Best Concert Halls In The World

[DudeAsInCool]

For lack of a better title, I thought I'd start with the above. Please add your favorite concert halls...

I'm fortunate to live a walk away from The Wiltern, perhaps the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in the United States. It's also one of the premiere concert halls in the country - over the last week or so, we've had the Arctic Monkeys, Sufjan Stevens...and tonight The Decemberists are playing. The theater used to seat 2,344 (subsequent modifications removed 1,200 seats on the ground floor to allow for a variety of configurations from a standing room only crowd to a more intimate arrangement).

"The Wiltern Theatre and adjacent 12-story Pellissier Building are located on the corner of Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue in mid-town Los Angeles, California. Set upon a two story pedestal that contains ground floor retail and the theater entrance, the tower has narrow vertical windows that sweep the eye upward and create the illusion of a much taller building (buildings in Los Angeles were restricted from being higher than the city hall until the 1960s). The blue-green, terra cotta-covered tower has been described as French Zig-Zag Moderne styling.

The entrance to the Wiltern Theatre is flanked by large verticle neon marque signs while patrons approach the ticket both set back among colorful terrazzo paving. The Wiltern Theatre's interior was designed by G. Albert Landsburgh and is renowned for its Art Deco design containing decorative plaster and tile work along with colorful murals painted by Anthony Heinsbergen. The most dramatic element of the design is the sunburst on the ceiling of the auditorium with each ray its own Art Deco skyscraper - G. Albert Landsburgh's vision of the future of Wilshire Boulevard. When the Wiltern Theatre first opened it also housed the largest theater pipe organ in the western United States.

Originally built in 1931, the Wiltern was designed by architect Stiles O. Clements of Morgan, Walls & Clements, the city’s oldest architectural firm. The Wiltern Theatre was originally designed as a vaudeville theater and initially opened as the Warner Brothers Western Theater, the flagship for the theater chain. Both the Wiltern Theatre and the Pellissier Building have been named to the National Register of Historic Places and declared a Historic-Cultural Monument by the City of Los Angeles."

Read more at Wikipedia

[method77]

I studied sound engineering and Megaro in Athens is a miracle in that. Walls moving according to the music played. Amazing.

[DudeAsInCool]

The Megaron looks stunning! Best the sound is unbelievable

***

The new crown jewell of concert halls in Los Angeles is the Walt Disney Concert Hall. Walt Disney's widow gave over 50 million dollars to start the project - final cost was $274 million. Frank Gehry (who did the Bilbao in Spain) was the architect. Havent checked it out yet - I'm waiting for the right show...

[Warflower]

The Beacon Theatre in New York City (my favorite place to see a concert) :D

From the glittering bronze front doors and white marble floors of the entrance to the golden goddess statues flanking

the stage, time seems as if it has stood still at the Beacon Theater. The Beacon, a huge, seated art-deco theater

from the Great White Way's golden age, is located on Manhattan's Upper West Side at 74th and Broadway.

[Warflower]

The acoustics in Town Hall are great :) No a bad seat in that place...very intimate.

http://www.the-townhall-nyc.org/index.html

[DudeAsInCool]

Playboy's Top 10 Rock Venues

You've known it for years: it's not just T&A and Mariah Carey photo spreads that draw you to Playboy. You read it for the articles. And, at least this month, your excuse will sound slightly less absurd 'cause the bunnies have named America's ten best rock clubs to catch up-and-coming acts, compiled alphabetically (via BV):

12 Galaxies (San Francisco, CA)

Black Cat(Washington, D.C.)

Cake Shop (New York, NY)

Doug Fir Lounge (Portland, OR)

The Earl (East Atlanta, GA)

The Echo (Los Angeles, CA)

Emo's (Austin, TX)

Empty Bottle (Chicago, IL)

First Avenue (Minneapolis, MN)

Mercury Lounge (New York, NY)

Source: Stereogum

[slum_goddess]

London Astoria and Brixton Academy Hall for me. the Astoria is wild...they never changed the insides (and it's really old) so you can all go upstairs and get lost w/all the stairways and levels and stuff. of course, i only explored twice or thrice, i'm usually down at the front, dancing my ass off. and you can smoke reefer at both and nobody says 'peep'.

[bear]

The best 'hall' I've ever seen a show at was Red Rocks Amphitheater, in Denver, Colorado.

It's an outdoor theater, literally dug out of the side of a mountain, with an awesome view in any direction. I saw U2, Heart, Santana, and Iron Maiden there (not all at once), and each time was a great atmoshpere and a party. Lots of positive energy in that place.

Here are some photos of it, if anyone wants to look.

Red Rocks

[DudeAsInCool]

The best 'hall' I've ever seen a show at was Red Rocks Amphitheater, in Denver, Colorado.

Here are some photos of it, if anyone wants to look.

Red Rocks

Pretty cool. Who designed it? It looks like Frank Lloyd Wright had his hands in the design...

[DudeAsInCool]

The Hollywood Bowl is a terrific venue...been there tons of times.

[DudeAsInCool]

Paris Philharmonic - Due to open in 2012

[DudeAsInCool]

Rolling Stone names the following, the best rock clubs in the U.S.

Stubb's Bar-B-Q

Austin

Capacity: 2,200

The Orange Peel

Asheville, North Carolina

Capacity: 942

Bowery Ballroom

New York

Capacity: 550

The Magic Stick

Detroit

Capacity: 550

The Norva

Norfolk, Virginia

Capacity: 1,500

Read more at Rolling Stone

[DudeAsInCool]

About's Top 10 Concert Halls in the World

1 The Vienna State Opera

2 Vienna Musikverein

3 The Metropolitan Opera - New York City

4 Symphony Hall - Boston

5 Sydney Opera House - Sydney, Australia

6 Vienna Konzerthaus

7 Walt Disney Concert Hall - Los Angeles

8 Avery Fisher Hall - New York City

9 Hungarian State Opera House - Budapest

10 Carnegie Hall - New York City

Photo: The Vienna State Opera

Read more @ About.com