I live in Denver, Colorado, but when I found out my favorite band was playing a show in Tempe, Arizona, I knew I had to make the 14 hour drive to see them. Having never been to Arizona before, I had no idea what to expect upon arrival at the venue. Reviews on sites like Yelp had me worried that the venue was going to be terrible and that I was going to be driving across two states only to attend the worst concert of my life. Fortunately, it seems most reviewers of the Marquee Theatre are pretentious concert-goers with unrealistically high expectations because I can honestly say my experience at the Marquee exceeded that of any I have had at any Denver venue.
The Marquee Theatre isn’t much to look at upon arrival. It’s a pretty standard sized venue that can host up to 1500 guests at a time in the main show room. The venue is located on the outskirts of Tempe, so traffic getting there and back is not bad at all. The venue does have a private parking lot, but I chose to park across the street in the covered parking garage which cost only $5.00. I have seen a number of reviews online complaining about having to pay to park, but honestly, $5.00 to park in a covered space with security is not that bad considering in many other cities, like Denver, parking is either by the hour or $15.00 to park in a privately owned lot. The walk from the garage took two minutes and I was able to enjoy the rest of my night with no worries that my car would no longer be there after the show because there are attendants working the garage all night.
My tickets were on will-call and had been paid for in advance, so picking them up at the window was a quick process. Be aware that the Marquee does tack on their own convenience fees which you may find annoying, but they are fairly low and it’s only a few extra dollars. Tickets for the show were $17.00 and the fees were about $5.00, but for three bands this was extremely cheap in my opinion.
Security at the front doors is one of the few complaints I have when it comes to the Marquee Theatre, though it wasn’t bad enough to ruin my night or make the show any less enjoyable. You are asked to remove your shoes, which is a bit of an inconvenience when the weather is 110 degrees and the pavement is hot. You are then asked to empty out your pockets and are subjected to a quick pat-down by a security guard of the same sex. This is pretty painless and not too intrusive unless you are extremely uncomfortable being touched by strangers. If you are female, you will be asked to let them search your purse. If you are over the age of 21 and plan to drink, you are then asked to proceed to a table where security will check your ID, scan it into their computer system, and provide you with a wristband to verify for bartenders that you are of legal drinking age.
Walking in the main doors of the Marquee Theatre leads you to a large room where the bar and merchandise stands are located. I have seen plenty of complaints about drink prices at the Marquee, but I found them to be pretty standard. I paid $12.00 for a rum and coke and a cranberry vodka. Both drinks were filled with alcohol and did not taste weak or watered down. Merchandise prices vary depending on the band.
Smoking is not permitted inside the Marquee Theatre, but they do have an outdoor partially covered smoking area. The smoking area is nice because is has tables and benches so you do not have to sit on the ground.
The main concert room is large and open. The floor is slanted so that you can see from anywhere in the room unless you get stuck behind someone extremely tall. My friend and I were in the front row, where there is a pretty tall barricade between the front row and the stage. The barricade is a bit uncomfortable due to its height, especially for short people like me. I am 4’11” and the barricade was just below my eye level. In front of the barricade are the security guards who keep the crowd under control during the show, and I found most of them to be pretty friendly. A fist fight broke out during the show and security got it under control and the offenders thrown out quickly so that the show wasn’t ruined for everyone else standing in the front. Throughout the concert, security would come by with water bottles to pour water into concert-goers mouths in the front so that they didn’t get dehydrated or pass out. A few people tried to jump the barricade to get on stage and security dealt with them quickly. Perhaps the coolest thing to me is that security allows photography and video during concerts, which I have almost never been allowed to do at a Denver venue.
Perhaps one of my favorite features of the Marquee is the fact that they form a circle pit in the center of the venue for moshing (or at least they did at the show I attended.) This allowed concert-goers who wanted to mosh to do so without crushing everyone in the front against the barricade.
The sound system and acoustics at the Marquee are pretty standard at least compared to any other venue I have been to. I didn’t think the sound quality was above or below that of any of the 10+ venues I have attended concerts at. The lighting isn’t too much or too little, and it made it easy to see the bands without being too distracting.
Quite a few reviews I have read claim that the venue isn’t well ventilated and is too hot. This was not my experience at all. Not only were all of the side doors left open, the venue had a number of industrial sized fans blowing throughout the entire event. During the entire four hours I was at the front of a full house, I didn’t start to sweat or feel hot until the last 20 minutes of the show because the venue was so temperate.
My only other complaint about the Marquee is that it appears they force bands to leave immediately after a concert. We went outside about 20 minutes after the show ended and security was already ushering the bands into their busses and they were already pulling out of the parking lot to leave. I spoke with some Tempe locals who attend shows at the Marquee regularly and they said this is pretty standard and that meeting bands at the Marquee Theatre is virtually impossible. This was a bit of a letdown after driving 14 hours to see the band, but still wasn’t enough to make me regret doing it.
Overall the Marquee is a pretty good venue and my experience there was by far one of the best I have had at the 50+ concerts I have attended. The venue was a bit dirty, but I think that’s expected whenever you have 1500 people crammed into a room together and give them plastic bottles and cups to throw on the ground because they are too lazy to walk to a trashcan. If a band I love plays there again, I would definitely drive across two states again to attend another show there. 4 ½ out of 5 stars.
Show I saw: TIGER ARMY with special guests Demon City Wreckers and Old Man Markley
