San Fran Voice

Venue: GREAT AMERICAN MUSIC HALL

Address: 859 O’Farrell Street @ Polk Street

Neighborhood: “Polk Gulch” area generally, although we all know that means different things for different people.

Types of bands that play here:  Like many San Francisco venues, the Great American Music Hall is happy to host a diverse group of performers including both local and non-local acts although it’s one of the better spots in the city for the non-local stuff.

How often there’s live music:  Almost every night baby!

Points given for:  History of the venue, size of the space and the fact that they’re calendar has links that let you listen to many bands’ music right on their site.  Oh, and they always participate in the SF music events that are multi-venue (like Noise Pop).

Points taken away because: I’m sure I can think of some if given enough time.  Less local stuff than other places, I suppose.  And pricier because of the types of shows.

Overall: The Bay Area’s Most Kissed Music Journalist thinks that if a date is good enough to take you to GAMH, you should reward him or her with some serious smooching.

2007 marks the one hundred year anniversary of the Great American Music Hall and that alone says something about the importance of this venue to the city.  Established just after the Great Earthquake as a restaurant and bordello designed to meet the scandalous needs of the Barbary Coast era, the Great American Music Hall has undergone changes that keep it modern even in the twenty-first century.  At the same time, that history is held there in the walls and gives a sense of importance to any show that you might see there.

And what might you see there?  Well, unlike many of the other spots in the city where people go to hear live music, Great American Music Hall is a music venue with a bar (as opposed to a bar that hosts live music).  So, you go here to hear the acts that are from other locations and are familiar with good spots to play in the city of San Francisco.  But it’s not so much where you would go to hear big name acts.  Instead, you get more off-the-wall-but-known characters, SF favorites and unique acts that you might not have thought to see if you didn’t think to yourself one night, “hey, I wonder what’s playing over at Great American Music Hall”.

As for the details of the venue itself … it’s a two-level venue with a balcony up top and a good-sized floor space down below.  The stage is big so multiple bands can get there stuff set up to avoid prolonged pauses between the night’s musical players.  You can get right up front if you want to or hang back by the bar and still hear well either way because the sound in the venue is better than good.  Tickets are usually somewhere between $15 and $30, more if you’re doing dinner-and-a-show which is the balcony seating special often offered at events.