^^^ It was a great venue! Friendly, low key, and cozy. Surrounded by forest. I will definitely be checking their schedule in summers to come...
As for the spot, I am quite glad we ended up in location 2. 1 (front and center) would have been my first choice, but there were some practical considerations (like having access to a soundboard feed). Not to mention some people were dancing in that area. 4 (side of the soundboard) would have sucked from a crowd noise perspective as the bar/smoking area/bathrooms/merchandise stand were directly behind the seating. 5 (center in the crowd) would have also been pretty noisy, as the most serious fans were really packed in there, and again far from the board. With 2, we ended up having the board effectively baffle the bar/crowd behind us, were able to easily access the board, and were able to take up a bit more space.
On top of that, open taping is really an anomaly over here. As far as I know, we are the only three (I have never encountered others, although there are a bunch of stealthers). So I think it is important that we don't generate any negative reactions from other patrons, and in spot 2 we were not in anyone's way or sight-lines.