The Westcott Theater

I came here to see Dannic last November. It’s a very small venue, which is a disadvantage if the crowd was very large, but it was perfect in this case. It was a very intimate setting which was a plus and I had a great time. Such a small venue that we saw Dannic walking in and he even stayed afterwards to pose for photos with everyone who wanted one. Yay Dannic! There were a few places to sit, and the sound system was superb. Staff was nice as well. I believe water bottles were decently priced. Only complaint is that the girl’s bathroom was a total of two stalls, one of which had no door. They definitely need to improve their bathrooms and add more stalls in. Otherwise, good venue for more lesser known artists. More popular artists should have larger venues to accommodate more fans.

This is the best music venue in Syracuse for concerts (which realllly isn’t saying much). Some of my favorite shows have been here. That being said, it does have issues. As a spectator, parking is the first issue since you can only park on the street.
For popular shows, the word «chaotic» comes to mind driving around the area. It’s even worse if you’re in an opening act, trying to load-​in during that chaos is very difficult. Even arriving early to try to get one of the two spots in front of the door is not a guarantee. It has been 6 – 7 years since I played there, so maybe they’ve remedied this issue (loading in from the back/​side would help).
Like others have said, the relative cleanliness of the venue is lacking to say the least. They’ve made some renovations (albeit with a re-​active approach rather than pro-​active). The bathrooms are pretty fucking disgusting, though. I can’t stress enough that you need to do whatever you can do avoid having to use them. I like drinking as much as the next guy, but I refuse to here because it means I’ll probably need to use the bathroom. I hope someone from the Westcott Theater reads that sentence.
Overall, you’ll go here when your favorite band is in Syracuse, so make the best of it. The music is loud, and the atmosphere is quite good for national acts. There is plenty of room, and there really isn’t a bad spot to watch from.

This is the best place to see live music in Syracuse. The setup is perfect and plenty of room! A lot of big names come through this venue too, which means a lot of good shows at a great place. I’ve been to a lot of shows that had great openers too, so get here right on time. Parking can get really annoying though, and in the winter it’ll be pretty cold waiting for the doors or the line to move along, so dress warm.

The Westcott Theater:
Sticky floors: check
Craft beer: check
Strange bands I’ve never heard of sprinkled in with some awesome acts: check
Located in cool area of town with good food for before show eats: check
Scary bathrooms: check
Cheap ticket prices: check
The Westcott Theater

I’m not really into going to a music venue for the sake of the music venue-​I usually only go if the band or music playing is something I like. When I saw the sign for «Minus the Bear» as I passed by the Westcott on one cold fall evening, I knew it was time to check it out.
I had a few problems with the website, and ended up buying 5 tickets more than I wanted. Whoops! Luckily, I wrangled a few friends into joining me, and that problem was solved. It’s weird, when you walk in the front they want to stamp your hand to mark if you are under or over 21, but I don’t think they were checking at the bar. Maybe there were just too many people. Anyways, the concert itself was awesome. The architecture inside the building is very interesting-​it reminds me of an old opera house. The theater is not too large, so the show felt very intimate. There were a lot of hipsters though… I guess that’s what I get for going to see an indie band. Meh, still good show though!

I had the pleasure of visiting this venue to see the Steve Aoki concert. The Westcott Theater is an official hub of live music, one that has invited some of the world’s most renown electronic DJ’s to take over the venue this month from Steve Aoki, Laidback Luke to Kaskade. I had an amazing time here and the staff, especially, the bartenders were awesome!
Only con: the bathrooms are a little on the small side, resulting in super long lines.

I prefer smaller venues for live music as you get a more personal experience than a stadium show. Westcott Theater is a converted movie theater with a bar in the back ($ 5 Arrogant Bastard on tap!) and probably holds about 300 – 400 people. There is no seating and the floor slopes downward toward the stage, which is great for getting a clear view of the stage. It’s a great venue and having Alto Cinco next door for an after show burrito is a BIG plus.

I saw Shpongle here and it was nuts.
Security doesn’t let you go out to smoke for about an hour at the beginning of the show which is really weird but w/​e…
I don’t think I’ve ever seen more reckless upstate hippies…

I liked the Westcott except for the smoking. If you like small intimate grungy floor venues then this is the place. The tickets were cheap and the staff was friendly. I saw The Felice Brothers who lets everyone come up on the stage and sing with them. I love small venues. It was standing room only. It was a great time. I got there early so I found parking pretty easily. There was mainly street parking but I parked behind a little shopping center. There’s not much on the block to do to kill time. There were a few bars, a kinda interesting used book/​occult shop, and then a minimalist book/​coffee shop (5 books… maybe?) with some very hip people drinking out of extremely hip mugs. I am very hip so I walked around the shop… paused to look at one of the five books, said something intelligent… and then smoothly departed. (Ok…I stopped at the top of the steps and my two friends ran into my back and then we ran into each other again trying to get back down the steps). Veni, Vidi, Vici…