Dave, at the Crocodile's pre-party last night before doors opened to everyone at 8:30 pm, the door to the Via Tribunali side of things was open and you could walk through and see the tiled oven (so hot that it only takes 90 seconds to cook those thin pizzas), the rounded black booths with high padded walls (nice work), a strange room hidden at the center of a couple of passageways that's taken up by a long communal table and seems to be built for committing ritualistic murder (seriously, it's weird), and beyond that a hallway to the Crocodile's backstage area, featuring nice green rooms with stacks of fresh towels and, last night, nice people.

Out in the Crocodile's main room, a breathtaking improvement on the old show space, the Tribunali people were bringing out a pizza pie every couple minutes—which looked like a science experiment in how quickly matter can disappear. The pepperoni seemed extra delicious. It took a while to realize that the wall along Blanchard, the wall behind the new bar, now has a long, high, horizontal stripe of two-foot-high windows—which gives the room some depth, doesn't distract from what's going on onstage, reminds you you're in the middle of the city, and gives the crowd some privacy at the same time. The crepuscular light was nice. This build-out is full of touches like that—it's a handsome, strong design. Although the bathroom seems insane. The old Crocodile's men's room was dingy, falling apart, covered in hilarious graffiti and stickers and show posters; the new bathroom looks like the model bathroom you'd find in a showroom of million-dollar condos, all glittering white tile and marble counters and rounded walls. "Oh, it's too pretty in this bathroom," a messy club kid hollered, stumbling in, and then added, "That'll change."

Back out at the foot of the stage, waiting for the Quiet Ones to come out, someone who'd just been up on the new balcony said, "This is a NICE place to see shows." And then he dropped his beer. A big, Pollack-esque splatter on the new floor. A girl in a hat who was documenting everything came up to him and said, "Is that the first spill of the brand-new Crocodile? I got it on film."