Théâtre Fairmount — Local services in Montreal

I went for a concert yesterday. I really like the environment and the sound! The whole concept is really good and intimate. However, I went to get drinks twice.. the first time they charged me X amount and I left a 2$ tip. The second time I ordered the same exactly thing and they charged me one dollar extra, so instead of leaving 2$ I left 1$ As I had coins left from my previous purchase, I put the tip while the girl was looking for my change. When she turned around I took my money and I was putting it in my pocket and she was staring at me so I tell her like I had already put money on the tips and I pointed at it. She gave the meanest look!!! She even made gestures at me! But I had already put my tip in!! I wasn’t gonna tip her double only because she was busy and hadn’t see me. Plus she only had a dollar on her tip space so if she had even looked at it she would have noticed that I had tipped her already. She was really rude and that prevented my friends and I to go and get drinks again... even though that happened at the beginning of the night, and we had planned to drink way more.

TLTR: Everything good but I ad a bad experience with the bartender. If you go, either pre drink before going, or just be prepare to being mistreated and wait for the bartender to give you change before tipping, no matter how many coins you...

The venue is in a cool spot in the city and the layout makes it easy to feel close to the band, plus the smaller room forces the soundguy to be reasonable with the volume so you can appreciate the music without going deaf.

BUT there is no AC or even ventilation. Bands were playing shirtless and complaining about it and a lot of people were fainting from dehydration with the high humidity and hot temperature. Security is lacking for any show with a big crowd. The bands had to take care of the people crowd surfing and being almost thrown head first on stage, some people walking directly on stage to shake their hand or talk with them during the show. The layout with seats randomly placed in the room and some small steps all around the center might be okay for a small guitar player kind of show but it is pretty dumb and dangerous for active crowds. Saw a couple people falling after being pushed by the crowd or just missing one of the steps.

All of it makes it a place I would probably not go back to unless I really want to see the band and it's not...

PROS: -acoustics seem decent (although it's hard to tell when you're watching a post-rock band) -drinks not unreasonably priced -intimate, charming venue that is very characteristic of the neighborhood in which it's located

CONS: -sound control (feedback and too much reverb...) was whack and the band had to interrupt the show to get it fixed despite copious sound checking at the start. The Fairmount should hire someone who actually knows what they are doing. -it's way, way too loud for the venue size. Bring earplugs! -as someone else mentioned, the lights guy (maybe same as sound guy?) also doesn't know what he is doing. At one point he put a floodlight on the band and one of the members had to make an x with her hands for a solid minute before they switched it to a spotlight on the person who was actually performing -staff seemed...