The Rail

Pretty good event center.
Facility is good sized, staff was very professional and thoroughly enjoyed a recent event here.
Would definitely consider this place to hold an event in SLC.

Saw Primus last night here and i really liked the venue. Big and spacious, great angles to see the stage. Drink lines were retarded and same with the prices. Stick to beer because what they charge for an ounce is robbery. Shady part of town so be aware.

This is a great place to see a show. The layout is great, and the staff was friendly. They offer beer, mixed drinks, food, and general concessions, which is not that common at other venues. I would recommend getting there early to get a good spot on the balcony, but you can usually find a decent spot on the main floor. The only downside is if you would like to go out to the patio, you will be bombarded by smokers. Not the best place to grab some fresh air. I highly recommend this place if a band you like is coming to play here.

Saw The Killers here at a private show as part of the excellent Omniture Summit 2010 in and obviously enjoyed the special access of the show. Without that influencing my rating too much (a free, private Killers show is obviously a 5 Star rating), the venue stands out on its own pretty well and exceeded my expectations.
Pros
–Size: this place is huge and has a wide open standing-​room area in front of an elevated stage as well as a cat-​walk like elevated area that rings the floor. Provides lots of good viewing angles with few obstructions from the stage. The House of Blues comparison is accurate as far as feel, but the venue is far deeper. A little bit bigger than the Fillmore in SF.
–Sound: good sound and light production. I heard the Killers loud and clear (and for several hours after) and my mind was blown a few times by swell light effects.
Cons
–Drinking Situation: this is Utah so I didn’t expect a first-​rate drinking experience and got about what I expected. I think this place is 18+ most times, so the bars are all on the second floor which created bottle necks and inconvenience if you wanted to be front and center at the stage. To compound that is the Utah alcohol laws that meter out your liquor at 1 oz. pours, wine at 5 oz pours and dumb-​down the % in the beer. This also makes for slow service, and at $ 9 a pop for cocktails you’re paying big city prices for kid-​table drinks. (Also think about this when ordering anything which rightly should have more than 1 oz of booze in it. A martini in Utah is not a good idea.) All in though, this is more a critique of Utah’s drinking regulations and so I can’t rightly hold it against The Rail for doing their best in that administrative climate.
–Location: it’s literally on the wrong side of the tracks. Not sure where the cool going-​out areas in SLC are, but Rail did not seem to be near one of them. Most of the city was well East of this location and it took a bit of a special effort to get here.

I like my music venues a little smaller, older, grittier than this. Kind of reminded me of House of Blues in LA (sorta gimmicky, contrived). But that’s not to say this is a terrible location. The sound was decent. The main floor is your basic general admission free-​for all, and there were couches, tables in the upstairs, balcony-​ish area (wraps all around the venue) that had a lounge-​ish feel.
Overall, this spot doesn’t really take away from the music, but doesn’t really add to it either.