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New Jersey Performing Arts Center
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6 reviews for New Jersey Performing Arts Center
Getting here by car was a piece of cake. It is conveniently located right off of Route 21 in downtown Newark, and close to public transportation as well. There are plenty of good restaurants nearby. The spacious parking garage is right across the street ($12). Ingress and egress into the hall itself, and to and from our seats was quick and orderly. The ushers were polite and helpful.
Prudential Hall is beautiful, with the air of an opera house. The seating is comfortable, with plenty of legroom, and unobstructed sightlines to the stage. I sat in the third tier, which was pretty high up. If you sit up beyond that in the fourth tier, you better bring binoculars if you want to see the performers, and God help you if you have acrophobia. The sound is good, although for a rock show, from where I was sitting, it could have been louder.
Tonight's show was Bonnie Raitt and Taj Mahal, who each did a 40 min. set with their respective bands, and then they all played together for another hour.
Bonnie is well into middle age, but still sexy as hell, and when she coaxed those glassy, sustained slide guitar notes out of her Strat, it sent chills up my spine. In spite of the restrained and dignified sound level, it was a great show.
Getting out of the train station was confusing, the tunnel seemed to go on absolutely forever, I found it rather strange that there were so many little restaurants (like a mini-city, there were even about a dozen Subway "sandwich" shops) but none of them had bathrooms... There should be signs closer to the terminal telling you how to get to NJPAC.
Once in the hall, it is a modern building, reminds me of something you'd see on a college campus... The entrances are a little confusing, and they're understaffed, there were a lot of people waiting and waiting, the lines didn't move very quickly.
Trying to find my seat was a pain in the neck. My tickets were for the rear row of the first tier, yet somehow it took 6 different ushers (each, separately pointing me in the wrong direction) before I finally found my seat.. Either the hall is confusing even to those who should be familiar with it, or nobody can read.
The seats are comfortable, there's lots of leg room and elbow room, the view of the stage is good, and the sound is pretty good -- much better than Avery Fisher Hall!
The performance was Beethoven's 5th piano concerto ("Emperor") and Bruckner's 7th symphony... The piano soloist was fine, serviceable... The orchestra's woodwinds were particularly strong, and I'd go so far as to say the double-bass section was terrific -- but I think the french horns weren't very good, there were a quite a few flubbed notes and many instances of disorganization... The timpanist was a hoot to watch, he reminded me of a mix between Sammy David Jr. and Gene Krupa.
During intermission I went to the adjacent/attached restaurant/bar and had a Guiness, $9 seems a bit excessive, and it took the bartender absolutely forever to pour it -- even though it came from a can.
On the walk back from Prudential Hall we decided to go on an adventure -- went to a chicken wing place, a barbecue place, and a fried seafood place (which displays extended erection products in the window, mysteriously) -- this may have been a mistake, because Downtown Newark is kinda scary and people actually stared at us, but thankfully we made it back to Manhattan safely.
Awesome acoustics for a medium-sized venue. Do check out the NJSO calendar for its performance at this joint. Parking is somewhat pricey, but the money you save on the tickets (compared to NYC prices) is great. And the hall is absolutely beautiful.
Dude, freakin BB King. Yes, that's who I saw here. The King himself. Bow before the King...and Lucille, of course! He, clearly, was beyond a 5 star performance and experience!
But the center itself was quite nice, albeit in the lovely ghetto of Newark (I don't like the dirty jerz all that much to begin with, and Newark is definitely not my fave part of this state). Good acoustics, nice hall, comfy chairs, etc. I guess what really matters is who you are seeing. In this case, BB-freakin-King!! Wahoo!
Still, one star off for being in Newark. Dude, it's Newark.
The New Jersey Performing Arts Center is a dazzling place. We have purchased New Jersey Symphony Orchestra Concert series tickets for two years in a row, to a large degree because we like this venue so much. The NJSO concerts take place in Prudential Hall, a spacious performance hall with a great deal of warmth in its character because of the wooden panels and beautiful lighting. NJPAC sits on the edge of down town Newark and is easily accessible with good parking, a nice restaurant, fabulous acoustics and a very affordable pricing structure. For two people who had been so attached to the classical music and opera scene in New York City, we have transitioned to this new Center with tremendous enthusiasm . It's a wonderful place to hear great music and do so with the greatest of ease. No hassles getting into the city, into the Center, or into the mood. Good-bye New Yok!
This building is absolutely stunning, staff is helpful, and I thoroughly enjoyed the film screening I saw here. I stood around just marveling at the architecture for a while. This place is gorgeous and hosts some great events. Easily accessible parking (for a fee, of course), and a pretty darn snazzy restaurant on-site that serves a serious chambord cheesecake. Oh my goodness.