For those who didn't know, Soundwave Revolution is now cancelled, and Devin won't be coming to Australia next month. Instead he's been billed for Soundwave 2012 and I got curious to what everyone might think of this... Personally I'm a bit "meh." I don't like festivals. Sound isn't great and bands usually get a shorter set / time frame to play. Plus there's often clashes with other stages and bands / artists you might be at the festival to see. Personally I was going to see a total of three bands. DTP, Gojira and Times of Grace. I don't mind many of the others, but I wouldn't pay to see them on their own.

So anyways, I decided to make this poll to find out what Devy / SYL fans thought on the matter of venue. Personally I love the small clubs (so long as the sound is good). Most of my fond memories of great gigs are at small venues. So anyways vote away!

In a small venue is my preferred!

I prefer clubs or venues of medium size. You can be close to the band, there's room for them to move (and the crowd as well), and the beer prices are usually good. Seedy little pubs can be fun, but mainly for local bands. Arenas are overpriced, but I'll take them over outdoors festivals anyday - too crowded, too hot.

I agree with Bookwyrm, festivals are crowded, hot (especially over here) and full of obnoxious people. I prefer places like the Enmore. Medium sized and intimate enough to feel the music.

You guys have nailed it right on the head.

Clubs all the way for me too!
Bar gigs can be very cool too. One of the best shows I've seen was Spiritus Mortis (<- NOT from that gig, just a little sample of S&M) in this little bar in downtown Helsinki in 2009. The stage, if you could call it that, was just a raised part of the floor in the corner. There was just enough space for the drums, bassist and 2 guitarists. The singer had to do his part in the middle of the crowd. Talk about connection with the crowd! By the end of the show, he was singing standing on a table!

small club all the way!

[swervedriver]

Club obviously. Festivals are way overpriced for seeing only a fraction of the artists on the bill playing too short a time slot. Plus it's rank, smelly, and filled with people who need a punch in the face and/or don't give a toss about the artists.

From my limited Dutch festival experience anyway.

Definitely somewhere small! For all the reasons mentioned above. I don't like festivals much... also because of reasons mentioned in posts above.
My major problem with festivals is that for some reason there's an entire highway between the stage and the audience, and the stage is like two stories high.
I think audience-performer-interaction is important, and a lot more fun! So yeah... small club all the way! (but deeeeeemn someone needs to do something about the air conditioning. )

I think we're all in agreement here...

Having some tinnitus, I'll go with outdoors stage festival, else I can't go at all (haha, such a downer )

The thing that sucks with tinnitus is that despite wearing good earplugs (got some custom made), sound vibrations still travel through the bones and reach the inner ear. So even if it doesn't sounds too loud with earplugs, you gotta be very careful if you have weak/damaged ears, and sometimes it's not possible to come and go out of a venue if you want to rest your ears, except in a smoker area or something (which may not even be far enough from the noise).
Staying in the back isn't even a solution as they usually have sound repetitors I guess (don't know how you call that).
Well all-in-all, live shows are pretty much a no-no for me.

A club.
Good AC in the summer is awesome for a show as well.

I choose a small club or a theater/smaller venue type place: The Warfield in San Francisco, The Moore Theatre in Seattle, or The Knitting Factory in Spokane. Any venue with a bar is a plus.

[Octillus]

I choose a small club or a theater/smaller venue type place: The Warfield in San Francisco

Seeing Opeth there in October