I was at the Neptune last night for the Mark Lanegan show. The show was really great (including the opening duo of Sean Wheeler and Zander Schloss), but the venue definitely has some kinks to work out.

The seats were uncomfortable and unnecessary. The floor was 21+, but you couldn't bring drinks to your seats. As a result, people congregated in the bar at the back of the room, which would normally be okay, but many of these people chose to talk REALLY LOUDLY during a very mellow show.

Why you'd pay good money to see a great artist like Mark Lanegan and then talk REALLY LOUDLY during the entire set is beyond me. Perhaps you just went there to "be seen". Lame.

@1. Was the whole ground floor outfitted with those padded folding chairs used during the first week of SIFF? Will they not be using the chairs for the more rock-ish show?