I like this space for live music performances. It is spaced out enough, but there’s not a lot of seating. The bartenders are nice, but the selection is small. The drinks were reasonably priced
Chris W.
Place rating: 4 Seattle, WA
Motor is gloriously trashy. Came here for the psychobilly freakout, and was not disappointed. Half the crowd had makeup, there were plenty of stiff-limbed crusties in the pit, and whatever promoters did a great job getting a varied group of bands that covered the gamut, from the Crampsy-Misfistsy types, to classic rockabilly and hard-ish bluegrass. The crowd was great, aside from a few skanky teenage hangers on and attention-soaks that wanted to dance on speakers in front of the bands(annoying the hell out of the actual go-go dancers.) Downers– Probably due to the all-ages nature of the show, the bar was segregated from the rest of the area, so it was tough to get a drink, and people huddled near the beer with less of a crowd in front of the bands. The broken seat in the mens’ toilet threatened to dunk you at any given moment. The rest of the room was appropriately rank. The security seemed… lax. The pit was pretty active, which was expected, but there were a few people there slamming heads into floors and speaker cabinets, and they didn’t get yelled at until they jumped on stage and tried to hugtackle the lead singer for a good 30 seconds. I didn’t check for missing teeth or blood on the floor afterwards, but I did see a piercing or two get vaulted around. All in all, a good enough experience, and definitely closer to a 5 because there aren’t many crusty bars around Seattle.
Kate S.
Place rating: 3 Seattle, WA
3 ½ stars here. A decent venue — and could possibly go up the more I come here. The guy working up front taking cover and stamping your wrists was cool and friendly. Place is large, with a decent amount of seating on the outskirts of the stage area. The bar is sectioned off cuz it’s all ages here.(Which makes for an interesting mix on the floor). So of course that was the more happening area of the place and a wee bit cramped. I wasn’t drinking that night but the prices seemed to be pretty decent from what I gleaned 2nd hand. The men’s room was apparently wrecked(you dirty guys!), but the ladies was pretty clean especially considering I was there for a psycho-billy show. I dock points for the sound — they were having consistent issues and bands and audience alike were getting annoyed with the feedback and dropping quality.
Angie B.
Place rating: 4 Shelton, WA
The Motor is a huge, cavernous warehouse with an established stage and lighting system. Someone called it «roadhouse-esque», and i think that hits it. It must be the chicken wire protecting the bar from the stage… The night got very crowded, but the bartenders were still covering, even after a long day of biker benefit show earlier, and now a rockabilly show in the night. i wish i could add another half star, because my little beefs are kind of small, but they are are still beefs: in the bathroom the lighting was very dim, which made make-up checks pointless. The mics kept cutting out during the night for at least three of the four bands, which was very frustrating, for not only us as bands, but as spectators. However, not sure who to blame for this: the sound guy, or the equipment, or just gremlins in the system. Club Motor has their own PA and mics, which makes our job easier. Overall, a great atmosphere. Lots of space for dancing, but when it’s time to crowd against the stage, no bruises from getting shoved against it. Ah, yes, the stage has an extra partition built out from it for burlesque dancers to dance while the bands play. Very burlesque friendly, as Burning Hearts Burlesque hail from there, and have shows often(check them out personally for more info) P. S. the absolute best show i have had yet!!! Bands: angie and the car wrecks(me); The Swillbillys, Hard Money Saints, THECHOPTOPS. all bands were friendly, accommodating, it was a GREAT feeling this night!!! Thanks Motor!!!
Angelina L.
Place rating: 4 Lynnwood, WA
Open up a door, walk up some stairs and it looks like you are in an old wooden warehouse. I hear, check, check. Oh the feedback is not good on that mic. My friend’s band is having their debut here and she looks AMAZING and GORGEOUS on that stage, not to mention she has a great voice!!! The stage is in the back of the room, to the right is the all ages area and to the left is the bar. I can understand the barbed wire between the two, when this place is packed… I think it’d be pretty hard to monitor if a minor gets alcohol passed to them or not. Honestly though… I think it adds to the style of this place!!! On the back of the bar you have a steer skull, hubcaps and all sorts of fun things hanging from the wall. I absolutely LUV the décor of this place!!! The staff was great!!! Drinks were good, strictly stayed with a couple beers(damn school work that needed to be done). The only gripe I had was when I first got there it was a bit cold inside, BUT I totally understand this since once it started filling up… I wasn’t cold anymore! Great place to go see some shows!!!
Celeste T.
Place rating: 2 Seattle, WA
Their sound seemed a bit«fuzzy» and lacking bass when I went there for DEMF, for two different afterhours. The space is cavernous and huge, and the toilets were clean and mostly working, which is better than most Capitol Hill clubs. I can’t say I was impressed, however, and it’s in SODO, which is always a pain to get to. I think I took off a star just for Motor being such a drive.
Angela K.
Place rating: 4 Vancouver, Canada
Paid my first visit to Motor this past weekend. Love the roadhouse style atmosphere. It’s an older space that’s nice and dark inside, with plenty of wood, chicken wire and car parts. Friendly staff and lots of room to move around. There’s seating up by the bar, and tables & chairs on the lower level as well. Plus lots of open space in front of the stage. As for the drinks, they weren’t cheap but they weren’t weak either. Overall a pretty cool venue to see a live show.
Clover A.
Place rating: 4 Seattle, WA
Still fantastic. Drinks were strong and reasonably priced, excellent venue to see a show including huge and easily accessible CLEAN bathrooms, great sound set up and easy-breezy parking. I found out you can rent the entire space for about $ 200– you know we’ll be partying there soon now!
Liz M.
Place rating: 4 Seattle, WA
I don’t often go to clubs so my basis for comparison is rather limited, but I thought Motor was pretty decent for what we were after. Parking was a breeze, there was no line to get in, and the cover was a very reasonable $ 10. I ended up not drinking very much as I was already tired and wanted to make it through the night without falling flat on my face and/or off my shoes. The rum & coke I did have was fine, though not the best I’ve had in my life. The space is large and dark, with a decent sized area for dancing and some tables and chairs for those of us who can’t stand in heels for very long. The bathroom was reasonably clean. The KISS tribute show, was an awesome 5+ stars and suits the venue perfectly. I couldn’t name a KISS song if my life depended on it, but the band(and the audience!) were fun to watch and the music was great to get up and dance to.
Lily S.
Place rating: 3 Seattle, WA
Hmm… Motor. Well, the parking was easy — there’s plenty of it on the street, so that wasn’t so bad. However, the lines getting into the club were a bit… umm…wacky. No one knew which was will call and which was for ticket holders. On top of that, nobody really knew where to purchase tickets if they didn’t have either of the former. So there’s that. Once you were in, the sound system was pretty good, the stage small, and the bar… HOLYGOD. It was like the subway system in Tokyo. We went in to find people and turned around to walk right out, only it took about 10 minutes to get 10 yards. It was that packed. I get it — it was during a popular show, so there were a shit ton of people in there — but MANALIVE. Either I’m old and impatient or that place has zero feng shui. Pros: — staff Cons: — chicken wire separating the bar from the dance floor — what IS that? It’s terrible — we’re not in prison, we’re in a club! — no ventilation — I swear the walls were sweating, which is really really gross when you think about it. — musical acts — they always seem to book pretty good musicians Will I revisit? It’s a toss up.
Rachel B.
Place rating: 5 Snohomish, WA
I love Motor. I love being able to go to an electronic music event and being able to stay in the bar(away from the kids lol) and still be able to see the DJ. The«chicken wire barrier» doesn’t bother me at all. I wasn’t impressed when they had«two rooms» which was basically one room with a sound wall in between but I think they’ve discontinued that school of thought any how. There’s TONS of floor space the bathrooms are clean and well decorated. The bartenders are nice and the security have been more then decent. Some of the shows here were awesome: at Jingle Bomb the snow machine is always a blast, saw a great Utah Saints show here that was 21+ and many others. Kudos, motor. I’ll be back.
Arron M.
Place rating: 4 Lynnwood, WA
Saw Joe Buck & Wayne Hancock here the other night. I loved this place. Bikers, rockabilly, country, punk, all welcome here. Good happy with $ 224oz PBRs. I liked the car and bike parts on the wall. Only down side was it was pretty hot until later in the night.
Adi C.
Place rating: 3 Seattle, WA
One star for having an awesome staff. One star for booking awesome bands. One star for opening up both sides of the venue to 21+ if nobody underage has shown up past a certain time. Minus two stars for the CHICKENWIREPRISON that makes me feel like dizzy, as if I’m looking at a Magic-Eye painting, whenever I try to watch the band on the other side of it.
Heather W.
Place rating: 3 Cheney, WA
MUCH better than it used to be. Yay for a sectioned off 21+ section to escape to!
Masquerade P.
Place rating: 2 Seattle, WA
It sucks now after the re-model. There is no room on the floor to dance or spin glowstics as the bar takes up half of what used to be dance floor. Now people are constantly bumping into me when I am trying to dance and when I am tired there is no where to sit other than the floor, which has puke, piss and raver funk*. The acoustics are kinda weird in the corner paralell to the bar techno sounds like, thump, thump, thump but, eslewhere it sounds good. Getting outside is an uphill battle and finding personal space is impossible. 25 $ for a rave is too much. Try going to 15 – 20 $ *Raver funk possibly contains, puke, blood, hair, cum, piss, glitter, drugs and germs.
Will L.
Place rating: 4 Los Angeles, CA
SoDo has one more reason to consider itself Seattle’s Live Music neighborhood. Studio Seven and the Showbox Sodo within walking distance of each other, and now Motor located right in between the two. Motor was around for about a year before the alcohol permits went through. It was a venue primarily for raves and other all-ages events. However, now that the bar can serve alcohol, the entire place has been remodeled. I had the pleasure of meeting several of the folks who put a lot of sweat into this brand spanking new venue. It’s fun to feel the pride and the buzz that the creators of a new establishment exude; it’s contagious. And for good reason. The place is coming along nicely. There is still work being done, and like any venue, it will be years before all the finishing touches have been applied. There were still bare walls, the smell of sawdust in the air. The men’s bathroom was immaculate. The stage is large, with lots of monitors and a high riser for the drummer. No power in front of stage, but I’m sure they’ll get some cables wired up there eventually for guitar pedals and such. Load in was a little difficult, as the back entrance only has a stairway, and the handicap wheelchair ‘lift’ isn’t quite operating in front. However, once that’s in place, loading in through the front will be much easier. I didn’t get a chance to check out the Green Room, as the gals of the Burning Hearts Burlesque company, who put on the Bad Motor Booty Burlesque show every Thursday night at Motor, have a ‘no males allowed’ rule in there, which unfortunately also includes the other talent. However, the owners let us use their office to get changed in, so no problem there. There was a big counter to sell merchandise at right up front. We didn’t take advantage of it, as we didn’t staff anyone to take care of merch at this show, but next time we definitely will. Sound was pretty good, according to fans, though Phil’s vocals were apparently a bit low. This is an issue that works itself over time as the sound engineer gets more experience with the room and the equipment. We had a bit of a buzz coming through one of the speakers, and they took care of it immediately. Lights were aimed at odd places on the stage, which left Phil in a dark corner. We’ll know next time to try to set him up in one of the spotlights. Lots of tables scattered around, the room is pretty large, and it looks like there is the makings for a couple side stages as well, which opens up potential for interesting shows and parties, with room for Go-Go dancers, etc. All in all, a great experience both playing here, and enjoying the other entertainment. And the Bad Motor Booty Burlesque show on Thursdays at 9pm… definitely worth checking out!!!