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United Palace Theater
Rating Details »
Categories: Performing Arts, Music Venues, Religious Organizations [Edit]
Neighborhood: Washington Heights4140 Broadway
New York, NY 10033
(212) 568-0915
- Nearest Transit:
-
175th St (A)
181st St (1)
168th St-Broadway (1, A, C)
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Parking:
- Street
- Price Range:
-
$$$
- Good for Kids:
- No
- Wheelchair Accessible:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Music:
- Live
- Best Nights:
- Fri, Sat, Sun
- Happy Hour:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Beer & Wine Only
- Smoking:
- No
- Coat Check:
- Yes
24 reviews for United Palace Theater
Saw Monsters of Folk here last Friday -- probably the first time I've ever trekked this far up Manhattan (I mean, you can't really go much further) but the express A got us there in maybe 15 minutes, and even the local back to Penn afterwards was only a half-hour. The subway station is pretty much right outside the venue, which is convenient, so I can't harp too much about the far-away location.
The theater itself is pretty damn cool, in that old-school gold everywhere kinda way. Ushers were friendly but a little confused; when we first showed our tickets, the lady showing us to our seats was like, "Um, I thought that row was blocked off". After a moment or two of conversation with another usher, we were brought to the row, which was of course not blocked off at all. We were about 10 rows back from the stage, off to the right -- not a bad view at all, even when everyone was standing (and it's worth noting I'm only 5' tall).
What I will harp on is the sound. It was fine on the quieter songs, but definitely muddy when the band really started to rock out. We saw them again on Sunday at the Beacon, and the sound was worlds better.
Overall, I'd probably only make the journey up to United Palace for a band I REALLY wanted to see, but it was a mostly pleasant experience.
I went to the United Palace Theatre last night for the Mika concert.
The concert itself was great, don't get me wrong, but this review is based on the venue alone.
The venue itself looked cool, gold painted designs everywhere, red carpeting, the works.
The ushers were pretty nice and helpful. I asked if we could move down to empty seats if there were any and he said "yes, of course, but unfortunately I don't know if there will be any since I'm told this is a sold out show." Which, unfortunately, it was so I had to stay in my upper lodge seat.
Bathrooms were nice and clean with attendants to hand you paper towels.
Overall, it was nice.
Minus one star for the location though. It's so far that with the distance plus the stupid MTA service changes, it took us an hour and a half to get up there from queens, and another 2.5 hours to get back.
Minus another star because I couldn't see anything from my seat due to all the people's heads when everyone stood up and thus had to stand on my seat for the whole show. It was also hard and awkward to move/jump around because of the space.
Eccentric concerts just aren't supposed to be seated or have seats blocking your moving space... *sigh*
I really thought I'd like this place, but it was a big disappointment. It's musty and worn and not at all charming. The ornate ceiling and details are nice but not enough to overcome the poor ventilation, sound and other things.
Wheelchair access: Getting in is easy, but once in you won't be happy. Wheelchair seating is off on the left pretty much in an aisle - a sloped aisle at that. It's also not elevated so when people stand, good luck seeing anything but the backs and butts of the people in front of you. If you're sitting behind Shakira maybe that won't be so bad, but otherwise it sucks.
Who the hell picked this venue? This old theatre is now a concert venue, and not one of my favorites. Let's start with the inconvenient location, way up in Washington Heights; it was a schlep from Manhattan, even worse for all you Brooklyn hipsters. On the positive side, once uptown it's a short walk from the subway station on 175th. The theater itself is ornately decorated, but the seats were in pretty shabby condition. The double-letter rows are up front; if you have a single letter ticket you're nowhere near the stage and the balcony extends out really far so it feels like you're watching a concert at the other end of a hallway. Might have been okay for a singer-songwriter, but for a sonically complex band like Sonic Youth the sound was a muddy mess. The view is much better if you can move up front, but the sound there was actually even worse.
Like the bastard brainchild of Ridley Scott and Louie The XIV this place is at once dark and post-apocalyptic and lush and decadent - and i love it!
I saw Sigur Ros here (a mix of Bjork, NIN, and Portishead) and it was perfect - they have a beautiful and dark feel that just works with this place...
It is beautiful, the seats are comfortable, they serve beer, wine and popcorn and the stage is incredible! I also liked the creches all over the walls with (from what i could tell) Buddha, Shiva and the virgin Mary in them..odd
Other shows to see here Anything Icelandic, Anything Gospel, Rocky Horror(?), TOOL(!) etc - this is a cool Venue
Points deducted for a Fu*$ up with overbooking which required me to stand for half of the show to find out who the hell was in the seat of the person in the seat of the person in the seat of the person in the seat of the person in my seat!!!!
I saw Beck here with MGMT...Very cool, retro-elegant atmosphere that reminds me a bit of the Tabernacle in Atlanta, and the sound was great, too. The stadium style seating allows everyone to get a pretty good view. I was a little disappointed with how far back my great-sounding tickets were, though.
If you have tickets to a show here, give yourself plenty of time to get here if you're coming from Brooklyn. This place is as upper you can get for upper Manhattan. Plus, the C train doesn't run late at night, I guess, so the A train stops at every single stop on the way home from a show. A taxi might have been worth it, considering how long it took to get back to Brooklyn.
Anyway, this was a fantastic venue for Beck, with his amazing pixilated light show in the background. This is more of a low-key tour, as opposed to the puppet crazyness and huge bands of previous tours, so the atmosphere seemed to fit just perfectly.
The theatre is a great place to see a band, and I'll def. go back...I just wish it weren't so incredibly far away.
I can say I've probably seen hundreds upon hundreds of shows in my life. But I can honestly say until I went to the Palace, I had never had an usher approach my party (at this point, we had moved down a few rows and initially thought we were going to be admonished for it, by the way) and ask if we wanted to move closer to the stage.
Uh, yes?
"You guys can go fill in these loge seats below," the usher said, gesturing to the level, then proceeded to prance away. Weird, but you know what? Definitely not questioning it.
Seriously, not only is this venue gorgeous ('30s details all preserved), but it has the most permissive staff ever. And that means that dancing in the aisles seems to not only be allowed, but encouraged... fire hazards be damned.
This place has become a staple of the Latin community in Upper Manhattan. That being said, this place has a secure history and is undoubtedly benefiting from its location, past glory, and the need for venue where artists can perform for relatively low prices in the Latin community. Be that as it may, the locale serves its purpose, but does not provide much else. Shows that are not Latin performers barely get any publicity, and only die hard fans of the associated acts seem to know when their faves are performing here.
It is not hard to get to it is just hard to get home from-bring a book or your ipod the A goes local after a certain hour.
Thankfully I did not experience any urine smells in the ladies room.
It was hot as hell in there-I don't know is it was due to the fact it was unseasonably warm outside but it was uncomfortable.
Came here to see the Smashing Pumpkins two nights in a row. The sightlines are good-the sound was a little murky but I can never judge if it is the band or their sound people or the venue. The interior is cool.
Kind of a pain to get there-maybe I am just too old to rock...
My first & only show here so far was the Beck/MGMT show this month. The place towers above you on 175th Street and is actually a beautiful Church of sorts - take the A train here, it's the quickest way up I'd say!
The show itself was awesome - I sat in the third row, saw perfectly and besides the people in the front row who basically congregated in front and acted as if it was their living room, I couldn't complain.
The beer was definitely expensive - 7 bucks for a dixie cup! - and the only bathroom is upstairs - on the loge/balcony level. It made it really difficult for Orchestra seat people to get UP the stairs, through the crowd and into the bathroom.
The bouncers were a little pushy after the show to get us moving out, but I still took my time.
Overall, the place is a nice change from the typical venues downtown and midtown in the city. I wouldn't mind coming here again for a show.
Here's how my evening at the Palace Theatre went:
Screaming suburban teen #1: Wooooo! Modest Mouse!
Screaming suburban teens #2 and #3: (making out next to us)
Screaming suburban teens #4 through 50: (standing up in front of us and blocking our view)
Screaming suburban teens #51 and #52: Wooooo! Freebird!
(Modest Mouse finally play a good song from The Lonesome Crowded West. Screaming suburban teens finally sit down and shut the hell up because they don't recognize the song, since it wasn't played on Top 40.)
Julia: What's he saying? All I can hear are drums and bass! What's wrong with this stupid sound system?!
(Modest Mouse play their crappy radio hit "Float On".)
Screaming suburban teens #1 through 5000: WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! Like, oh my God! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Exit Julia and companion early, feeling old, disappointed with the set list and ready to throw every last one of the screaming suburban teens off the balcony. They are not the only ones, as a few other disappointed fans leave too, saying, "At least they played 'Paper Thin Walls.'"
Scene.
To be fair, the Palace Theatre can't help it if the act they're hosting attracts a bunch of assholes and I'm not reviewing the concert, so here are my two cents on the venue:
It's an old vaudeville theatre with an "exotic orient" theme circa the twenties, so they've thrown Buddhas, elephants, ogee arches, filigree and bas relief all over everything in the most severe case of horror vaccui that I've seen in awhile and covered it all in gilt, to make you feel as if you're in a harem or a Thai version of Versailles. Even if it's not your thing, it's still grand enough to be pretty damned impressive. I especially enjoyed the irony of seeing a band with an atheist front-man in a vaudeville theatre-turned-church that was full of images of Buddha. It's almost enough to make me want to attend a church service there, just for the atmosphere. Almost. The one star off is just for the shitty sound system.
p.s. I'm not one of those people who abandons their favorite bands the second they get popular and start making money. But this show really did suck. I blame the teenagers, those darned kids!
Okay, i'm re-doing the entire review. Tonight was my second time here in three days, and tonight just topped it. I mean, how can you top seeing Bjork here? By seeing Arcade Fire here, thats how!
I will talk about what a religious experience I had here. Now I had Row BB seats, which are 3rd row (I know, figure that out). So I already had a great view of the stage. So Arcade Fire comes out and they do the first song, and they rock. So then Win Butler, the lead singer, tells everyone in the first few rows to come towards the stage to watch the rest of the show. HE WANTS US NEAR THE STAGE!!!!! so before you could say "intervention" i was bum rushing to get there. They use a church organ in a few of their songs. so the United Palace being a church during the week only added to the grandeur of the whole show. It was, maybe, the second best concert i've been to. Just an amazing, exuberant show.
I won't describe the theatre, because the pictures speak for themselves. The sound was really off because there was alot of treble, and i sometimes did not hear the singing. It was that bad. But the decor of the theatre is quite breathtaking. Once inside the theatre, if you look at the ceiling, you will see a very detailed, very beautiful work of art. Its just a great place to see a show.
and i would love to see how a church service goes down here.
Bit of advice: You have to take the A train up here. So since everyone is getting out at 175th street, go the opposite way and exit at 177th street. There are less people, and you'll hit the theatre quicker than the other people. And unless someone says otherwise, the Will Call window is the booth on the outside of the theatre. So prepare to line up along the long, metal fence.
Saw a show here a couple weeks back. Its an amazing venue, the acoustics were terrific. But even better than the show, was the lobby. This place is drop dead gorgeous, its so ornate and fanciful, with the grand stairs in the back leading to the balcony level.
The place is up in a nice area of Washington Heights, right by the A train.
They have to figure out how to get a better bar system going, but the place in general has a good set up and easily accessible. Seats weren't the most comfortable. Oh and don't lean on the railings upstairs, they'll tell you to get away (no jumpers allowed).
The only reason why it doesn't get five stars was because I was sitting in the balcony when I should have been down in the pit, because rock shows should never be sitting down.
Gorgeous theater. Gotta do something about that awful piss smell in the ladies' bathroom, though. Perhaps a ventilation system? Or maybe Beck fans aren't the greatest flushers in the world. Oy. Who knows. Cute that they sell popcorn, not so cute that they charge $7 for little cups of beer. Sound was a little muddy even two rows in front of the soundboard, and just (almost) clear of the balcony overhang. I don't know if the ornateness is quite enough to make up for all that, especially when added to the way-out location (for me, anyway). A word to the wise: the row of seats in front of the soundboard was unsold, meaning enterprising concertgoers could probably sneak there and sit if so inclined.
Theatre or theater. This place rocks. I thought it was spelt "er" in the States. There goes my British education... when I search for the "er" before the "re". Anyhoo, I'll cut and paste my review over anyway. Just so it's findable either way.
I saw Bloc Party here in March, and Arcade Fire 2 days ago. This venue is a new classic. I might just be giving this place 5 stars because I am partial to these bands.. but even the fact that it's way up on 175th street isn't that big a deal for lazy ol me.. sooo...
United Palace Theater features a classic proscenium arch stage, ornate ceilings and walls and a vibe that can only be described as unique. Our seats were wayyyy far from the stage both times.. and the view wasn't the best, but we still really enjoyed the performances. GREAT acoustics even at the back of the hall.
Arcade Fire fit 10 people (comfortably too, mind you) on stage along with the works - chuch-like organs, xylophones, symbals, horns, violins.. they went all out. There were also live cameras filming individual members of the band, projecting their images on 5 round screens scattered about the stage. Lots and lots of space. By their grand finale, they fit about 200 jumping, dancing, screaming fans on the stage with them. This place rocks.
Great venue, great sound. Don't let the distance disuade you. It's worth the ride.
Also see: http://www.yelp.com/bi...
Ok first of all the United Palace kicks ass! Its beautiful its big without being too big. Its interior is really something to see. The United Palace is a church by day and concert venue by night so the marquee reads the name of the presiding reverend not the bands.
Knowing that this is a church we were worried that we might not get booze.. But the nice folks at the Bowery who sponsor the events would not let that happen. However come with lotsof cash if your hoping to drink because the booze are kinda pricey. They actually didn't' have booze they had only beer and wine, and other non alcohol beverages. A beer will set you back $7 and its not even pint size, and the wine $8 and its a pretty good portion. Also the bathrooms were not at all crowded I never once had to wait more than a couple of minutes for a toilet.
So let me take a step back and start at the beginning. After you get past the annoying guy screaming out rules of what you can or can't do upon entering you see a HUGE beautiful room with very intricate walls, and lighting and floors. You see a ton of people standing around in groups, you see a line of tables chock full of full glasses of wine and beer and a TON of Staff either running around or blocking every entrance. However they were all very nice and helpful. Our seats were about the third teer up which wasn't' disappointing at all, I mean I would not have complained if I was in the first 10 rows but like I said our seats were fine.
The sound quality left a bit to be desired there was quite a bit of feed back during Modest Mouse's performance and I kinda felt like it was too loud to really even hear.. Which is normal in a live music venue but I was kind of hoping that it wouldn't be that way there. At any rate. I thoroughly enjoyed the show. Modest Mouse can do no wrong, they played a good mixture of songs from their last three albums. The overall performance was really, really good despite my complaints of the sound quality I certainly enjoyed the overall experience and I would even venture to say that that might possibly be my most enjoyable concert experience ever.
The end.
I'm gonna go see the Arcade Fire and the National here on May 7th. I hadn't heard of this venue unitil recently. Evidently, alot of hot acts have been recently booking this venue, such as Iggy Pop, Bjork, and Bloc Party all have or will play here soon.
As far as reviewing this venue, (I figured I would, just to be the first), to pre-review it. As it's website shows, the venue was originally constructed in 1929 as a Loews theater, for jazz, vaudville, and movies. In 1969, it was purchased by a local church, and renovated inorder to invoke is former glory. The pictures of this place are absoluety stunning, i can't wait to check it out.
Check back for an update on this venue*
Saw Bob Dylan here, sound quality was excellent, it was clean, men's bathroom looked maybe remodeled, and the place was very nice and warm on a very cold night. Someone passed out and was attended to by like 10 staffers, so that was nice to see the tlc by the Washington Heights locals. Overall a very pleasing experience.
Awesome venue. I saw Modest Mouse here a while back, and loved the space, the old design, and the sound quality. A nice break from the cramped and sorta dingy style of Hammerstein and Bowery etc. Extremely expensive beer was the only downside, otherwise it was one of those rare venues that actually adds to the quality of the show.
The staff were really friendly, seating was straightforward, good sound (for a soul set, I don't know that rock would be so good in the space) and view from Row H orchestra. Trip uptown on the A was simple, and I felt comfortable enough walking alone to the venue in the dark at 8pm, but took a shared taxi back at midnight. The only problem-two hours into the show, I thought I was going to pass out from the heat. It was November and I only had on a light blouse. There was just no air, and I was oh so close to stepping outside to breathe but didn't want to miss any of the great performance, so held it together the best I could. I don't know what if anything they could do to cool it down in there. Still, I wouldn't hesitate to return to see another artist I really enjoy.
This place is pretty beautiful inside, and the seating arrangement is really good. That's pretty much all I have to say about that.
When I told my friends that I was headed up to 175th St, they all asked, "why in the world would you trek that far up north?? what for??" Well, turns out that a few of my favorite bands are booking their NYC shows up there so I must make the pilgrimage up north. First show: Bloc Party this past Friday night and yes, it was worth the trek. Not just because Bloc Party rules and they sounded fantastic... but also because the venue is gorgeous. Beautifully gilded and ornate with alot of gold and gothic touches, this place is definitely an original and you feel as though you may go through a spiritual catharsis before the night is over. Well, with the upcoming Arcade Fire show here, I'm sure that will be the case for me. I can't give it 5 stars because my commute back to the East Village from here took over an hour! Definitely will need to strategize a better way for the next show....
what a beautiful place. whatever the reason may be for you going, definitely worth checking out the inside.
I saw Iggy & the Stooges here las4/9/07...while THEY rocked, the venue was absolutely horrible. Crappy sound, bad vibes, too crowded in the lobby/"bar" area, joke of a bar, etc. If I am going to travel up to 175th & Broadway for a show, it'd be nice if the venue wasn't so atrocious. Gorgeous building without question - but for a rock show? I don't think so.
