To celebrate Christmas we decided to enjoy a show at The EMpire after having a wonderful dinner down the street. Our entire staff and spouses were out to enjoy a great evening...Security at the empire made sure that didn't happen. After ten minutes, our first altercation. One of my staff was dancing through the crowd, not maliciously or violently, just happy to be alive and at a show and he was immediately thrown into a headlock and removed form the venue. I came down from the upstairs bar to find him missing and went outside to retrieve him. I was told we were not allowed back in, to put it nicely. After a long verbal assault from security I decided to rest next door and allow my staff to continue enjoying the show, the security then told the bar staff next door not to serve us and I was"removed" by a security guy that thinks he's a cage fighter. I understand there are lots of bad things that happen at shows, I understand that lots of folks get out of hand and later say they were wronged. I can tell you as a business owner and as a live music lover, this kind of "security" is a trajic example of people who shouldn't have authority abusing a badge. I attended a flogging molly show earlier that month and had a wonderful time so I don't know if the staff was different or what but after this experience I can no longer recommend anyone to go to the emipre for fear that they may be treated similarly. It was really bad.
Pros: Good Artists
Cons: Bad Security/Staff
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