Knitting Factory Boise — Attraction in Boise

I do not enjoy this space. This is an email I wrote to the Knitting Factory April 9, 2016 and never received a response.

To whom it may concern,

Tonight I went to the Gary Clark Jr. concert. Once Gary Clark came on my mom, sister, and I went towards the stage so we could see. My mom is 4’9”. I stood on the left side of the stage so my mom and sister could see. Once Gary Clark came on, he was on the far left side of the stage and I realized I would not be able to see him at all during the show. On the left side of the stage was a curtain, and I thought, if I pull that back, I would be able to see. So, I pulled back the curtain just a little bit and I was able to see just his face. Other folks around me were also super stoked and gave me a thumbs up. I was having a great time, dancing away, and then after a few songs some gentleman came up and closed the curtain.

At first I didn’t let it ruin my time, but then I didn’t understand what the big deal was. I paid good money for my ticket and I felt that I should be able to see. I figured the staff would give me a warning or could at least explain why the curtain was there so I opened it slightly so I could see. Next thing I know a woman is pulling the curtain closed. I asked her “is that necessary? Why does it need to be closed?” She mentioned she didn’t know why, it was just her job. So I asked to speak to her boss. Next thing I know I have several staff members circling me, asking for me to follow them. I asked where their boss was and they said near the bathroom, so I followed them.

Once we got to the room. I asked the “boss”, why is it necessary to keep the curtains closed? He mentioned it was for the band privacy. I asked if it was a band request or a venue policy and the gentleman mentioned it was a venue policy. I said, I understood. I said, that I know they are unable to do anything for this show, but maybe in the future they could put the curtain behind the speakers or at an angle so that folks could see. They said that it was a production issue. I mentioned maybe I could email them and make a request. I had a handful of plastic cups and asked if they had recycling yet. The gentleman mentioned it was too difficult and they are unable to do it. I said that most of the venues in the area recycle and that I have made several requests throughout the last few years for them to recycle, without any outcome.

At that point, some woman said something about me leaving. I asked if I was getting kicked out and she said yes. I asked what I had done and she said I had been disrespectful to her staff. Throughout the entire night, I was calm, I didn’t swear, I didn’t make any threats, and I only asked to speak to management, so I asked her how I had been disrespectful. She responded with, "I don’t know I wasn’t there." I didn’t want to cause any issues so I handed over the empty plastic cups (please keep in mind, only one cup was mine), allowed them to cut my wrist band and without a fuss, I left.

As I left, I became really frustrated. I don’t think I did anything wrong to justify getting kicked out. I followed all their requests, was very respectful and calm.

Could you please send me your policy for removing folks from your...

Just came from a concert here where the bouncers kinda ruined the whole experience. The bouncers spent literally 40 minutes of the show facilitating nonstop crowed surfing of the same 5 people. There was one bouncer at the back who would pick them up and throw them along over and over and over again. To the point that they were even sending people along to crowd surf even when the band wasn’t playing. I have never seen a show before this where everyone ran away from being in the center of the crowd just so they would have to deal with the endless crowd surfers. They only stopped because so few people were left in front of the band that the crowd surfers started to get dropped.

For the last song of the encore a severely drunk/high person threw himself into the center of the crowd and starting shoving everyone in sight trying to start a pit. One look at the dude and you could see the lights were on but nobody was home. As the bouncers had no intention of doing their job this quickly got out of hand and after he crashed into the same woman three times, despite throwing her beer in his face shoving him away and flipping him off, her boyfriend decided to start a real fight with the person. All of this could have been avoided with watchful bouncers removing the clearly overly intoxicated person as would have happened at any other concert venue I’ve ever been to.

Lastly, I’ve been to a ton of shows and have never seen so many absolutely trashed people at a show that wasn’t an all day festival. I question the bar tenders and how many drinks they were allowing people to purchase as almost everyone around me was near blackout levels of drunk (to the point the woman next to me was perpetually falling in to me and nearly pulled down my pants while trying to steady herself)

Tl;dr the bouncers here are more interested in being “cool/fun” instead of enforcing safety. The bar doesn’t seem to limit how much people drink so be ready for massively drunk people. The whole place is kind of a shitshow so just know...

I wouldn't go there if there were another concert house but it is what it is. Here's my review:

Pro's: They get great bands like Social Distortion and Flogging Molly

Cons: It's dirty, the outside smoking area is too small and, last time I was there, the while smoking area was shoulder to shoulder and the flimsy little gate they set up for it's containment was not bolted down or secured so you couldn't lean against. Now, that's not exactly a problem but it becomes one if there are so many people that a person gets moved by the crowd and thinks that gate will stop her from falling and smashing her face in the concrete. On that visit, I was one of the first to arrive for the show but probably the last person to receive their cold food orders maybe an hour after it was placed. No one wants to be eating during the main band and it really sucks to be in a bar with nothing to drink because the kitchen and staff can't coordinate on who's food order the staff is actually taking. To make up for this, they did comp one drink for myself and friend but had to go reprint the receipt when that didn't actually happen. But, at least I got my debit card back when I closed my tab. Oh wait, no I didn't. Let's go over booking tickets.. there is only one layout image regardless of the show so, when Christopher Titus (a comedian act) came to town, you don't have a clue where you're going to end up if you buy "front row seating". For music events, you're standing downstairs and seated up. If you go with upstairs, you have a tiny table for four people to share which means whoever buys the seats first get the view against the railing and the other two people get the backs of your heads for the same price you paid. It's a pretty terrible set up. No lay out imagery on their website and don't bother calling to ask if there will be tables brought in on the dance floor for an event because they won't answer their phone or reply to your fb message even if you're asking how you can give them...