Stephanie P.
Yelp
Saw The Killers here on 9/18 for their YouTube LiveStream courtesy of American Express and their "Unstaged" series. This is a series of shows where AMEX pairs up bands with well known directors and streams them online...The Killers chose to work with Werner Herzog for this particular show.
Ok, now that I got the reason I was here out of the way, let's review - this show was "Will Call" for people who purchased their tickets online and lucked out with General Admission tickets. The "Will Call" folks were made to get their tickets at 5:37pm when doors were supposed to open at 5:30pm. Their process for this was messy and unorganized. People were made to step out of the line, get their tickets and wristbands and then proceed to get back in line in the correct order. I got there around 9:15am because I'm a HUGE Killers fan and wanted to make sure I was up front and center of the barricade throughout their performance. I'm 5ft tall and it's how I enjoy shows for bands I really like, sue me - but people were getting in front of me (and others!) who had no business skipping people, so of course a little drama ensued (erupted up in the very front, I was person #16, my section was drama - the very front of the line was a warz one, lol).
After the line reformed it turned out that our pre-ripped tickets (ripped by the folks handing out tickets) should not have been ripped because now security couldn't scan their barcodes (insert eyeroll here). So we were instructed to walk in slowly and show our wristbands and tickets. Oooookay. Fast forward 45 minutes after everyone ran in like 8th graders on a last day of school, security kept selectively asking to see people's wristbands...personally I think if Will Call tickets were distributed when the box office opened or at least 30 minutes prior to doors and tickets not ripped then a lot of chaos could have been avoided. It's not Paradise Theater's first "Will Call" show, they should have a better system in place by now...
Now for the show. I was exactly where I wanted to be, front and center right, pressed up the barricade. The theater is quite beautiful with a certain mod 1920's feel. It's big enough to house a bombastic performance as provided by The Killers, but felt small enough to create an intimate experience despite it being a sold out gig. The sound could have been better, venues like Roseland and Webster Hall surely excel in this area and I attend enough concerts that I've developed an ear for this sort of thing.
Security was good in controlling the crowd which in all fairness didn't require much "controlling". I remember when this theater first popped up on my concert radar when I saw bands I liked booking shows here. My first reaction was, "Pffffft, I'm not going to the Bronx, I'll wait till they play in the city or Brooklyn again". Killers got me there and honestly, I commuted from Jackson Heights, Queens. It wasn't bad at all and I'd surely do it again. My experience here was definitely a solid 4 stars but I'm sure for most people a 3.5 or 3.