Penn's Peak is a nice, small venue about 30 - 40 minutes north of the Lehigh Valley. That's Allentown and Bethlehem in Pa. The venue is nestled on a hill overlooking the Lehigh River water gap and has a nice view of the Kittatinny Ridge and also the Blue Mountain Ski area. It is across the river from the town of Jim Thorpe.
The venue itself is very nice. All wood. It is small, I think I saw where if they have standing on the open floor area, the venue can hold about 1800. It has two floors. There is a full bar on each floor and the second floor also has a restaurant. The upstairs area is a balcony overlooking the open floor area. The balcony railing has a built in shelf for drinks and food and seating on the three sides overlooking the floor. There is also a row of seats in back of the balcony railing area. Below the balcony on the first floor, there are tables and seating. There are two decks, one on each floor, that look out at the ridge. They allow folks to go out there for smoking and many folks head out there between sets, etc.
Last I knew, it is a family run place. I have seen Phil and Friends, Little Feat, Gov't Mule and DSO up there. At the DSO show, we had dinner at the restaurant and I forgot my credit card with the bill. I called the next day and drove up to get it. The manager/owner came out, got a couple cokes, asked me to sit down and he chatted with me for about a half an hour. Talking about the venue and stuff. He said he recognized me from the shows. Just plain old nice guy. nice folks. nice place.
Easy to get in and out of the parking lot. A mellow place to see a show and I would say the nicest venue I have ever seen a concert at. They do get some good acts in there but a lot of it is country music and comedians and stuff like that but they do get the occasional jam band in and they seem to like having a mellow jam band type crowd.
So all in all, a great place to see a show. Do remember your ID if you want to drink cause they check it and put a band on you to allow you to buy drinks. My wife, who is 60, forgot hers in the car last show and they would not issue her a band. kind of silly. Anyway, I will try to see the Furthur show up there, schedules permitting. Maybe I'll see some of you all there!
Dave
