50 Kent Ave

I saw a concert here for the Northside Festival 2015. Built to Spill played a really good set and I enjoyed them very much, I could’ve done without any of the other bands that played with them and for whatever reason they didn’t play the last set IDK, Best Coast played the last set… Best Coast has only been a band since 2009… BTS 6^th album came out in 2009… But this isn’t supposed to be about the booking and scheduling of the concert… so:
This venue pretty much sucks. It’s an asphalt parking lot surrounded by a chain link fence with green garland woven through the fence to make it more difficult to see inside. Was disappointing in the beer selection also. They had Bud and Bud light, some of those lime-​a-​rita crap, and a Bluepoint Toasted Lager (which didn’t appeal to my pallet). Anyway… the concert started at 5pm on a mid-​June day. It was 85ish degrees and they scheduled a concert in an asphalt parking lot in the direct sunlight which is really irresponsible on the part of the organizers and dangerous on the part of the concert goers. On a day like this who even want’s to drink beer (regardless of the crappy selection or not), I had one beer and by my second sip decided that all I really wanted for the rest of the time was water.
They brought in 4 food trucks: an ice cream sandwich truck, a pizza truck, a kimchi taco truck, and a Lebanese food truck. I had eaten prior to attending, but I found it an odd food selection. For someone looking to eat any food of any substance and aren’t particularly adventurous in their eating habits there was really only one choice of food: Pizza. The pizza looked great BTW just weird it was the only real choice IMO.
The sound was pretty good and the surrounding area has lots to do. Since we left after Built to Spill and before Best Coast we were able to walk to the end of the block and see the sunset over the Manhattan skyline, which was beautiful.
Just to summarize: The band I went to see played a good set, and I enjoyed it and it sounded good. But the venue itself it pretty terrible and the way it was organized didn’t really make any sense. Unless the situation happens where one of my all time favorite bands is playing there and that’s the closest they are coming to me I will probably never go to this venue ever again.

This «venue» is no frills: a beat-​up, fenced-​in lot along the East River with poor sightlines yet a surprisingly decent sound system.
People who prefer to stand close to the stage must deal with the dumbest feature I’ve ever seen at an outdoor venue, what I’ll call a «speed bump.» Fans lucky enough to stand atop the speed bump get a five-​inch height advantage over everyone else. People directly behind them get a view of backs and butts.
The view is nonexistent as one moves away from the stage. There were no big screens displaying the onstage action during the 2015 Northside Festival.
Despite this, the sound system is relatively crisp and not excessively loud for an outdoor venue. I’ll leave it to the individual fan to decide whether that justifies the price of admission.
Food trucks supply concessions, and port-​o-​potties are available. Pack sunscreen, as there is no shade.