That said, I did miss being able to wander in and out of the concerts. Also, it seemed that the energy was reduced a bit overall because everyone was sitting -- ESPECIALLY during MC Frontalot -- although I was really, really surprised, and glad, to see an INCREDIBLY charged crowd for Paul and Storm. But I think they, more than anyone else, benefit from the change in venue, since it's easier to understand what they're singing/saying (and you can't laugh at a joke if you can't understand what's being said).
I actually felt the exact opposite. I love JoCo, but I couldn't understand a word he was singing. The drum set was drowning it out - when he came on for the encore, it was great!
So this is where concert opinions are going? *inserts 2 pennies*
Very nice sound, I sat on the third tier each time I went in and loved it. I could see and hear everything. Couple issues were that the lights seemed to shine directly on us for a long time many times. I had to cover my eyes or close them when ever the seizure lights came on. I wish I could charge for assault...
I had no trouble getting a seat for the 2 concerts and final round. Showed up no more than 2 hours early for the concerts and was part of the inside line each time and 30 min or less for final round. I was outside for that but it was moving maybe 2 minutes after I showed up. The seats themselves were a tad uncomfortable but oh well. Kind of a bummer that we were not supposed to be eating/drinking inside the hall, I love to have a bottle of water or a snack bar with me but I'd rather not walk out during a concert just to eat or take a sip...
Not being able to leave and come back was a bummer, I don't enjoy ALL the groups (most, but not all) and I would have liked to be able to do something else sometimes... Ah well.
The lights... I said it already, but they were VERY painful when they stopped on me. A quick "Oh, hello" is fine but many times they tried to have a conversation with my eyes. It was literally painful to the point where I had to close my eyes for entire songs. /rant
I loved Benaroya Hall and the Pros FAR outweighed the cons.
While the concert hall sounded great, the room just doesn't work for the concerts we have. People who wanted to stand, and people who wanted in were stuck outside. The distance away from the theater also meant that committing to an event at the main theater means forgoing at least 30-60 minutes to get decent seats (in contrast, I can hope in and out of the expo hall, and into the main theater much much quickly before). The line itself was also very very boring (having even the get in line games would have been good)
The increase in expo hall space was much welcomed.
However, for the panels I've seen, pretty much none of it was more than half filled. I think for the most part, everything got a size increase, but the demand for the panels didn't, so a lot of space was potentially wasted. (This is in direct contrast to PAXEast's 3 hour panel lines)
Splitting up the lines between Benaroya and the main theatre, IMO was also disappointing. Gone were the old days of beach balls being tossed around, or even people hosting impromptu DS matches, because the potential crowd was split into both lines. Even the Get in Line Games guys didn't help much (Somehow I felt there was less entertainment this year from them, even though I've been in the same number of lines from PAX09 and PAXEast.)
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I actually felt the exact opposite. I love JoCo, but I couldn't understand a word he was singing. The drum set was drowning it out - when he came on for the encore, it was great!
Very nice sound, I sat on the third tier each time I went in and loved it. I could see and hear everything. Couple issues were that the lights seemed to shine directly on us for a long time many times. I had to cover my eyes or close them when ever the seizure lights came on. I wish I could charge for assault...
I had no trouble getting a seat for the 2 concerts and final round. Showed up no more than 2 hours early for the concerts and was part of the inside line each time and 30 min or less for final round. I was outside for that but it was moving maybe 2 minutes after I showed up. The seats themselves were a tad uncomfortable but oh well. Kind of a bummer that we were not supposed to be eating/drinking inside the hall, I love to have a bottle of water or a snack bar with me but I'd rather not walk out during a concert just to eat or take a sip...
Not being able to leave and come back was a bummer, I don't enjoy ALL the groups (most, but not all) and I would have liked to be able to do something else sometimes... Ah well.
The lights... I said it already, but they were VERY painful when they stopped on me. A quick "Oh, hello" is fine but many times they tried to have a conversation with my eyes. It was literally painful to the point where I had to close my eyes for entire songs. /rant
I loved Benaroya Hall and the Pros FAR outweighed the cons.
While the concert hall sounded great, the room just doesn't work for the concerts we have. People who wanted to stand, and people who wanted in were stuck outside. The distance away from the theater also meant that committing to an event at the main theater means forgoing at least 30-60 minutes to get decent seats (in contrast, I can hope in and out of the expo hall, and into the main theater much much quickly before). The line itself was also very very boring (having even the get in line games would have been good)
The increase in expo hall space was much welcomed.
However, for the panels I've seen, pretty much none of it was more than half filled. I think for the most part, everything got a size increase, but the demand for the panels didn't, so a lot of space was potentially wasted. (This is in direct contrast to PAXEast's 3 hour panel lines)
Splitting up the lines between Benaroya and the main theatre, IMO was also disappointing. Gone were the old days of beach balls being tossed around, or even people hosting impromptu DS matches, because the potential crowd was split into both lines. Even the Get in Line Games guys didn't help much (Somehow I felt there was less entertainment this year from them, even though I've been in the same number of lines from PAX09 and PAXEast.)