San Jose Civic — Attraction in San Jose

I saw an electronic music show (LSZEE) here a few weeks ago and it was by far the worst venue experience I've ever had. The way that the staff interacted with my partner and me was dehumanizing, totally devoid of empathy or compassion, and judgemental. ANY electronic music artist that cares about their fans should steer very clear of this place and any fan that cares about themselves and their community should do the same.

This venue has no business hosting EDM shows; it was obvious that they hate doing it and are only having them to extract money from a group of people that they see as degenerate scumbags who need to be tightly controlled to protect themselves, each other, and their venue.

To be more specific; this venue has a long list of rules, some of which are on their website and some of which aren't. These rules are enforced aggressively and inconsistently by an absurdly large number of security staff. I'm a self-reliant, kind, sober person and really shouldn't have needed to talk to any security staff for the two nights I was there but I had unpleasant interactions with 15+ members of their staff during that time. I don't have the word count to explain all of these so here's a list of some of the shitty things their security team did.

Refused to let us bring an empty reusable water bottle into the venue despite no info on website, tickets, etc on what was / wasn't allowed Took water bottle caps away despite medical need for hydration access Absurdly slow and thorough pat down and bag check; prepare to be poked, prodded, groped, and interrogated Threw out a bunch of my stuff at security without telling me Refused to let me bring in nicotine replacement products Took away sealed OTC medication despite website saying that it's OK Medical staff only able to do damage control, no flexibility on preventative care Sheeted all water fountains in the venue Posted guards outside of the restrooms to make sure people used the "right" restroom based on a visual assessment (I'm nonbinary and confirmed by talking with one of them) Yelling at people to get out of restroom stalls to clear the venue

Went to San Jose Civic for Timmy Trumpets Freakshow with will sparks and restricted supporting. We lined up about 30 minutes before doors. It was a lightly rainy night, and they had a good awning set up for ID checks with good lighting and visible security. ID checks started about 5 minutes before doors, allowing the first groups lined up to move to the ticket scan and security check.

The ticket scan was straightforward, but the security check took quite some time. They are very thorough and will have you remove everything from your pockets, wand you down, and pat you down pretty effectively.

Once inside the venue, there is a decent floor area, which is easy to dance on earlier in the night but can be very crowded during headliners. There is a section of seats on the ground level as well as wrap around 2nd floor seating. Sometimes all GA sometimes you have to buy specific seats or VIP show depending.

The sound is fairly decent for these shows, earplugs reccomended. Visual screens vary depending on artists, but the venue itself has a nice large screen on the main stage and two very large monitors on the sides.

Concessions and bars have decent offerings, but when we went to grab a beer the Stella was tapped on our cashiers side, and no one seemed to know whose job it was to fix it. $15 beer. There are some food options, including warm, fresh, baked cookies, which I thought was delightful.

Restrooms were fairly clean. Water station available in smoking area. Security walks the floor and seats regularly. They checked in with a person who seemed to be sleeping to make sure they were OK but somehow missed this poor girl losing her dinner a few rows over.

Overall, it is a decent venue, but security checks can be a little invasive. Oh, also nearby parking at Civic Center station...

Well before Covid 19 was announced and the restrictions and obvious reasons as to why people of the thousands shouldn’t be packed into a venue were learned, tickets went on sale for an event to which a group of my friends and I purchased. Unlike other venues who refunded the tickets people bought,, this venue decided to hold onto everybody’s money and announce that the event is postponed, but still on the eve before the event haven’t announced the new date.

There are many reasons as to why I am giving this review a 1 Star; One being the above, two being that none of my friends or I would consider going to a concert in 2020 considering this pandemic is still going on and expected to last into 2021, but also because there are many people who are out of work and need that money back. If it so happens that this is postponed to 2021, they shouldn’t be allowed to hold onto people’s money for 8+ months. Lastly, many of the ticket purchasers are now going to have to replan to attend this event for whatever date this venue puts the show on for and may now not be able to attend due to schedule conflicts.

I get that this venue is also hurting due to the State wide restrictions Covid 19 has caused, but they should give at least the option to the ticket purchasers to keep their tickets or get a refund as there are numerous reasons as mentioned above that cancelling the event or refunding those that wouldn’t want too or simply can’t go would be the better path. I personally would not buy any more tickets to an event here as I find their actions...