Make sure to bring ear plugs because there is a lot of hard surfaces for high frequency to bounce off of to hurt your ears. Venue does not sell nor provide ear plugs. This place is easy to miss. Gym right next door. There is not much around the area either and parking in the area is limited or a tow away zone. You need to pay attention to the tow away zones and also there are steep ramps in/out of parking areas that can cause the car to bottom out hard if going fast. It's not a bad area but it is also not great. Eateries are local and have limited or no parking space. Plan ahead if coming to this place because the area is lacking in many areas. I've been told by one business nearby that musicians seem to like the place. Dayton Air and Space Museum is close but closes at 5pm so it the venue doesn't have a show till later so plan ahead.
The parking out back is off a street and easy to miss also. The street is Mundale Avenue and the parking lot has fence gates and no sign.
Staff appeared friendly and answered my questions. Parking out back is theirs.
The venue did not list opening acts (during the show they did add online the opening acts but it should have been done sooner) and was very late opening doors due to the opening acts being late to sound check. Two opening acts before main, I wish they listed that because the night ended up longer.
Place is open to kids despite being alcohol establishment, they card and tag adults so kids do not receive drinks and adults can. Kids receive a different mark to show they are underage. No sitting area. Depends on acts I guess. Probably six chairs total. Bathrooms behind makeshift bar, clean at beginning.
Website listed 7pm start, they didn't let us in till 7:16pm and it's 7:36pm now and still waiting on opening act to start. Staff was friendly throughout when I asked them questions.
Show started after 8pm without any announcement. First band I don't know name till I checked online again when I found they edited it after earlier when the opening acts was not posted. Grigio is the first bands name. Local kids playing various styles from mainly screamo to sort of basic rock but mostly a punk-screamo style. The kids wasn't sloppy, very proficient in their abilities to play their instruments. I think the venue hard surfaces and mixing on the board didn't help though. Need more acoustic panels to tame unwanted frequencies and bring the band down a little, Drums a tad more and then raise vocals because the vocals sounded just below the band , drums too loud and the band levels wasn't balanced well. Decibels was around 105-110 but the hard surfaces and mixing favored the very high and low frequencies too much and was muddy. I couldn't hear the keys/piano either unless the other guys stop playing. Bass, drums and one guitar player was loud and the second guitar player that played melody and harmony was lost in the background. The kids have a lot of potential just need to fix those issues.
Second band Toxic Nobility from Ohio. A hard rock style. Not bad. Proficient in their ability as well. The second song sounded good. I couldn't hear what the name was for that song. The band has a lot of potential.
Venue appears to let the bands setup and dictate time it plays which I think is a crutch. Disorganized but not awful either. Same issues with sound for this band except it seems they turned up the vocals more for the singer.
Finally Virgil Donati. Suffered same sound issues but his own personal sound guy helped fix some of the issues but I had to pull my earplugs out to hear the backing track because the reflection of sound off the hard walls and floor was drowning out the piano and melody parts. My ears are going to suffer for a few days for this. Always a joy to see his band but I'm off topic, back to venue.
Not a bad place but needs work. Alcohol selection is lacking and no snacks but it desperately needs to offer/sell ear plugs and fix the reflection issue with acoustic panels on all walls. Be more streamlined, too laid back and no direction. A lot of room for growth.
Prices vary depending on what's it showing. I spent $23.00 on ticket, and $1 on can of soda. Alcohol was over $5 or more but limited selection. read more