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Choosing a Night of Music and Dancing in RVA


One of the great things about living in the Richmond metro area is the wide variety of high quality music available on most any night of the week. Spanning the genres of blues, rhythm & blues, country, rock, dance parties, grunge, hip-hop...you name it and it is available. I, along with my wife Denise, like to hone in on the blues and rhythm & blues bands and the venues that host them. We also, since taking up swing dancing just about a year ago, look for places that have some room to dance. We have found that dancing is a way to become engaged in the music experience and greatly increases our enjoyment of the performance. Because of this, I have set some criteria for planning an evening out and it goes something like this:

  • The Band - If I have heard them before, then it is not a difficult decision and is predetermined. If not, I begin to search the web for sample music in order to gain some knowledge of the types of music they play and the quality of the performance. Take note here all you bands out there...If you do not have good, high quality samples of music on the web and are wondering where all the folks are, wonder no more! Take the time to cut some and get them out there...
  • The Venue Atmosphere - The size, in most cases, doesn't matter. Again, if I have been there before, then it is not a difficult decision. If not, I hit the web looking for information on the venue, especially photos. Photos give me a ton of information and weigh in heavy on my decision. I can see the type of crowd that frequents the venue, if folks like to dance and is it dancer friendly. By dancer friendly, I mean is there room to dance. I can look to see what type of dance floor they have, hard wood is best, then linoleum or ceramic tile and lastly, carpet. In the case of carpet and dancing, forget it! Venues take note here...You can get  ton of information from some good photos and it is important to have these on your site, but photos of really drunk people doing stupid stuff are really stupid. Do you wonder why you get the crowd that gets really drunk and starts doing stupid stuff? Look no further than the way you present your venue on the web. Yes, it is that important!
  • Is There Smoke? - Many, still smoky bars, do a fairly good job of hiding the fact that they are smoker friendly. Why? If you have chosen to remain smoky then it must be important to you and your patrons. At least as important as it is to me and my lungs. So why not say it? So far I have been surprised at Mulligan's Sports Grille, Daddios and, most recently, Rock Falls Tavern. Interesting with Rock Falls Tavern was the big No Smoking sign on the entrance door but were met by a cigarette wielding lady taking the money. I walked up to her and, probably with a confused look about the sign versus the cig hanging from her lips, I asked what the cover was. She said "$5 and and yep, this is a smoking bar!" I had to say "That's unfortunate" and walked back out, missing a good time hanging with Sportsbar Rockstar!
If you run into any venues in the Richmond metro area that have a decent dance space, let me know! I would love to check them out!
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