Washington City Paper Best of 2012:
Best Music Venue: 9:30 Club (Congrats Seth!)
Best New Venue: Fillmore (I guess it's the only venue that opened this year?)
How the hell do you write a Best of 2012 in April??? Not that I disagree with 930's selection, but there will have been close to a half dozen venues opening up between summer 2011 and summer '12-- and I can't imagine Fillmore being the best of them (crap bookings, sticky floors, crap staff, crap lights, corporate vibe, JBL stacks, etc). The Hamilton has D&B stacks and an awesome design (though crap bookings), The Howard is gearing up for awesomeness, Bethesda has a new place opening later this year, U St Music Hall is only a year older than a year old, etc