Don't go to this place if you're expecting a chill...

Don't go to this place if you're expecting a chill, easy-going atmosphere to see bands you love. A friend and I (22 and 21, respectively) head in to see Red Fang and two other groups. Tickets were a non-issue, prices were reasonable, and they only hassled me about my ID for a few minutes (I am out of state so I am used to this). Bands performed great and it sounded alright. However, my friend had a flask, which I didn't know about and was stupid, and apparently some hawk-eyed, lumberjack-ogre looking security guy saw it in his pocket (he hadn't even opened it) and took it from him. So we thought all was well, oh well, he lost his flask. Nope! Shrek comes back a few minutes later and says "we need to talk to you up front" to my friend, and apparently acts all cool at first, but kicks him out of the show due to his actions. Meanwhile there are people smoking joints and cigarettes left and right, and nobody does anything about it.

I realize my friend was breaking the rules, however, in my opinion, they could have handled this more responsibly. Him and I were both of-age, wearing wristbands, and each holding a drink we had obviously purchased at the bar there. We spent probably $20 each at the bar. The place seems to be run in a zero-tolerance manner, and in my opinion, that attitude ruins venues like these. There are meaty security guys trolling the place with flashlights constantly during the show, which is just not necessary. The management apparently feels the need to protect their bar income so badly that they used cheap excuses such as "you could have been providing alcohol to minors" and "it violates our alcohol policy" as a reason to kick my friend out. I'm sorry, and I know my friend was in the wrong, but such aggression to your customers for such a commonly occurring thing just isn't cool. They make it seem like they're entitled to have you in there, feeding them money, and if you make one wrong move, you're out. I'm not sure if it is the venue getting in trouble with local police over intoxicated minors or what, but such policing of the audience would need to be put to an end for me to return to this venue. There are much more responsible ways of dealing with such instances than intimidation and expulsion. Kicking paying customers out over such silly circumstances is a great way to ruin someone's perspective of a place, and prevent them from returning.

And despite being kicked out, they never gave the flask back.