both venues are about equal distance from my school (about 2.5 hrs). in reality, i'm equally unfamiliar with both cities, but I do know my way to and from 930 club decently enough. DC is on a school night, Philly is not...What should I do? help me decide, please?

I am trying to decide the same thing....I have been to the 9:30 club and it is terribly smokey....does anyone know if the philly venue allows smoking. (or whether liz requests no smoking at her shows???) by the way i was told the philly venue is nicer than the 9:30 club in dc. any help on the smoking issue would be appreciated.

she didn't request for no smoking last year that i recall...where are you coming from kjf? can't anyone help us make decisions?

i live in baltimore. i would go to the philly club. the 9:30 club has good acoustics but its a dump. i have never been to TLA in philly but a friend of mine says its nice. so i vote for philly.

I've never been to the 9:30 in DC, but I hear it's a really cool place. I have been to the TLA many many times and I can tell you it's a great place to see a show, very intimate nad never too smokey that I've noticed although smoking is permitted. PLus it's on South Street which, if you come into town a little early you can easily kill a few hours in the shops along the street.

yeah i'm def. going to try to get tickets for the philly show now. 930 is ok...nothing i won't mind missing out on. plus south street is a bonus, i've only been there once, but it was fun. thanks for helping me make decisions, now i hope the show doesn't sell out before i figure out if anyone is coming with me or not!
(everyone i know is pretty indecisive!)

I live in DC but am going to BOTH. The 9:30 is one of the nicest "club" venues in the country, although the NEW ram's Head Live in Baltimore is "the nation's BEST club venue" according to several artists that have played there. The TLA was a dump until it's remodel in the late 90's. It's much nicer now, but the floor still sucks. It's sloped since it was an old movie theater, and as you stand on the slope all night your achillies heal(s) and calves will feel it in the morning.

Hopefully she'll do slightly different sets each night. but even if it's the same show it's still worth the drive to philly to get the pizza and italian ice on South Street!

hahah! cool! pizza though? not a famous philly cheesesteak?? I do really want to go to both, but ug, gas is so expensive, paying for a ticket (or sweet talking my hook up) is not a problem as Liz is well worth it! but driving a total of 10 hours in less than a week....ug! See you all at the Philly show I guess! I'll be sure to remember to stretch while I'm standing there!

DC. The 9:30 is great. The balcony is awesome. The downstairs bar is cool. I love the 9:30

doh! why'd you go and say something different! hmmmm 930 is ok. i'm going to try new things though, i might as well get lost coming home from Philly with the excuse that I've never driven myself there before, then get lost coming home from DC with no excuse since of all the clubs in DC i've been to 930 the most.

The Theatre of Living Arts is a great venue. Definately Philly.

Anyone know if Liz changes up her set list nightly? If she mixes up the set list each night then i am gonna go to the Philly show as well as DC. Busy weekend Rollins at the Birchmere for the 25th anniversary tour, and 2 Liz shows!

oh and the other thing to consider is that I have been able to meet and talk to Liz EVERY TIME at the 9:30

Cool... Inside the club or out? I've had good luck outside since they can't park the bus behind the club in the alley, so most performers must walk outside to the bus parked on the street. Some acts have a car waiting for them in the alley to whisk them away to the hotel if they aren't leaving town the moment the show's over though.

At the Birchmere shows Liz popped out from the back stage area right after the set (about 10 mins) which was shocking, as most acts take forever to come out from the mystical backstage area (small room with beat up sofa and cooler of beer, lol).

inside she has always signed right at the front of the stage the second the show ends. She come out to the side where the bus parks each time but you have to wait a while for that. I imagine if you got there mega early you would have a good chance too.

yeah i got my ticket signed at 930 last year and a hug!!!! then some of the guys from the other bands were chatting with me and i may have ended up backstage for a champagne toast with liz and the cardigans...........i didn't think to stick around at the birchmere i wish i had, instead of sitting in my car waiting to get out of the parking lot i could have gotten another hug!

I think I saw you get the hug! She was signing my ticket but looking at you. I was a little disappointed, so I hung out longer and she signed my t-shirt, which is now preserved.
I've been to both 9:30 and TLA, going again to both. The big advantage to 9:30 for geezers like me is you can sit in the balcony. I did that last year and still got the autographs downstairs after the show.
That lipstick tour show was terrific, way better than the Recher Theatre show in Baltimore....oh, except for her taking off her shirt and playing the last few songs in her bra...

hahaha yeah the show was great, for a lot of reasons...some of them only half liz related haha. I went to Lollapalooza which was alright, but I think the accoustic this summer was by far the best I've been to. Perhaps Philly will change that for me! Can't wait only a little over a week to get through!!!

ps. I'm really excited to see Matt Pond PA, in his hometown no less! I picked up a couple of his cd's from the station and I really enjoyed what I heard, who knows how old they are though...