Wonder Ballroom — Local services in Portland

Decent venue, but there was just enough little irks that I'll avoid it in the future.

The floor is divided in half so that minors can't go upstairs to sit down or get right next to the stage, and people 21 and over can't take drinks to where their younger friends are watching the show. I know they're not the only ones to do this (Crystal ballroom does, too), but age discrimination is ridiculous. Made me laugh when the band asked what the open walkway in the middle was during their concert and then said it was ridiculous and kept talking about it. The result of this great divide was crossing the room to get a drink, slamming it and then getting back to the minor side to be with friends. At least the bar tender was chill and the beer was cold.

Typical sound: opener mix was off a bit and the headliner sounded perfect, so felt like they were painting between the proverbial engineer lines for most live concerts. Don't get me won't, i know that live sound is extremely hard to mix, but I'd rather go someplace where everyone gets a decent mix.

The door line was a bit convoluted, there seemed to be too many cooks and we were told to move a couple times to places not clearly marked–at times being told to walk back and forth between two points because of miscommunication.

When the show was over we literally had about a minute or two before we were told we had to leave. Then, while waiting for our friends outside the front doors and sitting on the curb we were told we had to move because“600” people were on their way out. Unfortunately for the person relaying this “fact” we were quite near the end of the line so it felt a bit over the top and quite frankly unnecessary.

All in all it wasn't too bad, but when I'm going to a show I dig venues that have the smaller details dialed and where I don't feel like I'm infringing on people's night. I know for a lot of folks that's not a deal breaker, but for anyone else, there you have it.

Again, I'm glad I got to check it out but I'll be personally steering clear of this spot...

I don't even know how to start my experience at this venue! Upon entering the facility the security question the integrity/ validity of our tickets. "The scanner does not lie," was what we heard when we were asked to step aside to let others in. Finally the scanner "worked." We were then aloud in. Not long after the main performer began my close friend slipped off the venue. I became concerned about her whereabouts so began looking for her. I found her in an altercation with security outside. To diffuse the situation I asked her to step away and take the high road. To be honest I felt the security at the wonder ballroom continued to be rude to my friend and then another women outside the venue. I approached the security officers and told them I felt their attitude/behavior was rude and excessive. No I take accountability for the fact I may have been rude myself. Hearing this conversation my friend slapped the security officer across the face. Again, I recognize this response was inappropriate but she was then pinned to the ground by a man twice her size. I asked them to stop as she cried asking for help. I told them I felt they were scaring her more and if they just let me help her it would be better. Well needless to say none of that happened, and for the first time in my 35 years of life I felt I could no longer defend a security officer or police officer. As a blue collar worker myself and with police personal in my family in another state, I was completely offended. I will never attend this venue again nor will I recommend it to anyone. On a brighter note, one employee of the venue did support me through this event. I cannot remember his name but he wore black glasses. Thank you for...

Worst security in Portland. After paying even more than usual to see one of our favorite artists we were accosted about 10 minutes in by a large security guard with a brown goatee and full sleeve arm tattoos. He uttered something about "Not tonight!" as he came up to us. Unsure what this was about I said "Okay." In hopes that it would get him to leave. His response was "Lets go" and proceeded to belly bounce my girlfriend and I across the crowded dance floor all the way to the back. I asked if we were being kicked out and the only reply I received was "Cant light up in the building" followed by more pushing and pointing to the exit. No time was given to explain/reason or anything else. Even if someone were guilty of committing such an infraction a simple respectful warning and request to comply with rules would likely save all parties a lot of frustration and the wonder some more of my future $$. When my girlfriend dropped her coat near the entrance the security guard attempted more physical intimidation by standing less than an inch away. When I asked him to move back and respect my personal space he threatened my with physical harm by saying "Say something else and im going to make it worse.." Not only is this completely unacceptable and the opposite of what security should do (make people feel safe) but this individuals conduct borders on criminal due to the physical intimidation and barely masked threats. I will definitely never be coming back to this place and will be sure to let my friends and everyone else I know in the community that not only is Wonder Ballroom disrespectful to their patron they are downright hostile and it is not a safe...