The Fillmore in San Francisco is a pretty amazing venue; probably my favorite off the top of my head. Nice mixture of ambiance, sound and history. If you can get one of the few mezzanine spots it's a pretty great place to watch the show from.
First Avenue is pretty nice. It has a ton of history, though the actual venue is a little generic IMO. It's definitely an icon though. I guess a lot of places end up like that eventually once they're renovated. The Crocodile in Seattle is similar. It used to be a dump and they made it way nicer with the renovation, but it lost a lot of its charm. Still, it's good to see an independent venue thriving.
The New York venues I've been to kind of blend into each other. Terminal 5 was sort of trashy but the 3 levels thing is cool, it sort of feels like being in the Thunderstruck video. The Bowery Ballroom was OK, but I don't really get the hype (one of those links had it as the best venue in the US).
The outdoor venues in Austin (Mohawk, Stubb's, etc.) are definitely unique, but the sound suffers a little. That whole area along Red River St. has a nice atmosphere when there are shows going on.
It's really too bad how conglomerates are buying up a lot of places. It seems like Live Nation or AEG own half the major venues these days.
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