Great American Music Hall

10/01/2008 Posted by Lochardil

I went to see one of my all time musical heroes here last night (Peter Hammill). The building itself is lovely, very atmospheric, but the evening was completely spoiled for me for two reasons. One is that the staff there seem to lack any form of social skills, they tend to treat all of us paying customers like naughty children. The tone was set early on in the evening when we moved a chair out of our way and one one the (seeming tens) of staff who seem to hang around watching the audience without much to do, mumbled t us "...you only had to ask....", seems it's not allowed to move chairs. There was also a restriction on taking flash photography of the show but one of the staff jumped right at a group of people who were taking flash photographs of each other, around an hour before the show was due to start. . I honestly felt like I was back at school, we were frightened to move out of our seats! Worse, it was a quiet, semi acoustic show and the show was completely spoilt by this venue having no idea how to host a show like this. There is a noisy bar in the main hall and the bartenders clinked glasses and opened and shut the till throughout the performance making loads of noise and generally disrupting the show. Even worse still, the bunch of staff who seem to just generally hang around and tell everyone what to do started to goof around during the performance, obviously not enjoying the show themselves, they started disrupting it for the audience by goofing around and talking in loud voices to each other - unbelievable! Oh and also, this venue is on the borders of the Tenderloin which, if you don't know, is San Francisco's inner city bad area, so you need to be very careful as you walk to the venue. As we walked there what sounded like a gun shot went off and we had to negotiate our way past some very scary looking characters, obviously high.

Pros: Nice building

Cons: Terrible place to watch music, horrible staff

08/12/2008 Posted by lexipac

Wow, what a blast from the past! I remember going here on weekday evenings when I was barely legal and watching local great Chris Isaak, amongst many. It's good to know that the institution is still there, and that they're not going away anytime soon.

01/22/2008 Posted by dgrunat

Seen a few shows here! Great sounds, Great Atmosphere, Great Shows! Suggest it for anybody who wants to see a good show!

Pros: Great Sound

Cons: No Seats Downstairs

12/13/2007 Posted by chrstina4u29

I went there for a great LIVE jazz show. This of course was a special event (considering the Open-Bar). The staff is cool, the drinks are refreshing, and the upstairs viewing area allows me to see the bands comfortably. You could also get the other entrees: Vegan Rice Noodles with Crispy Tofu - steamed vegetables and coconut milk, Thai curry peanut sauce. I very much enjoyed this hall and will probably go again as I did with a large group of people. It was a wonderful experience, with a full diverse crowd and plenty of space to dance and enjoy the show.

01/19/2007 Posted by sheppy18

This is a very good place for live shows. I saw Joanna Newsom there and it was a great show. Very mixed crowd but everyone that came with us and everyone at the show seemed to have a really good time.

Pros: good crowd, bars were never too crowded

Cons: no place to sit downstairs for some shows

03/30/2005 Posted by alinanguyen

Great American Music Hall is breath taking!!! i saw Michelle Branch, may favorite artist here and it was the best venure i've seen her play at! i even wrote an article about this place for my interior design class. you can't go wrong here at all.

08/12/2002 Posted by larry_narachi

This historic venue is free from Clear Channel unlike most others in the Bay Area. Great sound, friendly staff, good bars. Check out the painting on the wall on the balcony (left side of the stage) which is over 100 years old.

Pros: Great sound, Great staff, Non Clear Channel

Cons: parking, parking, parking

05/21/2002 Posted by MarkeBieschke_Citysearch

I like this venue because it always stays a bit on the cutting edge -- have seen many great shows here by folks who later sold out arenas. Hope it stays around.