Rotture
315 SE 3rd Ave Portland, OR 97214Phone: (503) 234.LOVE
Located in: Southeast Portland - Visit Website
BarFly's Review of Rotture
(note: this is a Branx/Rotture 2 for 1 combo review! Don't say we never gave you nothin')
Rotture (the second floor), in its many previous incarnations, alternately housed such failure and such hopes, from B-Complex (the electro-palace that wasn’t) to the preening preciousness of Meow Meow, but Rotture (Italian for both rain and tears and pronounced with a Canadian 'eh?' at the end) is by now a fixture among Portland music venues, its fingers throttling the much-too-frantic pulse of the mod fops and rock fops and post-electro-clash refugees.
It's all fashion-forward booking and fashion-damaged people—the bathroom stalls have been shed of their locks, for presumed legal reasons—and always uncomfortably gills-stuffed on the Beyonda soul DJ nights each second Thursday, so that the smoking porch becomes the de facto social lounge.
Along with Tube, Rotture's one of the only places known by name to those impossibly pretty, nervously overstyled Lewis & Clark or Reed girls—college kids are the new townies, after all—and so they surface on Soul Night like Neriads from the deep, flush with daddy’s money, wondering: is that all there is to the circus? Note: the entrance to Rotture is on 2nd Ave.
Branx (the first floor space) expanded in 2011 into a full size, all-ages, rock club, with full bar. Unfortunately, the kids get the prime real estate, while the adults are cornered in the back of the room. The speedy service at the bar keeps things flowing, but claustrophobia is always a popular topic of conversation at shows here. It doesn't help that the room sweats like a rain forest, even on winter nights. Note: you'll find the entrance to Branx on 1st Ave.
Hours 8pm-2:30am daily
No cover before 9pm or after 12am
B-Side Tavern, Branx, East Bank Saloon, East End, Lovecraft, Mirakutei, Produce Row, Rontoms, Side Door, Slow Bar
Listen, CORY, it was probably an 80s night, ya Douchebag! Oh, thats right, you white people from Beaverton don't understand how a club can cater to different folks...MY BAD!
Saturday night, Madonna, Expose, Technotronic... It is 2008, not even funny to waste your time going to this place. Second time I have been, same situation. When I said something to the bartender he said "different parties for different people man". Do they realize they are playing 20 year old music for people on Saturday night? If I played that at my house nobody would come back. I wont be going back to Rotture.
It's more like "ro-TOO-ray". I would do it with those crazy symbols like in the dictionary, but I don't know how to do that in html.
As much as I want to write the review on Rotture, I don't think I have been there enough to have a real opinion. But - here are my thoughts so far. Been here twice, both great shows, good sound too. I like the space and the set up. I like the deck outside. I like that there is seating at the bar - nice for someone who goes to shows alone. I was here the other night to check out a relatively new band. It was not a busy night by any means. My friend and I went to the bar to order drinks. My friend got served immediately, but when it was my turn, the bartender went and played Megatouch. For like 10 minutes (ok, probably 5, but it was a long time). Then when I asked for a beer, he served me the wrong one. When I hit the restroom, there was no toilet paper in ANY of the stalls, nor any paper towels to pinch hit as TP. Plus, only one of the 4 stalls has a working closing mechanism. Terrible. They have no beer on draught, which I also don't like. A few performer/musician friends of mine have said that they don't like playing there. Don't know exactly why. I guess I'd say that I feel negatively about my experiences here, but I'm glad that there's another place in town to see shows. Eh.
