The Shedd Institute

I’m going to give this venue 3 stars because of the following:
I was here a few years ago at the behest of a friend who bought us tickets to see a blonde fiddler name Natalie. Can we say «lowered expectations»? Fiddle? Who knew? I envisioned folk dancing, not an accomplished artist who transformed her fiddle into a violin. She was AMAZING!!! She fiddled and «river danced» in a peasant shirt and it was very intoxicating and sexy… even for me… and I’m a girl! I’ve never heard men hoot & holler quite like that outside a strip club (just kidding)! It was a lively show with plenty of interaction with– and much love for– the artist.
The help here is outstanding and they offer a full (ish) bar. The tickets are reasonably priced, so I believe most anyone can afford to go. Once you’ve mastered the seating chart, you can figure out what seats best orient you to the stage. The venue is clean, quaint and intimate with the restrooms in close proximity to the stage. Nice! Thank you!
My problem with the Shedd is this:
1^st: They should tell you if the seat you’re purchasing is behind a pillar and if so, it should be at a discount.
2^nd: They should have a conversation with the artist prior to the show to find out if they encourage even «limited» applause and perhaps «tidbits» of conversation and then relay that information to ticket holders/​concert goers.
It’s just a shot in the dark beyond that because, although we are not old, we are old enough and I guess old people want to sit and behave and «golf clap“‘ AFTER the song is COMPLETELY over, as we were asked by the couple next to us to keep it down.
In contrast, we have also been asked to go backstage by another band who thanked us for our (slightly-​above-​mediocre) exuberance and interaction with them, explaining that: months on the road with audiences who are prim-​and-​proper are not so inspiring and/​or motivating for them and is directly related to whether their performance is enhanced or defused by the energy around them.
So… I get it!!! Go to The Shedd and enjoy amazing artists, but be prepared to behave and be mostly quiet. We will continue to attend The Shedd and I will update my review as needed.

My first visit to this historic venue for a concert of the great Swedish folk trio Väsen (if you haven’t heard them before, you should:
). The night was especially memorable because the audience was so interactive, engaged, and musical. Even the musicians noted how inspiring the crowd was, and proceeded to give a barn-​burning performance that night. The acoustic was also excellent, a testament to both the hall itself and the sound engineer. Portland could use a venue (and, for that matter, a concert series) like this — although the spirited Eugene audience is inimitable.

Sometimes you go to a hotly anticipated show and you’re amazed at the quality of the performance. Other times you go to to a show and you’re let down by the performer. Then there are times where it’s the venue itself that is infuriating.
I went to see Ryan Adams perform solo, and while he was absolutely incredible my seats were easily some of the worst seats I’ve ever had at a venue. In fact, I don’t understand why they even have balcony seats. They call them «restricted view» seats because of the pole keeping people from falling over the railing, but the seats themselves are so bad that if you’re not in the front row, they’re pretty much useless. The majority of the people on the balcony had to stand up to see anything, and he performed for a solid two and a half hours.
It’s a good thing that Ryan was so incredible, because those seats really shouldn’t exist. Word to the wise; if you want to see a show here, do NOT buy seats on the balcony unless you want to wind up staring at the back of someone’s head for the entirety of the performance. I can’t believe that they charged full price for those abominable seats. At least the sound was good, but the seats really were absolutely ridiculous.

So far, Shedd Institute has been great, even though I haven’t been able to see the show yet (I’ll explain). I ordered my tickets for Brandi Carlile and somehow they didn’t make it to my address and got returned to Shedd. They called me to double check the address and resent them to me pronto. Fast forward to the show date and my friend and I arrived at the venue. Unfortunately, Brandi and one of the twins were sick and unable to perform that night and it was not Shedd’s fault that the decision to cancel the show was not made until right before showtime. It was the artist’s call. We were informed that Shedd would issue us new tickets once the show was rescheduled and that we could get a full refund if unable to attend. A couple weeks later, I got a personal phone call, asking which option I wanted and then my tickets were sent back out right away. So far, the customer service has been stellar. I’m excited to see the show in a couple months on the new date. It looks like a really intimate venue and it’s going to be great!