The New York Society For Ethical Culture

I had never before been to the New York Society for Ethical Culture space for anything before 2009 when the band Renaissance decided to do some touring. Since that time I have been back three more times, with two of these visits being for Renaissance and the other for Clannad. With that in mind I am going to speak of this venue as a concert space primarily since that is what I have been there for on each occasion.
The theater is very nicely laid out and while the rows of pews might seem uncomfortable they do have cushions on them that are quite soft and cozy. Over these last four shows I have sat in four different places and can pretty much say that based on this there are very few bad seats in the house. I have not yet been up on the balcony but maybe the next time I go there I will take a look for observation sake.
The sound seems great based on the events I had witnessed which were a Progressive Rock group and an Irish Celtic group. All the melodies were clear and understandable. There is minimal stage lighting used and a few spotlights when needed. It worked for me. The stage itself can be viewed as on the small side but there is no real barrier between it and the audience. If you have a close seat to the action the artist is right there in front of you. How cool is that? Pretty cool I will say.
The Concert Hall does serve a few different beers and wines at a stand but you do not seem to be allowed to bring them into the show area, I might be mistaken in this since one time I saw a cup but no one around me at all was drinking. If its allowed, please be neat since this is a lovely space and not some dingy LES venue.
I have one gripe about the wireless signal of the Concert Hall, it seems like it eats up whatever bars I have. Texts work fine but Net services are hard to come by which makes live tweeting and blogging on your activities a little difficult should you need to do them. I turned my phone off until the intermission and then went outside to see what I missed. I can say that the venue staff are friendly and accomodating and will suggest that you arrive for your performance on time since its easy to notice the late comers arriving based on the overall calm and intimacy of the space.
I recommend this space for shows, so please do check them out.

Went to the Van der Graaf Generator show here the other night, my first time at this venue. The acoustics were quite decent — maybe it helps that VdGG ‘s prog is more on the classical music side than your average full-​on rock band would be. However, be aware that the central stage here is quite small and set back in an arch/​wall, and the sight line from the sides is not going to be great. I imagine the sound wasn’t great off to the sides either because the space is pretty short front to back and the people on the sides were sitting directly in front of PA stacks. Try to sit in the middle, and if the act is the least bit loud you may also want to sit back a ways.
The place was just a hop skip and jump from Columbus Circle subway station, and the interior of the hall is much more beautiful than the lone photo makes it look. It’s sort of like the worship space of one of the plainer Protestant sects, and has some nice carvings and awesome sculptural lighting fixtures. My only big problem was, when I found the venue it was not clearly marked which door was the entrance to the show, and no one seemed to be milling around outside, so I wasn’t sure where to go in until some other guy happened to show up and enter by the door I was supposed to use. It would be nice if the concert promoters could place a poster on the door or something for those of us who don’t go there often.
Be warned that the restroom here, or at least the ladies room, is tiny and the line can get super long to go. Your «assigned seat» is in a pew with a straight back and very narrow leg room (at least in the one I was in); it did have a seat cushion, which helped, but it was really hard to sit in a straight-​backed confined space for two hours straight. Although better than having to stand for the full two hours.

Came here for the Sam Harris lecture on science and human values. There seemed to be some technical difficulties at first, but I really liked the moody lighting as Harris spoke about humans and religion. The space is really nice, and there seems to be no bad seat in the house.

Just saw George Clinton and the 420 Funk Mob last night and gotta say, its a pretty cool venue. It’s a renovated church (?) with pews and all so the acoustics weren’t phenomenal but George was RIGHT THERE! He walked up and down the aisles, slapped hands and basically played a short, fun show. Not much to say about the 420 Funk Mob but they are pretty good musicians. The Clinton set was sick but when the 420 Funk Mob went into their original songs, it was definitely a snoozer. Slow songs after George Clinton leaves the stage? Just when you get the geriatric crowd up and dancing, you go into a slow, love song to close the set? I was muy confusado to say the least.