Loved seeing Junior Brown at the Kessler Theater last night - great show at a great venue - but I am ticked off about the bartender on the upper level. He sneaks in a $3 well charge on everything on the rocks. That's crooked. I have never seen that before anywhere else. Not a friendly guy either. Not even a thanks after pickpocketing your bar bill. Someone should be able to have a good time at a show without having to audit a simple bar bill. Watch out! read more

The Kessler Theater - Junior Brown tearing it up - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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Beautiful theatre and wonderful atmosphere for a night of great music! The Kessler Theater is a focal point of the Bishop Arts District! It first opened as a single movie screen theater for the local folks in Oak Cliff. While it remained closed for decades after extensive structural damage, the Art Deco marquee is shining brightly once again! Highly recommended taking a trip to Dallas to see your favorite artist! read more

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Awesome venue! Employees were very nice, place was clean and sound was good, Great Show! read more

BUYER BEWARE!!! I got GA tickets which did NOT specify they were Standing Room Only, even though they were. . . i only found that out the night before the show when the e-tickets came by email. We showed up nearly 3 hours early, looking for solutions, even if that meant paying more. I presented 3 different possible solutions based on my ex i this field at a MUCH larger venue. All were rejected, with progressively greater rudeness. Waiting now in the lounge for the opportunity (yay) to stand at the back of a crowded room that promotes itself as intimate and relaxed with great views/ambience. read more

Came to the Kessler to see Dezi and had an awesome time! This is an small venue in Bishop arts with a bar at the entrance and an intimate seating area for shows (seating I'd guess ~150 ppl, including the U-shaped balcony). The seats were comfortable and there is an area to reserve if you have a group. Sound was great, room for dancing at the front by the stage and all the staff we interacted with were awesome (especially the bartender Scottie who mixed up a delicious tropical cocktail for me) . They don't have food but you can order from PhD next door. Had a wonderful time and I'll be checking out other acts here because I love the venue. read more

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My favorite venue. Seen many shows there including The Zombies, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Junior Brown & They Might Be Giants to name a few. You cannot get a bad seat in that cozy intimate place, I've heard it referred to as a "listening room". Also, there's free parking and the staff there are top notch. read more

Wonderful area and atmosphere! All of the employee's were helpful. Great patio and drinks something you can you'll have and in intimate read more

Went to Hotter than Hell Burlesque for my bachelorette party . Absolutely loved the whole evening. Drinks were reasonably priced. The crowd was very enthusiastic. And the show did not disappoint. I even got a shout out from the Emcee. I'm already making plans to take my husband to the next performance. Thank you Kessler the environment was even welcoming to my religious mother. read more

The Kessler Theater - This is the final curtain call of the Emcee and all the performers. - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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Great intimate venue with good acoustics, fair pricing, comfortable seating and clean bathrooms. Caught a great blues show featuring Mike Zito. read more

I'm giving this place 5-stars based on intimacy and ambiance as well as old-time prices. We came here last night for the English Beat concert and immediately began planning our next visit. The place is small and takes you way back to a simpler time with its welcoming feel and Art Deco-themed set up. The bar staff was friendly and served up cold beer at low prices. The theater interior was small yet accommodating of a good crowd. No matter where we would have stood we would have felt close to the stage. Seeing this legendary band perform here made it a better experience. read more

The Kessler Theater - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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I really enjoyed this venue. I was able to catch Hermanos Gutiérrez here and it was phenomenal. It's small but love they do tables in front of the stage. Seats behind the tables and even standing balcony. Great selection of beers and complimentary water stations if you're not a drinker. They have an outside patio area with tables to enjoy drinks or chat before the show. There's verrrrrry limited dedicated parking behind the venue so arrives super early if not you'll have to park somewhere in the neighborhood. read more

This is a great space to see a band...intimate, great history and a fun bar right when you walk in. I've been hearing about it for a while now but had never made it down. It's easy to get to from Dallas and the people running it couldn't have been nicer. I had people thanking me for coming as I walked to my car!?! It didn't hurt that I saw an amazing show (Pleasant Grove reunion) http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/bpDiolRQcY8NzYmj3ATLSQ?select=MHJnwJVs2RHBUxH3PUgG1g and the place was packed with who's who of Dallas bands. This has an old-time feel to it: don't go expecting the polish of one of the larger and newer live music venues, but what it lacks in modern conventions it makes up for in character, eclecticism and feel. Can't wait to go back and at least get a drink at the bar. read more

The Kessler Theater - Pleasant Grove show - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

Great place to see a show. Love the intimate venue and wonderful staff. Full bar is available and food. read more

The Kessler Theater - a large crowd of people sitting in front of a stage - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

This is my FAVORITE venue in Dallas. It is such a cozy venue. There isn't a bad seat in the house. However the upper balcony is where we ALWAYS sit. We have seen people like Kina Grannis, The Steeldrivers, Tyrone Wells, etc here. You can bring food in before a show if you want to eat. They have a bar downstairs and upstairs. The bartenders and door guy are super nice. I have never had a bad experience here. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED! read more

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Gorgeous music spot with incredibly friendly staff members, reasonable drink prices, and great inside seating and standing room. I will def be back. read more

This is my favorite music venue in dallas. Intimate, and the crowd is so respectful. If you love live music this is the best spot in town. Bartenders are great too. read more

Be very cautious when buying tickets . Go directly to home page . I over paid with a third party and i was so disappointed . The staff is not very helpful to first time visitors. The actual venue is amazing . It is very intimate and the crowd is very respectful . read more

Best venue in town for a music show. I try to make 10 or more shows a year. Tables are the best deal here, but the suites are very comfy for a group of 8. With tables or a suite you can show up last minute and still have a great spot. Upstairs offers great views but get there when doors open to grab a closer seat. I just wish it was a little further north. read more

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Some friends invited my wife and I to the Butch Walker concert at the Kessler. My initial reaction was who? Where? Gotta say the concert was one of the best I've ever been to!!! If you don't know who Butch is, do yourself a favor and check him out! He puts on one hell of a show! But I digress, this isn't a Butch Walker review. It's a Kessler Theater review. It's such a cool venue to see a concert. The acoustics are awesome. Plus there's not a bad spot in the house because it's so small and intimate. We were probably 15 feet from the stage! But wait, there's more! They serve booze! Not expensive concert $12 dollar Bud Lights. Oh no, they've got a pretty big beer selection and they serve mixed drinks. Not sure about all of the prices but I do know a Blue Moon will only set you back $5... We will definitely be back. I've already started checking their calendar. read more

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What an amazing venue! I had never heard of this place until I came to see one of my favorite girls, Kat Edmonson. (As always, she put on an incredible show.) I will have to keep up with their calendar just to find an excuse to come back. It's small and intimate and a great place to hear an artist. I don't get out to hear live music as much as I'd like, and I think this is an ideal place to really appreciate good artists. They also have a reasonably priced selection of drinks and I hear there's a food menu. That will have to be explored next time! Parking near the theatre was a breeze and it was not in a dangerous part of town. (Just don't get lost driving at night afterwards--easy to find a bad part of town around here!) read more

Great venue!! Went to see Junior Brown tonight. The theater is a really quaint venue. It is a small comfortable place to experience a great show. Has a nice bar in the front that is easy to get to from your seats. We sat at a table almost right at the stage. The speakers are placed perfectly. They are not blaring in your in your ears could hear perfectly. Highly recommend this place . read more

This has got to be one of the best small venues I have ever been to. It has that true neighborhood feel and is so intimate. We arrived after the show had started and were still able to get a good parking spot (free) and a good seat (there are no bad ones). In the foyer, there is a small bar and a little bit of seating, but most everyone stands. This is also where the merch is. There is self serve free water that you can take inside the theatre along with what ever other beverage you purchased. The theatre itself is so small and quaint. The night we were there, the set up was a bunch of small round tables up close and chairs behind it and on the side. The upstairs, which are premium priced seats have full back comfy looking seats and is a single row, meaning you are in the front row no matter what. The only thing is that the floor is not slanted, but it is so small and the stage is obviously elevated, so it doesn't matter. read more

I have to say that I love the Kessler. From the hippies with the "oregano" smell that accompanies their smile as they check you in, to the cool little bar with the fun little nibblies, to the intimacy of the theater that doesn't have a bad seat in it. Huge comfy chairs on the second floor wrap around the wood main floor, and a great mix of hipsters, hippies, collegians, oldies and newbies who are all so close to the artist(s) and each other that the evening truly feels like a shared experience. read more

The Kessler Theater - VIP table - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

I've been to the Kessler 3 times, seeing Jimmie Vaughn twice and Ray Wiley Hubbard. Love the intimate setting and cool vibe here! The acoustics are second to none. If you buy general admission, arrive when the doors open. Great staff and service. Looking forward to my next visit! read more

The Kessler Theater - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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I have attended many shows at the Kessler. Typically I'm with a group and we reserve one of the boxes. The only place I like as well as the box seats is sitting right up front. That said, I can think of no other venue I like as much for a live performance. Its large enough to have a serious vibe among the patrons, and small enough that everyone has a great seat, and the sound is almost always great. Has a really good bar too, with excellent selections in beer, wine and booze. They offer a few food selections if you didnt have time to grab something before arriving at the theater. Most of them are quite good. The only thing lacking is parking. The theater does not offer much (a small hidden lot), and you wont want to try and sneak into a restaurant lot lest you be towed, so your most likely to have to park on the street. read more

Hard to believe this place hasn't been reviewed yet! The owners and investors did an incredible job with the renovations on this historic Art Deco gem. Destroyed on not one, but TWO occasions, the Kessler has been leveled by a tornado, burned by a fire and neglected for years but suddenly local visionaries have breathed new life into it. Walking in you are met by the beautiful main bar. Complete with a mini stage for low key performances such as their FREE Wednesday night residencies, the bar recalls the lounge at the Inwood Theater. It's a place I could walk into on any given night and just enjoy talking with Mike and the other bartenders, while enjoying the local talent. Upstairs there is an art gallery space provided by Decorazon, of Bishop Arts fame. That space has a smaller bar that is connected to the main balcony. The main balcony wraps around the main floor like a U. It reminds me of the old Door space in Deep Ellum, the space that was leveled a few years back. Seating from one of the original theater interiors has been reused on the balcony. If you are looking for a great place to take in a local show, there is no better spot in Dallas. Jeffrey Liles, who books the shows at The Kessler, is bringing in more and more national talent as well. It won't be long before the Kessler takes the title of Best Music Venue from our old fabled favorite, the Grenada. Dallas is blessed to have such great venues... Do yourself a favor; after your next meal in Bishop Arts, make the trip down Davis St. to the X+ and soak in the vibes and the tunes at the Kessler. read more

The Kessler Theater - The Art Deco of The Kessler Theatre - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

Great venue to hear music and excellent musicians. The bar selection is good, sound and acoustics are wonderful and selection of shows are on point. read more

We went to see Shawn Mullins here last night. Fantastic show enabled by a great venue. Its just the right size, the sound is superb and the drinks are stiff and reasonable! Plus, its sentimental to me because Im from Oak Cliff and remember when the Kessler sat empty and unused for years. At one point in the 60's a friend of my grandmother owned it and had an embroidery business there. I remember going inside and there was sewing equipment along the walls supporting the business but most of the seats were still there. I'm so glad that its being put to its highest best use now. The resurgence of Oak Cliff makes me happy! read more

Recently we saw a show at the Kessler after hearing many good things. We were so happy it lived up. To me the Kessler feels more intimate than some other larger venues. We went for the balcony tickets with seats, we have been in the standing room only for many many concerts so I have started preferring a place to rest my feet. Even in a spot that's not right next to the stage, our viewpoint and sound were still great. The venue also has an awesome pre-show seating area upstairs with its own bar. We had no trouble parking either. Really great experience. read more

This place is a must do in Dallas. Wow! We paid 24$ a seat to see a fantastic country swing band last Saturday night. An intimate venue with great acoustics. The only thing missing was a dance floor. Can't wait to return! read more

Came here with some friends to see Parachute, and was very impressed. The real strength here is the venue itself. This is truly one of the best concert halls I've been to in Dallas. The acoustics are phenomenal, they don't mix everything deafeningly loud, they book fun acts (Local, nation, up-and-coming), and it's small enough that there truly isn't a bad seat in the house. There were two warm-up acts, and the stage seemed just as comfortable for one guy and his guitar as it was for the five-piece band with the giant drum kit, light show, and bubble machines. But they also manage to get all the other stuff right here, too. The drinks were eminently reasonable at $5 per, and they were all delicious. Between the five of us we got everything from cherry vodka sours to cosmos to old fashioneds, and didn't have a single unimpressive drink in the bunch. The bar up front has a fun, slick, modern feel to it, which creates a charming counter-point to the rustic, bare-brick faces in other parts of the building. The menu is quite limited, but interesting, and it supposedly revolves frequently - kudos for the poblano paneer tacos! A great, creative offering for the veg-heads among us. They also provided complimentary herbed popcorn and house-made Chex mix for those of us who weren't up for a whole meal. A friend ordered the quesadilla and was somewhat underwhelmed, because it came out open-faced, but she still enjoyed it, and all was well. Major extra bonus points for clean, well-stocked restrooms, entirely reasonable ticket prices, and no major temperature control issues (it was like Goldilocks - not too hot, not too cold, juuuuuust right). (Pro tip: If you don't care about being right up by the stage, go back and stand by the sound booth. The mix is always better by the sound booth because the sound engineers mix for what they can hear where they're sitting.) The only drawback is the parking - the site says there's lots of parking, and there is... if you're willing to walk a block or two to get to it. Careful with the heels, ladies - you may tear up your shoes and your feet. Or at least think about getting someone to drop you off at the door before parking. Depending on the crowd you may have a bit of a hike in. read more

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This is an update. I phoned the Kessler to see if their policy of letting "overflow" buyers go upstairs to the balcony and stand behind the ticket holders who bought and paid for the pricier seats, had actually changed. I had read this on the ticketing page and was encouraged: "Premier seats on the second floor. Wrap balcony offers unobstructed site lines. *section is exclusive to Gallery ticket holders; however individual seats are not assigned* I was told that, no, their policy had not changed, and when there was an overflow, the patrons were allowed to go and stand in the balcony. First of all, why is that not a code problem? But more important, in all our experiences, the people who stand (and there are often 20 or more)seem to be there to party as much as listen, and tend to talk, laugh and use their cell phones in ways in which those of us who paid to sit (the cost is double SRO) do not. And BTW-in the last 4 or 5 concerts we attended (we stopped going about 6 months ago) there was always overflow! read more

My 13 year old daughter and I drove from Okc to see ZZ Ward here. We are huge fans. I have been to no less than 300 concerts in my life and tonight was one of the highlights. The venue is awesome, the people were so kind. Karen took good care of us reserving us seats while we had a meet and great with ZZ, who was also incredibly kind. Karen seemed to care about our experience at Kessler and made it special for my daughters first concert. And, let me say the opening act were great. The New Respects were 3 girls and their brother and you gotta' check them out. I get treated pretty special at Oklahoma concerts because I've been around awhile and just know a lot of people but none of the staff at the Kessler knew me and they still went above and beyond to make sure it was a good experience and it was great! We will be back. I can't say enough good about the whole gig. Thank you all very much. Michal read more

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We came here to listening to Lucinda Williams. Great little venue! We loved our seats, sound of great and we didn't even mind with the AC problem. My advice it is to be a little bit earlier since there are no assigned seats. read more

The Kessler Theater - Waiting for the concert to start! Great venue! - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

This place is a modern bar with music venue attached, and an art/music gallery upstairs! What more could you ask for in a venue?? The alcohol is a little pricey, and the art on the night we went was an odd sort of "black art" light. The music consisted of 3 pretty awesome guys including David Ramirez... he was the best! There was a Sitar player in the art area, and an acoustic player in the bar area... good music all around, good beverages, and a huge music venue! So all in all, i'd highly reccommend it... one star off was for the weird art. We'll be back sometime! read more

The Kessler Theater - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

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Went tonight for MYOHMY the drag show. Clean with great staff, full bar, and food is available. Has a very modern vibe but ole skool stylings woth loads of local art decorating the inside. Signed up for there mailing list. Tonight show featured drag performers imitating artist like Mariah Carey(Always be my Baby), Adele(Hello), Cher(Believe), Tina Turner(Proud Mary), Beyonce(WhoRuntheWorld,Girls), Dolly Parton(9to5),Whitney Houston, and others entertained for an almost three hour show! read more

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Great intimate environment. Mostly seating. Good food, beer, wine, etc... Nice and timely service! read more

Love this place and the sound. The closer you are to the stage the better, duh. Service was great.

Super cute historical theater located in Dallas near Cockrell Hill. Don't let any stigmas of south Dallas steer you away from this gem. Plenty of parking nearby and numerous delicious restaurants make this one of our favorite concert venues. Decent acoustics for such an intimate space and a variety of seating options. There is indeed a full bar upon entering and I also like that they water dispensers for those not drinking. read more

The Kessler Theater - Music Venues Near Me - Dallas, Texas

The Kessler is my favorite venue, hands down. It's so small and intimate and the acoustics are good. If you have 3 best friends, get a VIP table for 4 right at the foot of the stage. If you prefer to be away from the action and out of the spotlight, snuggle with your Bear up in the gallery seats; you can still see the act perfectly. I don't really recommend the first-floor general admission seating...folding chairs too close together...shudders...but if you don't mind being hip-to-hip with a stranger then go for it. Parking is free, but you might need to park in the surrounding neighborhood if you don't get there early enough to get into the lot next door. Bathrooms are very nice and clean. read more