Rock the Casbah

I got my first taste of a big bar show in State College on Monday night at Lulu's Nightspot when the Lemonheads came to town. The show was pretty good overall, but more importantly, Lulu's has got a pretty sweet set-up.

I don't know how successful live music can be in a college town where the vast majority of students don't care about live music. But if Lulu's can book some shows that appeal to the more musically inclined among us, it could turn out to be a great venue. The sound in the place was really good, even when The Lemonheads got into their more distorted punk numbers. The drums came through especially well, which was fortunate because the drumming, in my opinion, was the most consistent thing about the show.

The only thing I wondered about Monday's show is why it was a 21+ show. In a college town, does it really make sense to cut out the majority of your potential audience? I'm not sure if it's possible with the way the bars are set up, but a bracelet system would be ideal for the venue. That way you keep your hands clean of furnishing alcohol to minors, and meanwhile all the 21+ among the crowd can still drunkenly heckle Evan Dando.

The crowd on Monday was middling in size, but other than that, Lulu's was a great place to see a show. The decor is pretty sweet and the sound, lights and stage were all up to snuff. I can't wait to see how the place handles an all-ages show next month when The Hold Steady comes to town.