The Showbox aka: The Showbox at the Market

I saw Pearl Jam and Coldplay here on two separate occasions. Amazing venue with great views all over.

Of course, I haven’t been to all of them, but the Showbox is my favorite so far… not too big, not too small, and the acoustics are fantastic! A highlight was seeing Fântomas with Melt-Banana as the opener a couple of years ago. And the hot dog stand outside simply rocks!

Three days worth of drone acid folk noise psychedelia. Or something to that effect. Staff were a bit odd at times but in general, good times had so no complaints. :-)

I saw Sleater-Kinney there 12/29/05. Good show. Good venue. I even got the girls to sign my sister’s yearbook which I had on had to serve as picture ID for someone who came with me.

I’ve probably seen 100 shows at The Showbox. It really is a great venue to see your favorite band. If the sound is right it can be glorious. Kitty corner from Pike Place Market, it’s in an ideal downtown location.

Perhaps my favorite Showbox moment occured less than a year ago when Robin Williams played 3 unannounced shows. He was working on new stand-up material. Proceeds went to charity, but you had to know about the show to get in. Yeah, whatever. Mrs. Doubtfire? Hard to forgive. The movie about the clown/doctor who made people realize the Western medicine is really bad and can make you sad and sicky wicky? Puhleaze, Robin.

But let me tell you this — after 2 hours of Robin Williams doing uncencosred stand-up all those crap movies were out of my mind within seconds. I went in a cynic and came out a convert. That man is so funny I didn’t stop laughing for 2 hours straight — and on a parallel level I was marveling over how he managed to keep an audience of 900 people captivated while weaving through 50 characters. Shame on me for doubting Mork. I happily got served by one of the funniest people I’ve ever witnessed in my little bald life.