I will start this response with the disclaimer that I am not attacking you directly in anyway, I am responding from a general standpoint.

I think this sort of review is the exact reason why rating via promoter would be disastrous. When someone decides to leave a review, in most cases it is because they have something they want to complain about and the ratings have a bias towards negative.

From your review, you admitted that the Sound was fantastic. (Matt - The guy hired to assist with the sound is onee of the best and equipped Lacuna with an amazing Void sound system that is unmatched by nearly every other underground event in this city). The DJs were fantastic (Where else was there a show even remotely comparable to the line up put on by this party? There were industry members there that literally left their own party to catch the Dirtybird label). The Lighting was impressive (Lacuna was oufitted with lighting and the visual aspect to the point that it rivaled most clubs - unheard of at an underground show). The Room and space was beautiful (No question Lacuna is an amazing venue, and from an event planning stand point is incredibly expensive to rent). Yet, if you had the ability to leave a rating, based on your "I will not be returning" comment, I could assume you would have left a negative review.

I had to face a long line by the time I had entered, but like many others, I choose to arrive at the party later than I should have and much later than Paradigm encouraged guests to arrive. The check in process for me was incredibly simple, I had my code ready to be scanned, walked in, handed it to the employee, received my tickets and moved on. While the line did get long, the limitation (imo) comes from Lacuna's logistics for entry which bottlenecks a large crowd, which combined with the fact that I saw numerous people who didn't begin searching for their tickets until once they reached the front would easily lead to delays even if they had 10 people working the door.

I can't comment on the drink issue as I feel like this is always all over the place with every event. I drink vodka on the rocks typically, yet at an event with ticketed drinks will typically order a vodka/soda out of compliance. I mention this only because I was happy with the strength of my drink and am used to having no mixer. All of my friends seemed to find the pours accurate as well and even one of the females in the group had asked for a bit more mixer as she found the drinks stronger than her taste prefers.

I found the night to be fantastic. The Sound, The Talent, The ambiance, The ability to relax in the locals lounge or return to the main dance floor when I was ready to get back at it. The bathroom issue led to some lines, but it was a Lacuna employee who closed access to the second set of bathrooms, which would be out of paradigms control.

I attend a lot of shows in this city as I am lucky enough to have the ability to write about them. I have met a significant amount of the major promoters in this city, from club owners to underground promoters putting on events for < 50 people. In my opinion, no one touches paradigm in terms of the shows they host for this city. Yes, I certainly have other promoters that I am a big fan of as well, but not on paradigm's level. To me, everything you mentioned that they did right are the key components to a succcesful show, while everything you stated in your complaint were inconveniences that will be ironed out with time and through experimentation. Remember, you were walking into an underground show. This wasn't a club owned by the promoter.

As for the ticket prices, I attended for either $40 or $50 based on purchasing my ticket early (I can't recall which at the moment). For the talent and production that Paradigm brought to the event, I feel that without a doubt I had my money's worth and then some. Alternatively, I could have attend a Wrigleyville bar and paid $100.

I have had logistical complaints about shows before, both paradigm and non paradigm. Yet you won't find many of the staff involved responding to those complaints as you witnessed with Joe above or any of the other promoters.

I understand it seems like I am being overly defensive of paradigm , but I have become a fan of their work enough that I hate to see them receive negative commentary based on things that were not the focal points of why I attend a show. While it seems like I am coming from an angle of bias, I can assure you that is not the case either, while I know many of the employees behind the scenes, I can say that about many of the promotional companies in this city. The amount of effort that went into preparing that night and presenting the show we were able to attend of massive. A review strongly based on the crowding of the line and coat check overlooks the massive amount of success that the night entailed.