Talk:Commodore Ballroom
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[edit] The New Floor
- After $3.5 million in renovations (including a new hardwood dancefloor) it reopened under the House of Blues banner on November 12, 1999.
This sounds like it's dragged straight from the Ballroom's own page, because I doesn't mention the controversy over the new floor, or the old hardwood dance floor, which was a LOT "dancier" and "bouncier" than the "new hardwood dancefloor" the recent renovations caused. The old horsehair-and-tires combination floor, which I swear could bounce you ten feet in the air during a heavy gig, was taken out by the new folks to "improve" it for more sedate forms of dancing, i.e. line dancing, as the new ownership (despite the Blues name) was country-oriented and not concerned with the ballroom-meets-punk flavour of the place. I'll have to try and dig up some cites, or bug Alex Varty or another music critic of the day, for some cites about this; but I do know that the "new" floor is a shadow of its former self. If they just wanted it to look nice they could have just replaced the hardwood; but they ripped out the suspension system and, thereby, the famous "bounce" - this was one of the last dance floors of its kind in North America by the way, until the new bunch from Alberta decided it was just a little too difficult for country-music dancing....I've been on it since and while it does have a "pulse" it doesn't have a "wave".Skookum1 20:03, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
And as in my edit comments there's a whole rich history of famous gigs played in the Commodore from '29 onwards; I know "modern" people are only concerned with bands of their own generation, but more's the pity: the Commodore's richest history was before the pop-culture era; I also think there's probably some menus to be had at the City Archives, which would be kind of interesting (i.e. this was dine-and-dance, not just drink-and-dance). And as for it being the "most famous" of Vancouver's historic live-music venues, nope, that honour belongs to The Cave (nightclub) which, by the way, still needs an article, and in Jack Wasserman's era Isy's (later The Metro, now a parking lot next door to the Christian Science church at Georgia & Bute) was right up there, as well.Skookum1 20:03, 3 October 2006 (UTC)
[edit] The Clash in '79?
I'm pretty sure that the Clash played at the PNE Gardens in '79, not the Commodore. (DPU 18:35, 25 November 2006 (UTC))
[edit] Copyvio
Wholesale replacement of teh page with text taken from http://www.livenation.com/event/getEvent/eventId/255408/ has been reverted. -- Whpq 23:36, 20 April 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Photo request
Flickr has a bunch of CC images of bands playing at the commodore, but none that really show what the venue looks like inside. Can anyone help? - TheMightyQuill (talk) 18:20, 24 February 2008 (UTC)
- I should be there soon again. I'll bring a camera, but the lights are usually down low once doors open for a show. I'll see what I can do. Sancho 09:04, 28 April 2008 (UTC)
