Usine C

Let me start off by saying I didn’t actually go TO Usine C, I went to the new restaurant in the basement called Le C opened Tigre Ton.
This place is a must try! It is authentic Spanish tapas made with love and tenderness. You can taste the love Tigre Ton has for his food. Every dish comes out impeccably plated. I have nothing bad to say about Le C.
This man deserves major recognition for what he is doing. Hats off Tigre Ton!

The first time I came to Usine C was to see Nitzer Ebb a few years ago, nearly 18 years after I first saw them opening up for Depeche Mode back in 1990 and couldn’t get over what a great venue it was, small enough to feel intimately involved in the show, large enough to take a break from the crowd and mind your own business in the gardens outside.
A bar, a place to buy T-​shirts and just hang with your friends, Usine C is a very civilized, CLEAN and amazing venue to take in a show. The acoustics are great, the crowd and staff are really chill and I love the fact that it’s an old, industrial factory which still maintains it’s old architectural features while having a new lease on life as an artistic venue.

L’Usine C est l’endroit idéal si la danse et le multidisciplinaire vous intéressent!

L’usine C porte bien son nom, puisque cette salle principalement dédiée au théâtre est située dans une ancienne usine. J’ai surtout fréquenté ce lieu de diffusion culturelle à l’occasion du Festival de théâtre des Amériques, qui a lieu sur une base annuelle. Aussi, le café de l’Usine, qui se présente comme un bistro ouvert le midi, est également ouvert avant les représentations. Personnellement, j’y ai seulement bu une tasse de café, qui était relativement bonne. Aussi, c’est la configuration de la salle qui est ici intéressante, puisqu’elle permet aux troupes de loger des équipements expérimentaux, que ce soit des cages (oui, j’en ai déjà été témoin) ou une multitude d’écrans. Bref, l’Usine C est une page blanche sur laquelle le nouveau théâtre peut s’écrire comme il l’entend.

I love this venue. I believe it is usually used for theatre events in Montréal, but when I have been to this venue it has been for the Kinetik music festival. There is one large room for the bands to play in, equipped with lighting and techies at the back. There is a smaller lounge on the other side of the building, down a spiral staircase as well. For me, this was a good spot to sit down and give those heels a rest, and still pound back the drinks so the feet hurt less.
Usine C also has an outdoor patio for the smokers, the organizers of Kinetik had a hot dog and hamburger stand set up out here so that we wouldn’t starve since the festival started at 4pm and went until 3am. Too bad they ran out of food each night! It was ok though, we had in/​out privileges.
Usine C had really cool lights in the main hallway that were made from broken glass bottles, making them look like glass chandeliers, which was very beautiful. There was an upstairs area as well, which, for the festival, had clothing vendors, artists, and this was also where the bathrooms were hiding.
Now my rating could be biased, since we have pretty much NO venues like this in Vancouver, so having a venue like Usine C that you can rent out for live shows, that has two rooms, and a place where you can throw in your own vendors is pretty fucking amazing.