The King Cat Theater Reviewed
In a city with no shortage of night clubs for the alcohol drinking crowd, the venue situation for EDM events is dire. The amount of venues available to promoters has been squeezed down to a select few, and they get what they can when they can, which means some venues might pop up in an unlikely place. Jumbo, for instance, where EDM events are held regularly, doubles as an Chinese restaurant during the day.
One such unlikely venue is the King Cat Theater, situated in a busy corner of downtown Seattle. Although it seems more suited for EDM events than places like Jumbo, the King Cat is built for stage performances, with ample seating in the main auditorium. What it isn't made for, is club like events that include dancing.
During an EDM event at the King Cat, the seats on the main floor are removed, to make room for party goers as they enjoy their favorite DJ or tune. It sounds good, in theory. In practice, it's a different story. The floor is situated to create a typical theater seating experience, which includes sloping down, so that the person in front of you isn't blocking your view of the stage. What this also means, is once the seating is removed, the floor slopes toward the stage. Coined as the Slanted Floor of Doom, it's become somewhat of a downfall for one of the few venues left in Seattle. Most do not prefer to dance on a slanted floor, as it pushes the crowd towards the DJ who, in contrast to the large theater stage, looks tiny. The main floor is very wide, and maybe 50 feet deep, so you get a very interesting sense of being in a large place, that ends up not being very large at all.
There's an impressive looking sound system, but that's where the impression stops. It's designed to provide ample sound for theater performances. This is unfortunately not the same kind of system made to pump out music at ear splitting volumes. The audio quality is poor at best, and severely underpowered. Additionally, the speakers aren't tuned to produce the kind of music played at an EDM event. The effect of all this can only be described as an irritating listening experience, as long as you remembered your ear plugs. Without those, irritating turns to excruciating, after five minutes of which your ears will be begging for something less intolerable.
Towards the back, there are seats left on the main floor for tired dancers to rest. Behind them, is the additional seating that's placed behind a bulkhead on a raised floor. All of these seats stay where they are during an EDM event, which isn't bad in the least. That is until around midnight, when perhaps the strangest activity occurs. All seated party goers are told to vacate the upper seating area, forced onto the sloped floor and if they can find any, spare seats below the bulkhead. This is a bizarre practice, and more than a few have reported leaving an event early when this happens, as no one is especially thrilled about being told to leave their seat for no apparent reason. Most parties last until 3 am or later, so forcing the crowd out this early, especially in the hours that more people are going to be tired from dancing, doesn't really have any rhyme or reason to it.
In the front of the theater, between the main auditorium and the ticket booth, is the lounge, which is limited to those 21 and up, as this is also where the bar, with its typically overpriced drinks, resides. The lounge is generally set up with another stage of another genre, one that will surely appeal to those of a clubbing age. There is sporadic seating around the lounge, with more bar stools at the bar. The entire lounge, with the exception of the ticket booth area, is surrounded by glass which gives a clear view of the street and cars going by. Although disorienting at first, it can quickly become the favorite area for anyone wanting a place to sit and watch activity, provided they're old enough to be in the lounge in the first place.
On either side of the bar are the bathrooms. This isn't a large inconvenience, unless you aren't 21. Since the most direct route to the other bathroom is through the bar area, the only way to get to the correct bathroom is to go all the way back around, through the auditorium, and out the other side, where it's possible to access the alternating bathroom for the opposite sex. In other words, if you decide to use the bathroom and discover the wrong one, hope that it's not an emergency, because the walking distance to the alternate one is enough that it will be an emergency by the time you get there.
The third stage that's generally used at the King Cat is a tiny green room in the back, built for stage performers to get ready. The room is no larger than a studio apartment, but that's enough to cram a DJ booth and some dancers into the tiny space. What it's NOT enough to do is keep the room ventilated or cool. Commonly referred to as "the Sweat Box", the temperature soon rises, and the sweat from dancers soon creates a hot, muggy situation. Filled to capacity, it's not long before rain falls down from the ceiling. That's right, it's sweat.
The Sweat Box, combined with the slanted floor of doom, the piss poor sound system, and the inaccessible seating, makes the King Cat probably one of the worst experiences in the way of EDM venues. With the low availability of EDM venues in the NW, it's hard to find a suitable one. However, holding an event doesn't seem worth the cost of subjecting patrons to such a poor experience. Compromising the quality of events will only discourage attendees from returning, and shrink an already shrinking audience. There's plenty of fun to be had in Seattle. It just isn't being had at the King Cat.
One such unlikely venue is the King Cat Theater, situated in a busy corner of downtown Seattle. Although it seems more suited for EDM events than places like Jumbo, the King Cat is built for stage performances, with ample seating in the main auditorium. What it isn't made for, is club like events that include dancing.
During an EDM event at the King Cat, the seats on the main floor are removed, to make room for party goers as they enjoy their favorite DJ or tune. It sounds good, in theory. In practice, it's a different story. The floor is situated to create a typical theater seating experience, which includes sloping down, so that the person in front of you isn't blocking your view of the stage. What this also means, is once the seating is removed, the floor slopes toward the stage. Coined as the Slanted Floor of Doom, it's become somewhat of a downfall for one of the few venues left in Seattle. Most do not prefer to dance on a slanted floor, as it pushes the crowd towards the DJ who, in contrast to the large theater stage, looks tiny. The main floor is very wide, and maybe 50 feet deep, so you get a very interesting sense of being in a large place, that ends up not being very large at all.
There's an impressive looking sound system, but that's where the impression stops. It's designed to provide ample sound for theater performances. This is unfortunately not the same kind of system made to pump out music at ear splitting volumes. The audio quality is poor at best, and severely underpowered. Additionally, the speakers aren't tuned to produce the kind of music played at an EDM event. The effect of all this can only be described as an irritating listening experience, as long as you remembered your ear plugs. Without those, irritating turns to excruciating, after five minutes of which your ears will be begging for something less intolerable.
Towards the back, there are seats left on the main floor for tired dancers to rest. Behind them, is the additional seating that's placed behind a bulkhead on a raised floor. All of these seats stay where they are during an EDM event, which isn't bad in the least. That is until around midnight, when perhaps the strangest activity occurs. All seated party goers are told to vacate the upper seating area, forced onto the sloped floor and if they can find any, spare seats below the bulkhead. This is a bizarre practice, and more than a few have reported leaving an event early when this happens, as no one is especially thrilled about being told to leave their seat for no apparent reason. Most parties last until 3 am or later, so forcing the crowd out this early, especially in the hours that more people are going to be tired from dancing, doesn't really have any rhyme or reason to it.
In the front of the theater, between the main auditorium and the ticket booth, is the lounge, which is limited to those 21 and up, as this is also where the bar, with its typically overpriced drinks, resides. The lounge is generally set up with another stage of another genre, one that will surely appeal to those of a clubbing age. There is sporadic seating around the lounge, with more bar stools at the bar. The entire lounge, with the exception of the ticket booth area, is surrounded by glass which gives a clear view of the street and cars going by. Although disorienting at first, it can quickly become the favorite area for anyone wanting a place to sit and watch activity, provided they're old enough to be in the lounge in the first place.
On either side of the bar are the bathrooms. This isn't a large inconvenience, unless you aren't 21. Since the most direct route to the other bathroom is through the bar area, the only way to get to the correct bathroom is to go all the way back around, through the auditorium, and out the other side, where it's possible to access the alternating bathroom for the opposite sex. In other words, if you decide to use the bathroom and discover the wrong one, hope that it's not an emergency, because the walking distance to the alternate one is enough that it will be an emergency by the time you get there.
The third stage that's generally used at the King Cat is a tiny green room in the back, built for stage performers to get ready. The room is no larger than a studio apartment, but that's enough to cram a DJ booth and some dancers into the tiny space. What it's NOT enough to do is keep the room ventilated or cool. Commonly referred to as "the Sweat Box", the temperature soon rises, and the sweat from dancers soon creates a hot, muggy situation. Filled to capacity, it's not long before rain falls down from the ceiling. That's right, it's sweat.
The Sweat Box, combined with the slanted floor of doom, the piss poor sound system, and the inaccessible seating, makes the King Cat probably one of the worst experiences in the way of EDM venues. With the low availability of EDM venues in the NW, it's hard to find a suitable one. However, holding an event doesn't seem worth the cost of subjecting patrons to such a poor experience. Compromising the quality of events will only discourage attendees from returning, and shrink an already shrinking audience. There's plenty of fun to be had in Seattle. It just isn't being had at the King Cat.
