Neat older venue. For concerts open admission with separated area for over and under 21. As other reviewers mentioned it gets crowded early so get there early. Stage is very low for a standing room only crowd. If you are under 5’10” I would not expect to see any of the performance especially towards the back. Although the venue is kid and family “friendly” I would not recommend bringing youngsters to a show unless they are prepared to spends several hours starring at the backs of concert goers.

This site was built in 1914 as the Cotillion Hall as a dance ballroom & was closed during the 1920's in the short-lived persecution of Jazz & related risqué dancing that occurred during that era. Montrose Ringler was the original owner, & the adjoining restaurant, which can be accessed by stage staff through a side door, is his namesake. The walls of the ballroom are elegantly decorated with large ensconced paintings of European round design portraying ladies & gentlemen in lavish formal social settings from another era. We visited this site for a fashion show that was sponsored by local designers of "natural materials" & or recycled materials as a demonstration of the quality & aesthetic that could be created through the use of ecosystem-friendly materials in contrast to the often highly toxic residues of other substances used in the clothing industry. The show was an absolute delight & included transgender models that were quite impressive. The hostess-MC was a beautiful transgender model, & she was outstanding! Although an amateur event, the show was done professionally, with auctioned items going to local charities. The ballroom hosts various community events, & as a building & social venue, it stands as a tribute to the diversity of people & activities that make Portland such a great place.

Came here for the Steel Panther show. We stayed at thw Crystal Hotel which gets you in 15 minutes before the show. The venue is pretty cool , has seating in the balcoy and lots of bars with cold beer and drinks . I will definitely be back.

Attended the Marcus King band show. Bands started 45 minutes late and the venue was so crowded that it became quite uncomfortable. Unable to move, very rude people pushing through the crowd. much too warm inside (even in Feb). Peoples tempers began to flare with all the pushing and tight quarters. I have no idea what the capacity of the venue is but it sure seemed to be way overcrowded. It became unbearable and we left, went downstairs into Ringler's bar and watched the live feed from the show. We love concerts and attend 10-12 a year, this was far and away the worst concert experience in our memory. Hope it was an isolated incident.

This was the worst concert experience we have ever been to. The entrance process was very disorganized and people were pushing and shoving to get in and staff did nothing to prevent this mess. The security gate was also a mess. As we attempted to go through it., the crowd was actually pushing at our backs and again, staff only made the situation worse. It was so unsafe that we chose to leave and never saw the concert. We were not the only ones to leave. We had never been tot this concert venue before and will never go again.

Don't accompany your women friends out so that they can be safe, especially toward the end of the night. They won't let you back in. Actually, we hadn’t even walked out the door. So much for ensuring safety of women in a sketchy neighborhood of town. Ruined a perfectly nice night otherwise, just because the staff was unaccommodating to a simple request to go get our friends upstairs. Despicable.

Went to see George Clinton the other night with a friend. The sound was terrible. Couldn't hear anything but bass and drums. After a few songs, we went downstairs to the bar and watched the video stream. Very disappointing.

We travelled to Portland to see the new years show by Brandi Carlile who always seems to pick cool venues and this is no exception. My biggest complaint is that the stage is too low, and while I'm 5'11" and didnt really have too much of a problem, my wife is 5'4" and couldnt see the stage for the majority of the night. There were many people complaining about the same thing. There is a balcony, but in this particular case they strung a net full of balloons across the front of almost the entire balcony rendering it almost completely useless. While this might have been the decision of the artist, I'd expect the venue to point out that they were blocking the balcony. I was ver disappointed in this venue overall.

A group of us from several different states decided to get together for the Brandi Carlisle concert on New Year's Eve at the Crystal Ballroom. General admission tickets were all that were available at about $90 a piece. Not a problem, or so we thought. Doors were to open at 8 PM, we were told. Of course, Dec 31st in PDX can be wet & cold, so we all dressed approximately. Then we stood in the pouring rain and snow until they finally finished letting the "VIPs in at somewhere around 8:45. When they finally opened the doors, all seating was taken and they proceeded to pack the place to the rafters. How the Portland Fire Marshal allows this is beyond me. The performance was excellent. That said, the acoustics were horrible. We will never go back. And I would suggest that any sane person go elsewhere to see your favorite performance.

Went to a concert (Explosions in the Sky) on labor day weekend. Had a wonderful time and thought the venue was great, at least from the front row. There are a few caveats though. 1) Parking downtown is a nightmare. My wife and I solved this by coming down 90 minutes before doors opened to pick up a street parking spot around the block from the venue. We spent the time grabbing a relaxed bite to eat before the show. Well worthwhile when the concert got out later that evening. 2) The venue was good, but 30 minutes into the opening act the whole ballroom was much too hot and the portable AC's and fans did little to cool the place down. After the show it was a nightmare trying to get down to the street level through the narrow hot stairwells. 3) The venue is split down the middle for concerts with the right side having access to the bar, and the left side being right in front of the stage. There is also a balcony seating section in the very back - but sitting isn't very necessary on the springloaded floor and if I pay for a show I'm going to see them up close! The alcohol drinkers didn't have as easy of access to see the stage in the corner.