y nine o’clock on a typical Wednesday night, the Red Room will be packed. Oftentimes, there will be barely enough room to move around the plush couch-seating and high stool tables, let alone find a good vantage point from which to clearly see the goods on stage.

This is partly because of the popular nightclub’s drive on booking live music, geared to lure a more varied crowd. Techno still headlines on Thursday nights and Fridays still pull in a weekend warrior crowd to fill their hip-hop fix, while Saturday night brings a throwdown of Global house beats. But Wednesdays are nights for solid rock and roll.

Local acts Blood Meridian and Pink Mountaintops, for example, recently opened for Washington, DC rockers Dead Meadow. The potential is certainly here for a heady psychedelic rock-opera marathon, complete with hypnotically dense guitar solos and endless drum jams. I came in to this concert familiar with the music, and had high expectations.

While the openers warmed up the crowd, I found it surprisingly easy to get a drink at the bar within five minutes, despite the fact that this show was sold out in advance. This is probably (and thankfully) due to the triad of watering holes, equally stocked and well-manned. One giant spot-lit bar at the back of the venue is flanked by two smaller but equally accessible ones on each side of the standing-room crowd. Service is always quick and friendly.

As Dead Meadow broke out, the lighting and production was nothing short of impressive. Spots and floodlights lit up on cue with drumbeats and basslines, visualizing the tunes perfectly. Multicoloured sixties-style bubble lights swam all over the faces in the crowd. It was rock’n’roll utopia.