Club and Tech Review
Monday, 21 October 2002
Mickey Finn's Pub
602 LaGrange St., Toledo, Ohio
By Red Ron

The Red Elvises finally played Toledo! Just 30 miles from Chez Strange! Mickey Finn's is a nice SMALL club not in any main entertainment section of Toledo. It's trying to hit a market pretty much ignored in Toledo, that of touring independent bands, but it has yet to develop a clientele of "regulars" much beyond the neighborhood. The club does put up a lot of posters in the bar leading up to the show, but doesn't do a lot of advertising in the media other than the regional entertainment rags.

One cool thing is that they own the jukebox, and put in CDs of the bands that has played there and note which ones are for sale at the bar. We have not been back there yet, but the way Mickey was acting I'm sure they now have Red Elvises for your listening pleasure. They do have a full menu, and fed the guys quite well after the show.

Although small, 150 fire rating, the club is nicely laid out in two sections, the bar on one side the stage on the other. The stage is rather small, approximately 8 x 12 feet, good for a three-piece band but any more would be rather cramped for space. The stage is about two feet high, allowing Zee to hop down into the crowd and jam, something he likes to do. There is a band entrance next to the stage that opens onto the street, and Mickey cones off the parking place directly in front of the bar for the bands to park in. Great advertising space for the Big Red Van, and an easy load-in.

The sound system was modest, a flying full range speaker on each side of the stage, and a pair of small but efficient sub-woofers down in front. They had three wedge monitors, adequate for the fronts, but I don't think large enough for the drum mix. The mixer location was good, and had a nice 24 track board and rack, and you could tell that the sound guy had been mixing this room for quite a while and had a good handle on the sound. They also have a video camera focused on the stage and fed to the TV in the bar, a nice feature for a small, split bar.

The club does not have an assigned space for the bands to sell their merchandise, and gave Max a small sticky folding table at the back of the stage section next to the ladies' rest room. It was poorly lit and not in a high traffic area, and I believe that sales suffered for that reason. Nor do they have a proper green room, making band members change in a kitchen storage room.

In conclusion, Mickey Finn's is a nice, good-sounding place, but too small. It was good that we had fifteen or so of our friends there, otherwise I doubt that there would have been over sixty people there. I doubt that the guys will want to play there again, but I hope they return to Northwest Ohio; there are many clubs that are better suited to them and with a larger regular clientele. And not on a Monday night!