Patdowns are light-to-nonexistent at the Orpheum, in my experience. I've been going there for 23 years. Security might be a little more aggressive with a younger crowd, but I'm not sure if Cake qualifies anyway.
Generally a mellow venue and one of my favorite places to see a show.
One year, for Phil Lesh, the tapers had mics on the lip of the balcony, extreme right and left, with cables running to the center (official taping section was under the balcony, in the rear). They may have even even left the cables up from night to night.
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