Best All-Ages Venue - 2009
The Billiken Club at Saint Louis University
Readers' Choice: The Pageant
A lot of older folks like to stick their noses up at the all-ages venues in town and complain how the crowds there make them feel like they're stuck in a casting call for High School Musical 4, but the reality is, if you write off the Billiken Club, you're missing out on some of the best concerts this city is lucky enough to host. The bookers do a consistently excellent job of bringing in eclectic and emerging talent, even if it is almost exclusively of the indie variety. The bands they tap range from those you already know and love, such as Beach House or Bon Iver, to those you'll be talking about a year from now, such as the Bowerbirds or Sea Wolf, about whom you'll get to brag that you saw-them-way-back-when. The stage is big enough for plenty of eager fans to get close to the action but spacious enough for old schoolers to stand back from the riffraff and stroke their graying beards. Best of all, the Billiken Club is non-smoking, liquor licensed and always free of charge.
