Health & Fitness
Weekly Venue Spotlight: The Tower Theater
This Week's Venue Spotlight is on The Tower Theater in Upper Darby.
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Hey All!
This Week’s Venue Spotlight is on The Tower Theater in Upper Darby. In my opinion, there are a few standard things that make a random building a good venue for enjoying music, I call it the “LASR” (pronounced Laser) Method. If you’ve been reading the blog, you’ve seen it before!
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Location, Location, Location: To be honest, 69th Street in Upper Darby is simply not what it used to be. The traffic in the area, especially before a big show, is insane. Do yourself a favor and leave at least 30 minutes before you think you should. Parking can be an issue, you WILL NOT got street parking, but there is a garage a short walk from the venue that is safer anyway.
Ambiance: The Ambiance at The Tower is Incredible. It first opened in 1927 and it maintains its regal, early 20th century charm and looks. The seats are a little small and leg room is hard to come by, but, overall, they are plush and comfortable if you’re under or around 6 foot. It is a place you really must see at least once if you are from Delco.
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Sound Quality: The acoustics in The Tower are second to none. I heard a story from a reliable source about a special event there. Damien Rice, an amazing Irish singer/songwriter was in town, and he was playing The Tower. He was having technical difficulties and after a few songs he gave up. He unplugged his guitar, sat on the front of the stage and asked everyone to be quiet. He then proceeded to play the entire gig, acoustic and everyone could hear him. Seriously, that is bad ass.
Refreshment: The Tower offers a range of refreshments, all the way from standard Movie theater candy and popcorn to alcoholic beverages. Most gigs are 18 to enter, 21 to drink. The bar is upstairs and you need an ID and a wristband to get up there. Eat before you go though, real food is hard to come by.
My verdict: The Tower Theater is really Delco’s only big venue. I can’t think of anywhere else around here where you can seat 4,100 people (if I’m wrong, let me know in the comments!) The place has real old world charm and amazing sound. Go check it out ASAP.
From their website: It all started early one summer in 1972 when the first concert and sold out show took place at the Tower Theater. The day after the show, a reviewer from the Philadelphia Daily News wrote, “Philly finally has its Fillmore,” referring to the famous Fillmore East in New York.
Over the next few years, The Tower quickly grew a reputation as having its finger on the “pulse” of what was happening in music.
Unknowns then, David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars and Peter Gabriel with Genesis stood on the Tower’s stage during its fledgling years and Bruce Springsteen introduced the E Street Band there in 1974.
Since then, the likes of Paul Simon, Neil Young and David Bowie have recorded live shows in this historic building and the list of talent that has come through is truly amazing: U2, Grateful Dead, Radiohead, Bob Marley, Tori Amos, Eddie Murphy, Mary J. Blige, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Kanye West, John Legend, The Decemberists, Robert Plant, The Arcade Fire, Kings of Leon, Janet Jackson, Eddie Vedder, The Smiths, The Rolling Stones, Phish, Steely Dan, Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle and literally thousands more.
In a couple months Death Cab for Cutie is going to be there, and I would recommend you go check it out for sure!
Info:
Death Cab for Cutie @ The Tower Theater April 25, 2012 at 8 p.m. $40-45
19 South 69th Street, Upper Darby PA 19082
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