The Senate — Attraction in Columbia

So whoever the promoters were for the Boosie concert, sucked. They couldnt even fill up 1/8 of the club. It was empty. Maybe 80 ppl tops. Maybe. They had the VIP Meet/Greet ppl wait in a small lounge on the side of the room. They gave us instruction to lineup on the side by the door during the show. We line up, I'm 3rd in line behind a couple. There were probably only really 7-10 ppl with meet/greet bands. All of a sudden a bunch of females rush the line. The 2 guys working the VIP line cant find the guy with the meet/greet list on the clipboard so he preceeds to ONLY let in 10 females. Me and a couple ppl with bands tell the venue employees that we have meet/greet passes and they just let in regular fans that we paid of $100-200 for our tickets. This mfer tells us "but did you see them tho". The guy with the clipboard comes out and says "that's it he met with everybody for the meet and greet. All of y'all go home." We waited for 10more minutes before the police escort us out. Whoever that fat employee with the booger looking skin on the outside of his nose discriminated against a group of us. I mean I was 3rd in line. He literally put his hand in my chest and pushed me back and allowed a bunch of females. He just pointed at ppl. He didnt check wristbands or the guest list. Very unprofessional. I drove 4 hours, took a day off from work, and spent money on a hotel room just to have their fat employee call me ugly. I want my money back. I basically got denied paid services because of my looks. That's discrimination. You need to fire that guy and hire someone that knows how VIP works. Ive been to this establishment 5x since 2013. I will not stepfoot into the Columbia venue until I get a refund...

Visiting from out of town; seeing Josh Johnson was one of the highlights of our trip. Venue was adequate, but frustrated with bag policy. Only clear bags allowed in the venue - this was not printed on the ticket and not even publicized on the venue’s main page. Only advertised on the FAQs which few people seemed to read as many women arrived with their handbags. We arrived about 30 min prior to showtime after having walked 20 minutes from our hotel, and the staff was horribly dismissive when I mentioned that we could not get to our hotel and back in time for the show. We ultimately asked this nice woman who was taking her bag to her car if she would lock ours up - hopefully she is as kind as she seems or we will struggle to get on our flight back home. I get the safety concern to minimize bags (or the stuff in the bag) at a venue, but these policies disproportionately affect women AND if a venue is going to have a bag policy then it really is incumbent on them to have some sort of bag check option, even if it cost a couple of bucks! In this day and age when we are encouraging the use of public transportation and ride sharing to minimize drinking and driving, realize that many may arrive at the venue with no place to safely put their prohibited bag. Not sure if this is a performer issue or a venue issue, but the show started 30 minutes later than advertised. Maybe the venue was aware of these delays and that’s why they encouraged me to take the 40 minute walk to the...

The show and the bartenders were really good, as were the personnel inside, but the outside security was so awful that I will never go to this venue again. The women checking IDs were rude and ignorant, and the supposed "police officer" who was clearly only a security guard was aggressive and insulting. They told me I could not drink inside the venue because I did not have a "valid id" even though I showed them a state-issued license with my picture and birthday (and I am clearly over 21). When I pushed back on what is clearly NOT SC law, the man threatened to physically make me leave the premises, swore at me, and used an offensive slur. Then he and the womam checking ids said they would be watching, and if I tried to drink, they would physically escort me from the building . It absolutely ruined the night. I realize Columbia is a college town and fake ids are a problem--but there are also adult residents who pay for admission to a concert and don’t need the hassle--or the embarrassment--of overly aggressive security guards. I would encourage the managers and owner to check into who they hire to staff the door, especially given other reviews about who I do not doubt are the same people. Having door staff harass middle-aged people over whether they can buy a beer really is not...