lineup of bands in the months since I've been here, and I'm sure I will go back many, many times.