Entertainment Policy

Manifesto

I’ve worked in the music business pretty much my whole life (Ottawa, Toronto, Halifax) and, though I’ve booked clubs (and plenty of festivals), I’ve never owned my own venue, so I put a lot of thought into what we were going to do once The Carleton - now The Carleton Music Bar & Grill - opened.

There was never a question of whether we would offer live entertainment, rather what kind of entertainment? I love all kinds of music and if push came to shove, I’d say I’m happiest at loud rock’n’roll shows but because the building that houses our venue is also above a fining dining restaurant (and we like to think of ourselves as good neighbours), I thought about what was missing on the Halifax music front and realized there wasn’t anything that approached what I’d call a “listening room,” at least not one where a person could get a great dinner and have some drinks while they "listened."

There’s nothing I hate more than paying decent money to hear a great singer/songwriter and having the experience ruined by overbearing, loaded bozos talking through the performance - well, that and not having access to the aforementioned dinner and libations. Bingo! Why not combine those two ideas and carve our own little niche?

So, in a nutshell, that’s ONE of the things we're doing at The Carleton. We also do full-on rock shows on our Absolut Thursdays (every Thursday night - sponsored by Absolut Vodka - we have a band in that starts at 10 PM with a $5 admission) as well as Saturday nights featuring our awesome house band - The Carletones (also starting at 10 and $5 at the door)

Our entertainment “policy” is that we don’t throw someone on our stage simply because it’s Saturday, or Monday, or whatever. The shows, when they happen, are treated as special events and we only book shows when the talent presents itself.

We will continue to put some of the best songwriters and bands in the world on our stage, in a respectful environment that pleases both the performer and the paying public. If someone decides to yak through a quiet show, we’ll throw him/her/it out – plain and simple. Hopefully, you’ll never be that person!

In order to secure seating for live events, we suggest you purchase your tickets in advance. You can do this by calling 902-422-6335, with credit card handy. It's also recommended that you make dinner reservations at the same time. Dinner guests will be seated in our dining room for shows until we're at capacity there. Additional seating is also available in the bar. Keep in mind that there are no "bad" seats in our venue and the sound is great anywhere in the room... You must be 19 years of age or older to attend our shows.

Look forward to seeing you at the shows!

Our Beloved Sound System

We also thought long and hard about what we'd do for a sound system in our venue. For those of you who care about this sort of thing (and you should), here's what it is...

Sound is provided by a Crown Amplifier powered JBL array system that utilizes 14JBL Control 25 speakers, evenly spaced throughout the room, with a couple of sub-woofers discretely hidden. We use a DBX ZonePro for distribution that gives us sensational coverage regardless of where you sit in the club. It's kind of like a home theatre, surround sound set-up and - as a guy who's been to literally thousands of shows - I can assure you, The Carleton is possibly the best sounding venue I've ever been in.

For you artists out there... JBL EON 10 speakers are used for monitors, and a full Sennheiser mic kit is available. We also have plenty of DI boxes, cables, mic stands and other assorted odds and ends...

Our system was designed by my friend Barry Hirtle at Hirtle's Sound Solutions in Charlottetown, PEI.