The Back Room @ Colectivo is a concert space at the back of the Colectivo cafe on Prospect. It's the kind of small venue that attracts great acts with small but more passionate fan bases for shows in an intimate setting. The configuration for every show can be a little different, from around 100 seated guests to 250 or more for standing concerts.
The lineup features an eclectic mix of folk, pop, rock, jazz and cabaret artists. The music artists are presented by Pabst Theater Group, and tickets are purchased via the Pabst Theater website. The shows have different seating arrangements--some are all standing and others offer reserved seating at cabaret tables and general admission rows at the back.
The venue has a funky and welcoming ambiance, with bare walls of cream-city brick, open rafters, and a skylight. Because the place is small, there really isn't a bad seat in the house, provided you don't get stuck behind someone taller than you. (There's no slope to the floor, so spots at the rear may not offer great sightlines for shorter people.) A small bar serves drinks during concerts.
There's a lot to like but a few small drawbacks to the Back Room. The seats get a little hard for a longer concert, and because Colectivo is a working coffee house, it doesn't always offer the quietest venue for concerts. There can be some typical cafe sounds floating into the concert space, and for one recent concert during a particularly quiet number, it sounded as if the cafe staff was cleaning--most of the time, the venue is fairly hushed, but during this one quieter number the din from the cafe really competed with the artist's performance. (The closer you sit to the stage, the less interruption you'll hear from the cafe at the rear of the music venue.)
The shortcomings are relatively minor and the lineup of acts is pretty terrific. Get on the Pabst's eMember mailing list to get alerts for pre-sales and receive special offers. read more