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    Higher Ground

    3.2 (66 reviews)
    Closed 6:00 pm - 12:00 am (Next day)

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    Recommended Reviews - Higher Ground

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    Kay Wright New Years Eve!
    Marc H.

    First time here for me. This venue is a nice 300 person, warehouse setting. There is a rather large rear parking lot, the security is diligent and friendly. The venue has been around for a while according to the staff. So they know how to host a ticking good time! There is seating out back on a raised platform behind the lights and sound boards. The dance floor is huge! The drinks are full and pricey! I drink water so I get out of for a tip...the service is fast and friendly...so it makes up for sticker shock! I was surprised to see the lineup of musicians! There are many different genres included in the lineup. They have many of the same people that come to Portland, Me, rolling through. I would definitely make the trip out again for concert. Staff is nice, efficient and willing to assist whenever is needed! I saw them assisting two handicap patrons entering and exiting the venue. There is a coat check! It gets warm in there you will want to take advantage of it. The bathrooms are clean and large enough. Also the box office is easy to access whenever they are open, or just buy tix online! Definitely check this Place out!

    Had an awesome time last night. Trudged through the stowstorm on foot and well worth it! We were there for The Beatles Tribute band, but they had postponed. (My bad for not checking lol) Anyway they were great at the door and let us stay. We got to see The Suitcase Junkett and GA-20. Bartender was super friendly and extra points for being a horse girl like me. Full bar with a decent beer list. Great experience, can't wait to come back.

    Photo of the black X after it was "washed off"

    this is the worst venue. i am in fact 21, and I got a bright wristband to clearly show I am 21. I was with my friends who were under 21, and they never tried to use a fake or even try to get a drink. in fact, when we got in the venue, I was with them when they said they weren't 21 and got two HUGE large sharpie Xs on their hands. First of all, my friend, who is under 21, is a food runner at a restaurant, where it is not allowed to have anything on our hands while we are serving customers. When we got to the venue we went to the bathroom and she WASHED HER HANDS like a normal person and the sharpie washed off. About 20 minutes later a RUDE employee came over (she was blonde) and she grabbed my friends (who didn't have any drinks in their hands and weren't trying to drink) and rudely grabbed them out of the venue where she promptly yelled at them and disrespected them. My friend tried to explain that she went to the bathroom and washed her hands and the sharpie was faded. Shown in the photo, she still has the X on her hands, it just looks like she washed her hands. The rude employee proceeded to tell my friends that she still had sharpie on her hands from a month ago, which clearly means she was just unhygienic and not washing her hands. My friends got kicked out and were showed no respect after they were being nothing but polite and did nothing wrong. I work in the service industry, and I understand policies, but this was just completely disappointing and disrespectful. If it had been handled with more class from employees than maybe I would have understood a bit more, but the way this was handled was super disrespectful and I will be telling everyone not to go to this venue. If you do decide to go to this venue and you are not 21 than you should make sure never to go to the bathroom because there's a good chance your sharpie will wash off and you will be treated with the same disrespect that my friends were. After being a paying customer and doing nothing against policy, I would hope that the employees that were in the wrong got reprimanded, but they all looked like they were teenagers and clearly haven't learned how to show respect.

    a person's hand with a tattoo on it

    I was at a concert this weekend and what happened was totally unacceptable. I am under 21 and happily told them so and got black Xs on my hand. When they did so they only said do not have any drinks. I happily agreed as I was not coming to drink at all. When I went in, my friends and I used the bathroom and washed our hands normally. I scrubbed a little extra due to the nature of my job and not wanting bold Xs on my hands (we are told to keep a clean appearance with nothing visible on our hands or arms), but not scrubbing them off completely. All of the sudden in the middle of the concert my friends and I were dancing and a women comes up to us and rudely yells at us to get in the lobby. I agreed but was confused as to what was happening. This woman tells us since the black Xs were off of our hands that we need to leave the premise immediately. I'm accommodating to the fact it is company policy so I agree to leave but I try to explain to the employee what happened. She refused to listen to me and instead started to become very aggressive and would not listen. They yelled at us that they told us when we came in that we were not to wash the black Xs off our hands or we would have to leave. We were NEVER told explicitly that as I would have never done that if I had known. The employee was so rude even though we agreed to leave and were understanding of the position she was put in. In addition, 21 and over get wristbands so it never crossed my mind that it would look like we were trying to get drinks. We never even approached the bar. I am truly disappointed in this establishment and the way they handled this situation. I was extremely disrespected and feel robbed of my money for no good reason. I have included a picture of my hand because you can clearly see the Xs still on my hand, as I did not try to completely remove it. I just wish they had shown more understanding to a paying customer and listened to my story rather than screaming at me to get out. They were extremely rude and made me feel like sh*t when I tried being kind and talking to them person to person. I would not recommend this place at all due to the rude staff. Unfortunate due to the great performers who come through Burlington.

    The Sword, January 12th, 2013
    Star G.

    It's an ok venue. The prices of beer are crazy, and I have paid less to see better bands in Worcester Mass, Glens Falls NY, and Portland Maine. They used to have metal shows all the time, but now they are pretty rare. My biggest complaint is the people who show off for their girlfriends by doing what they consider moshing, but in reality are just jerks that like to hit people who are nowhere near a pit.

    Danielle S.

    I've always had a blast going to shows at this venue! Their bar is easy to order from, and it's fun that you get to stand and dance during the show. After moving to Vermont from a bigger city (D.C.) I was very surprised to see that bigger names came to such a small city! The music scene is Burlington does not disappoint, thanks to Higher Ground. They have plenty of parking and do mobile tickets, call mail you your tickets, or so will call. I suggest following them on Facebook to stay up to date on who's coming! Examples of artists I've seen here include Lake Street Dive, Wild Child, and Lauv.

    Got mad close to seeing smashmouth!

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    3 years ago

    Great venue, I love the floor plan, sound was great, cheap drinks. I've read a lot of negative reviews about the staff but had no issues

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    6 years ago

    The legendary music venue lives! Where all the legendary jam bands have played. One of the most iconic venues in the US. Can't miss it.

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    Page 1 of 2

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    Review Highlights - Higher Ground

    The acoustics are quite good and restrooms are large with plenty of spots to unload all those inexpensive beers though as clean as any concert venue.

    Mentioned in 3 reviews

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    The Boardroom - Board Game Cafe - Excellent pickle plate and huge yummy hot pretzel.  Perfect for gaming!

    The Boardroom - Board Game Cafe

    4.8(21 reviews)
    1.4 mi
    $$

    Went there for the first time for a puzzle race and enjoyed my time there. The only problem came…read morefrom another customer who made unreasonable demands due to the fact that she felt spinach didn't belong in a spring mix (baffling). The staff did their best to appease them but unfortunately you can't with some people. I recommend this place for the food (reasonably priced) , atmosphere, and staff.

    Bad experience all around. Service bad, they don't pay attention to their tables, owner rude and no…read morewits about her speaking to a calm customer who communicated very clearly. Didnt even get to play a game because they created so many issues for us. Both myself and my date were more than displeased, I had to split my sandwhich. we came hungry and left hungry with a side of bad taste in our mouth from the owners rude attitude and lack of business ethics. Food bad, basic food that's overly expensive, small portions except for large portions of cheap bad ingredients chips. They don't know the difference between spring mix and sauted spinach or was just very old, slimy, wilted. We regret choosing this place. Ridiculous experience and business owner who certainly does not have any education or experience around food or business. As someone who's worked in both I'm disgusted by this experience, especially coming from the owner. She wouldnt even remake the sandwich or ma a different one which either way would have been cheaper than the one she had to take off the bill and throw away anyway. so they knew we left hungry and continued being rude. The owner said if she remade it then you'd be getting a free one. there was 2 bites taken out of the sandwich and the second was very forced after trying to take out the spinach which was not spring mix. they didn't try to make things right when we let go split my sandwich and both looked upset to even be there. we wanted to leave and honestly should have. I called today and the owner started raising her voice telling me that she said she'd make it when clearly that did not happen. You don't raise your voice when you're talking about an issue you created for someone else and not only didn't fix but continue to keep making more havoc. We just wanted a meal and to play a game. Neither of which happened- Did leave feeling played, but not the right kind haha- Do not give this business your money.

    Photos
    The Boardroom - Board Game Cafe - Super warm, casual, and friendly!

    Super warm, casual, and friendly!

    The Boardroom - Board Game Cafe - Puzzle part of the puzzle race

    Puzzle part of the puzzle race

    The Boardroom - Board Game Cafe - Crokinole board set up for doubles

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    Crokinole board set up for doubles

    Grandest Gatherings - Micro wedding, boho elopement

    Grandest Gatherings

    5.0(3 reviews)
    1.9 mi

    Danielle is a miracle worker. 2020 has brought so much stress into my life, never mind trying to…read moreget married this year. We finally decided to elope and even that stressed me out. Danielle took ALL of that stress away and delivered the most amazing day. I didn't have to worry about finding vendors and interviewing/getting quotes, she was able to help me with that which was so appreciated. Trying to plan this day from states away would have been near impossible without the help from Grandest Gatherings. Danielle has such style and a mind for design and colors. I wanted to be surprised the day of and she completely delivered. Our picnic was stunning, she thought of every little detail even down to having a sleeping pad under the blanket to make sure we were comfortable. As if having someone plan out your elopement and hiking about 3 miles round trip while lugging a charcuterie board and pillows wasn't enough, she's such a friendly bubbly person! I felt like we were friends right away. I'm currently looking for reasons to have her plan another event because it was that magical.

    If you only read the first sentence of this review, you need to book Grandest Gatherings for your…read moreevent now! For more details as to why Danielle is one of the best humans around, please read on... After our wedding was postponed due to the pandemic, and our first attempt at an international elopement was canceled, we decided to elope in the Catskills.  With six weeks notice, Danielle was able to help us coordinate and design an incredible elopement, including the ceremony, brunch, and dinner.  Leading up to our elopement, we were in close communication with Danielle, discussing our priorities and what type of design we were looking for.  We went back and forth on design elements, and she welcomed our input.  Danielle was able to curate an elopement based on our budget and wants and was genuinely excited during the entire process.  She wanted this day to be just as memorable as we did.   Danielle coordinated with vendors on our behalf, coordinating a greenery runner for dinner with the existing florist that we were already working with for our bouquet and boutonniere. She found vendor options for brunch and dinner, taking into account our food preferences, and presented us with a wide range to choose from based on our budget.  She was also able to use her network to find us the perfect charcuterie board to compliment our dinner.   The day before our elopement, Danielle and our photographer scouted for the perfect brunch location.  We're told that she cleaned algae and pools of water off of the designated brunch rock at the waterfall so that it would be dry the next day (it had rained the day before).  The day of our elopement, Danielle lugged everything for brunch down to the waterfall (she's a beast!) and had it all set up for us when we arrived after our mountain ceremony.  She also kindly shooed people away from the spot that she had so meticulously picked out the day before.  Danielle was in constant communication with our photographer, so that she knew exactly when we would be arriving.   While the design of our brunch was absolutely stunning (plating of food, candles, pillows, blankets, even a comfy pad to sit on), it was the little touches that really impressed us.  Danielle got us fresh coffee when the existing coffee from our brunch vendor had just sat out too long and had some additional surprises in store.  She picked out a location that gave us the most amazing view of the waterfall while enjoying chicken and waffles and prosecco.  A few hours after brunch, Danielle arrived at our Airbnb to start arranging everything for our dinner.  We left for a sunset hike and Danielle went to work.  She completely redesigned the patio of our Airbnb (with the host's permission) for the most intimate and perfect elopement dinner, including moving a very large gas grill, table, patio furniture, etc.  She even restrung the host's bistro lights so that it was a continuous line of lit bulbs with the burned out lights out of view! Danielle ordered our dinner for us on our elopement day and helped us pivot when the original restaurant closed for the day unexpectedly.  I can't forget to mention that Danielle is a serious fire whisperer!  She started fires for us the night before our elopement and the night of and took over maintaining it on our elopement so that we could relax and enjoy the evening.  She can seriously do it all. While we had a schedule of events for the day, the communication between Danielle and our photographer allowed for the timeline to shift so that to us, everything seemed to occur seamlessly even when we were "off schedule" by an hour, which I know is no easy task.  Danielle surprised us with so many additional touches on our elopement day, surprises that I feel I shouldn't list so that future clients get to experience the same joy that we did when we discovered the additional touches. I'm betting that she also did so many additional little things that we had no idea about. And it honestly felt like we were hanging out with a friend that was busting their butt to give us the most amazing elopement day.  Seriously. Danielle is absolutely amazing and made our elopement so incredibly special and memorable.  Stop reading this review and go book Grandest Gatherings for your next event NOW! WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?

    Higher Ground - musicvenues - Updated May 2026

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