Viva la Crocodile!
March 20th, 2009
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I instead marveled at the transformation of the place, at the smart layout, the use of huge steel girders to span the heightened and wide ceilings thus eliminating the dreaded “post” and at the smell of PINE.. and not pine spray mind you, but pine. When’s the last time you smelled ANYTHING fresh in a venue.. huh?
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When you enter the Croc next time (for the first time) you won’t recognize it except for the ramp in the floor that used to connect the front room to the back bar. That’s the new entrance for the venue. The old back bar is now the pizza joint and sealed off behind a wall. To enter you walk a hall along the Blanchard St wall, west towards 2nd, which opens into the main room. There’s a big bar right there in the back, supposedly made from the wood of the old ceiling. It’s about 20x the size of the old room’s taco stand of a bar , now with 2 (count’em, 2!) bartenders or MORE! The stage is now situated fully on the north wall instead of kitty cornered in the NW. It’s beautiful. Far too clean, but beautiful.
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They’ve even put in a mezzanine level to the right of the stage, sorta the opposite of what Neumos has, and with a bar oh-so-conveniently placed right up there there for you too. Someone likes us to drink!
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Now most importantly is that fact that, Seattle audio icon, Jim Anderson was still working the sound, and shit, if that man isn’t a genius. The sound was in the house was incredible. Everything spot on. My friends “The Chrises” and I smartly hung out right at the booth for most of the show and quickly chatted with Jim between sets. Jim had a heavy hand in the setup of the new sound system, tailoring it to the room and seemed more than happy about the sound booth being about 3 feet from it’s previous “tiki hut” location. I suppose after 16+ years in the same spot, you’d want to hold onto at least one thing from the “old ways”.
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The purpose of the night was to act as a sorta live sound check to help work out any bugs there might be in the new systems, but from what I could tell, there weren’t any. The only criticism I have on the whole night would be the lighting which is done with new LED spots. Now I’ll probably get organic compost flung at me for bashing green technology in Seattle, but screw LED lighting of any kind in a music venue! The constant flickering is just irritating, especially that surreal blue light. Someone’s bound to have an acid flashback in there eventually.
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Tonight, Friday, March 20th, there is another “Sound Check” featuring AKIMBO, Brothers of the Sonic Cloth and Patrol. Doors open at 8 p.m. The night is 21+, and goodness me…no cover. With these bands, I think they’re going to try to stress the system tonight…
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So, Belltown has live music again. We get a reason to wander into Shorties without a messenger bag, we get to grub on excellent Mexican food at Mamas before our shows and we get to pray our cars don’t get stolen while we’re there. Viva la Crocodile!!!
March 20th, 2009 at 9:09 am
Blood Red Dancers said:
How did “Liver Olympics” turn out.
Sorry we missed you guys.
March 20th, 2009 at 9:20 am
LB said:
I just read on Line Out that they ran out of booze before 10 pm.
March 20th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Kevin leDoux said:
I’d say that makes liver olympics a success..
March 20th, 2009 at 9:38 am
Kevin leDoux said:
OK, so the bar did run out but that’s why there was free Jones Soda out front and lots of booze in my car…
March 20th, 2009 at 9:49 am
Chris Morales said:
Yep, Before 10pm, but that is also because of the Rumored private early engagement with Robyn Hitchcock and members of REM.
I cannot wait to play that stage.
Unlike Kevin, I like the LED lights, but i used to drop a hell of a lot of acid in the 90’s and get nostalgic for tracers!
And finally, our fearless leader Kevin LeDoux won liver olympics last night.
I have your root beer bottle at home and safe.
Freakin Frankenstein!!!!!!
March 20th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Seattle Show Gal said:
Did you see me? Why didn’t you say hi? I totally had my eye out for you Kevin… No LOVE! :(
March 20th, 2009 at 10:42 am
Kevin leDoux said:
Imagine me, not being able to find you in a friggen SEA of people with cameras…the nerve.
Don’t you think I would have said hey if I saw you? Third interview’s always a charm don’cha know!
March 20th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Seattle Show Gal said:
Well aren’t you just Mr. snappy to me today! :( First you snub me at The Croc, and now your just downright rude. :D JK
March 20th, 2009 at 10:54 am
C-Leb said:
Reminds me of Via Tribunali’s meets Neumos, and it lacked a giant 20ft paper mache crocodile hangin from the ceiling… other than that the sound was HUGE! and I officially christened the lavatory with the first band sticker right on the mirror, and with a friends help the girls bathroom wall!
March 20th, 2009 at 11:07 am
Tom.Blodgett said:
Its amazing that the new space looks like it could hold 5 or 6 old Crocodiles inside of it. But the wood/black steel beam style is similar to the War Room or Nectar and is a little too clean. The walls, borders, and space above the merch booth are in need of some art or designs. (It is nice to see a prominent merch booth with easy access to the crowd. The bands need to sell).
We checked out the music for a bit but I wasn’t blown away. I’d rather judge the acoustics later, at a show I really want to see. I had hoped for a no holds barred ass kicking first show. I wanted the very first chords played to be instantly memorable (and maybe some fireworks,streamers, and an elephant) The first band was good but not memorable.
This venue will easily rival our other tops venues. It will be fun. And I hope they can keep the bathroom that shiny. Good luck!
March 20th, 2009 at 11:08 am
Chris Morales said:
C-Leb,
The Paper Mache Croc would be cool. I will mention that.
I am still surprised that my ears are not ringing today. The Sound was BIG but not overwhelming. Jim is a fantastic sound guy.
March 20th, 2009 at 11:36 am
Kevin leDoux said:
Welcome to MY world Showgal!! Mooo-haaa-haa-haa!!!
March 20th, 2009 at 12:24 pm
Chris Craig said:
We were at The Croc last night?
March 20th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
Chris Morales said:
So I was right, I can now confirm that last nights pre party impromptu show was Venus 3. It seems that Peter Buck, Robyn Hitchcock, Bill Reiflin and company grabbed bango, acoustic guitars and tambourines and just well… Felt like playing a set.
Only the Croc… Only the Croc.
March 24th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
anonymous said:
I just walked out of the Crocodile Nightwatchmen sound check. Pearl Jam, SoundGarden to name a few. That stage was extremely full of Seattle Rock Royalty.