Social Hall SF

Came here the other night for a concert.
Venue entrance is on the side on the building.
Pretty big space with one bar. The concert we went to wasn’t crowded so it felt like a private show. I won’t be coming back here unless another concert brings me here.
tip: Parking can be a problem but we able to find parking about 2 blocks away at a parking garage for $ 15 on the weekend.

–Tons of space to dance, wander and do your thing.
–Crappy sound system.
–Staff was super rude. I was allowed to bring in my Polaroid camera the first time I came here but the most recent time it was taken from me and put into coat check. I wasn’t given a reason on why, just that I would get it back afterwards. It’s a POLAROID CAMERA, not a DSLR. It uses FILM.
–Witnessed a fight with venue staff and a musician’s friend when the musicians friend came up to greet them. I don’t know what started it but out of the blue I saw one of the guards pushing, punching and shoving everyone. This all happened during Peanut Butter Wolf’s dj set. A STONES THROW SHOW, I’ve never seen a fight at a show thrown by them.
I’ve only been to this venue twice and I’ve had such bad experiences. The guards here take their jobs way too seriously and are incredibly hostile. No doubt you’re doing your job, but venues like The Independent, Slim’s and 1015 aren’t as aggressive towards fans of the music as the guards here. The first time I came here, I went and saw Kool Keith. I tried getting my stuff signed and I was getting pushed and shoved by the staff to ‘hurry up’ and get my stuff signed because they all wanted to go home.
I get that, I understand that, but let me take my time to get my records signed, and all you’re doing is just standing around. Your job isn’t that hard. I just hope these guys get their shit together soon, because this is definitely one of the WORST venues I’ve been to and their already building up that kind of reputation for a place that just barely opened up.

I came here for a concert. The parking ramps around all close pretty early, I had to walk 15 mins and park my car at a ²⁴⁄₇ lot. Other than that, I like the size of the place for a concert, not too big and just enough to get in the crowd and enjoy the music.

This venue is the WORST that I have been to. The lighting was way too bright!!! Should of brought my sunglasses. The sound was horrific!!! We could not hear the voice of Scott Weiland at all. The earplugs that the staff was passing out didn’t help much. Bottom line… i would never go back. Such a waste!!!

Here’s the quick and dirty low-​down
1) location: 4 stars. It’s close enough to walk from BART if you need to.
2) price: WHOA! Stella, Corona, Lagunitas beer were $ 8 for a 12oz and $ 12 for a 16oz. Water :$ 4 yup, $ 4!!! Yeah… Rip off
3) bartenders: ⁵⁰⁄₅₀. One was great. One guy seemed to ask guys what they wanted first before any girls even though the bar wasn’t packed (meaning it was easy to see who was next). Saw this happen twice, but only once to me. It’s always so nice when another consumer speaks up to inform «sorry, but she was first».
4) Acoustics: Horrible! I’ve seen the two bands I watched there recently many times before and this place was the worst! Couldn’t hear the lyrics well and overall the sound just sucked.
5) parking: garage near by, but closes at 11pm.
6) room: lots of space to dance. The place is large.
7) bathroom: didn’t really have to wait in lines.
8) Cover: $ 20/​$ 25 for local bands.
Conclusion: only come here if you REALLY want to see a band or if you’re under 18. If you can wait for a different showing, I would wait. This place will suck the money right out of your pockets.

Checked out Neon Indian on Tuesday ⁹⁄₂₂ and the show was seriously diminished by the lighting. There was no lighting dedicated to the stage so the band played in near darkness. They had swiveling effect lighting 10 feet out from the stage hanging just 10 feet above the crowd that blinded me every 10 seconds. I’ll be visiting again on Saturday ¹⁰⁄₁₀ to see Autre Né Veut and hope this gets resolved.

Out of hundreds of live concerts I’ve been to, this place easily has the worst acoustics. Sound here is so muffled and distorted that it isn’t worth going to. Venue itself is cool, but management clearly has no idea what it is doing. Bartenders were slow, despite the lack of line, and drinks almost in the pricey range. None if this matters though, because the sound is that bad. This music hall absolutely butchered a band I have seen previously that has killed it. I’m not sure what could be done to salvage this situation, the relatively low hanging ceilings create a cavernous effect that can’t be good. Management needs to hire some audio engineers that actually know what they’re doing and address the fundamentally broken nature of the place.
Embarrassing.

The management seems good but I saw a soft jazz singer and there was standing room only. A concert featuring Natalia LeFourcade tonight would have been nicer in a jazz club setting, I.e. Little tables and chairs. Tonight’s crowd was very nice. September 25, 2015. I only gave three stars because of the lack of seating and I couldn’t see the singer. But she was great.

There are a lot of nice things about Social Hall SF, but as a live music venue it falls short. When I attended a concert here recently, the sound quality was absolutely terrible.
Some Pros: Social Hall SF is in a nice location on Lower Nob Hill, and parking wasn’t extremely difficult to find nearby on Van Ness. The large, cavernous interior has a nice vibe for a show or a club. It’s also pretty clean, although maybe this is because of the venue’s newness. The security seemed tight, which I appreciated. The shows advertised so far all seem to be reasonably priced.
When I first walked in, I was excited because it seemed to be aesthetically such a cool venue. But unfortunately, the sound was truly low quality. Everything we heard had a very muffled quality. The balance was off also. Several people in the crowd expressed this sentiment. I hope it was a one time thing, but I suspect with the type of ceilings and layout that they have here that it isn’t.
Overall: I’d give this place another shot if I wanted to see a band here, but as of now, I’m a bit disappointed.