Club and Tech Review
Wednesday, 23 October 2002
Beachland Ballroom
15711 Waterloo Rd., Cleveland, OH
By Red Ron

The Beachland Ballroom is located on the east side of Cleveland in what was one of the old ethnic sections of town? There is a small parking lot to the rear of the building, but most parking is on the streets.The club itself was once a civic center for the neighborhood, and as such has a rather large hall with a nice roomy stage. There are murals of East European village scenes on the walls and a large hardwood floor for the audience, with quite a few tables with chairs along the walls and towards the back of the room.

In the building connected to it is the bar, rather small, but a nice place to get away from the crowd. They have a nice selection of area micro-brews in addition to the standard fare, and a nice sandwich menu that the guys enjoyed. It is decorated with old B movie and political posters and memorabilia, and an old jukebox with classic recordings and 45s of bands that have played there. Too bad the Red Elvises don't have a 45; they could be on there also.

They have a rear door to the bar for the bands to load into, but you have to carry the equipment thru the bar, and there is no good place to set the gear while the opening band is playing. The green room that is off the stage is small but private. The stage itself is large and roomy and about five feet up from the floor, not good for Zee to get in the crowd, but a good view from everywhere in the club.

The sound system is massive, with speaker stacks on each side composed of two large subwoofers and two large three ways each. And the stage monitors were plentiful and large enough to do the job, especially the drum monitors. The sound booth was nicely equipped with a 32-channel board and many racks of Eqs and effects that aren't needed for a band as tight as the Red Elvises. It is located all the way to the rear corner of the hall, not a good place.

The hall itself is a large box, not the easiest situation for sound. And even with the modest acoustical treatment the soundman never did get a good overall sound, especially in the rear of the room. The best place to hear the band was right up against the stage hearing mostly the monitor mix. That was good because the crowd was definitely up close and enjoying themselves.

They did have a large table for merchandise right next to the entrance to the bar, a good location but no way to properly display T-shirts. It was poorly lit, but Max had his big flashlight that made it quite acceptable and sales were adequate for a Wednesday.

Overall it is a nice club and had a good turnout for a Wednesday night. The crowd was enthusiastic and had a good time. If they could just get control of the sound it would have been excellent. The management was cool, allowing the guys to stay late and have a few drinks with the fans. I had a good time, and would recommend them playing there again.