The Criterion — Attraction in Oklahoma City

My prior post was deleted, so this will be the same with updates.

The Criterion is a sterile environment that looks nice and is designed only to make money with relative low consideration for attendees. How?

1 - Most music venues have a character or charm honed in over time and by the crowds that frequent the venue. While The Criterion has a pleasing exterior architecturally, the interior remains relatively unscathed by years of use. No graffiti - stickers, tagging, writing, etc. It is just a relatively pristine environment like the day it was finished after construction. But not actually because while the walls remain unscathed by graffiti, the drywall is deteriorating, and you can tell they have done maintenance. It's sterile and utilitarian, like a janitor's closet.

2 - Lacks general / public seating of any sort. Usually, venues have seating around the edges or in the mezzanine or balcony so you can take a break from dancing or to enjoy your drink or date, but here you have to pay extra to have assigned seating... like in a stadium. Crazy! Is this a music venue? Dozens of people are generally sitting at the back wall trying to endure the concerts. Nobody knows what to do with their drinks while music is playing, so rarely is anyone dancing or people forgo getting a drink at all. The upstairs balcony has bleachers.... for standing.... so weird.

3 - The music doesn't reverb, echo, or carry. We first attended here for a Lana Del Ray concert, and even though we were standing in the center of the crowd, we could barely hear what she was saying. This second time, we could hear a little better for Hozier, but even then when we went back to get a drink, all vocals were barely audible. While understanding that certain acoustics are needed for code, the interior is lame in terms of acoustics for the actual concert. It's what I would imagine having a concert in a Walmart would be. My grandma pounding the keys on her organ has better acoustics at her church.

4 - In my past, I used to do live photography of bands, DJs, the crowd, and owners of venues so I got to know these venues somewhat intimately. Those pictures were then posted to social media and the people tagged if they desired so there was a meaningful connection. There was a ton of work that went into hosting so that the venues did to connect the musicians to their fans and the venue. Here, hosting is not so much a consideration. Even the venues own merch booth is barely manned. Other venues that I am used to also have free breakfast events before concerts, food truck patios, or host pumpkin carving contests, ballroom dancing classes, etc. in addition to the music they had so there was a sense of community. You get the idea.

I get the sense the owners don't really like their patrons or being in the music industry, and this is "just a business" as the building is basically built to shuffle in people and musicians and shuffle them out.

Some might view this as a drag review, I view it as setting the bar high for...

They do not check vaccine cards at the door. They do check IDs for wrist bands if you're going to drink. They will allow you to leave the venue and will stamp your arm for reentry. They check purses and have you walk through a metal detector. Website says no backpacks. Security staff is very polite and courteous. They allow noise canceling headphones and small bags/purses.

Vaping is allowed indoors but no smoking is allowed otherwise. They devote a large part of their ground floor to multiple bars and mini bars that will price gouge you no matter what you order whether it's alcohol, soda, or water so either drink water before the show or keep a gatorade in your car for after the show. The bathrooms are clean and well lit.

Upstairs has rising seating but can be closed off. If the crowd is small enough, only main floor is open with upstairs seating being sold for upwards of $300 to $600 for seats upstairs in a "private owners seating area." Which feels like a money grab when it could be used as accessability seating for those who need to sit.

There are less than a dozen fold out chairs available on the far left of the stage on the main floor for people with disabilities that need to sit during the concert. But I feel like more chairs should be available overall. Less than a dozen seems a bit stingy.

Please have more seating available for those unable to stand for extended periods of time that doesn't involve hundred dollar price tag. Accessability should be for everyone not just the first eight people to sit down ornpeople who can afford $600 exclusive seats in the closed off risers upstairs.

Basic concert etiquette is to tap people on the shoulder before moving past instead of shoving through people unaware which causes so much unnecessary conflict. So many people forget.

Because of the readily available expensive drinks people will raise their plastic cups full of drinks in the air during preformances and either spill or splash people around them. It's important for people to be mindful and respectful of people around them.

The ground floor can fill up quite fast. Wish they'd open up the upstairs seating for at least the sake of giving people more space. It can get really cramped.

The sound quality is highly dependent on who is working on sound on any particular day. Just know that it will be loud Bring ear protection earbuds or noise canceling headphones to protect your ears otherwise you'll have to deal with being partially hard of hearing for the rest of night and part of...

I took my sister and daughter in law to the K-LOVE Christmas concert last Sunday. We drove 3.5 hours just to get there. Worth the drive!! The acoustics of this venue are amazing! It was a bit warm but not too many people were there. I can only imagine if it were packed. Bottled water was a bit overpriced but that’s normal for any venue. I loved the show however some of the event staff were less than friendly. For some reason, one of the ticket checkers at the door thought it appropriate to mock my sister as we walked away. The blue or green haired venue employee had been less than friendly to begin with. We had our hands stamped from the intermission and stepped outside for a moment and came back in. No problem. After the main show we had tickets for a special performance and had stepped out while waiting for that to start to return calls and texts. We came back in and there was the green or blue haired girl with another guy. The young man said no re-entry with a stamp. My sister pulled out the ticket from her jacket and said “Will this work?” The guy smiled and said yes that’s what we need. Well, the green haired girl was already looking like she ate a lemon and making rude comments, just being less than helpful or friendly. My sister paid no mind to her. She laughed with the guy and we all kind of did. I noticed the girl roll her eyes and as my sister walked past her the employee mocked my sisters laugh and made a bitter beer face while doing it. I guess she didn’t expect anyone to be looking at her. As she did this she turned and locked eyes with ME and I asked her if that was acceptable to her or if there was another problem. She snapped “As long as you have that ticket you’re good.” Well why didn’t she say that to begin with instead of trying to push us back out the door? The whole thing lasted maybe 30 seconds so her jumping to conclusions was very premature. Even her coworker looked at her crazy. Maybe it was past her bedtime idk. I overheard another group of staff (couple of guys) referring to patrons as crackheads. This was a Christian event and I was kind of appalled by the way some of the staff were talking to and about the people that came. Love the building and about 95% of the staff. Loved the show. No matter what we...