Finally made it to the Fillmore in Silver Spring for Danzig – with Doyle –  last night, and it’s still nice and shiny.

If you’re familiar with the 9:30 Club in DC, the Fillmore has a very similar layout – a big open area with two bars where the concert happens, a balcony upstairs which is apparently special access only, then a smaller bar downstairs. The Fillmore is designed to look a bit upscale – there are the legendary screen print posters from the original Fillmore in San Francisco, some crystal chandeliers way the hell up in the rafters, the bathrooms are larger, (I didn’t have to wait in line for the ladies’ room once!) and the bar downstairs has a whole bunch of lava lamps, plus a couple of TVs simulcasting the show upstairs: very handy. The beer also has an upscale price. I paid $18 for two draft beers one point in the evening. Yikes. Good bartenders, though – they kept the bar moving.

The show was good and loud, but there was a good deal of feedback between Danzig’s microphone and the monitor speakers.  He even tossed a monitor off the front of the stage, and complained about the sound guy. We heard feedback from Danzig’s mike all the way through to the encore, and that is darn frustrating for both the artist and the audience.

The security team was on their toes. There were no photos allowed, and I saw at least four folks given stern talking-tos from a duo of security folks, and one guy, brazenly wielding his phone camera towards the end of the show, grabbed and tossed out. There was also a ‘no moshing’ sign, and the security team handled the inevitable crowd-surfers fairly as they rolled over the barricades, one by one.

I really like the fact that Silver Spring has tons of free city parking lots – don’t ever park in a pay lot if you go there. The Cameron Street lot off Georgia Avenue is free after 7pm, and very accessible from the beltway. And of course there is the Metro station, also walkable. There are also dozens of nearby restaurants if you want to make a night of it.

Will we go again? You betcha, even though I will have to take out a loan to buy my beer. It all depends on who’s playing, though – and I doubt Danzig will be back after that feedback fiasco. Fix the sound, Fillmore. Or the musicians will head back to the 9:30 Club.