Popejoy Hall — Attraction in Albuquerque

My daughter, Heather, and I went to the Doo Wopp concert on April first, at Popejoy. I have over 1,200 CDs of music from my teenage and young adult years. (50s and 60s). My daughter grew up listening to much of this music with me. This concert was a Christmas gift from Heather. The fact that she put such time and effort to choose a gift close to my heart meant a GREAT deal to me. I wanted the concert to be significant and meaningful to both of us. At the time, I didn't realize how much a part the Popejoy hall would play in our wonderful evening. The hall has 1,985 seats. I estimated during the show that the place was at least 97 percent full. However, the lobby allowed more than enough room for all the concert goers. Getting into the theater itself required some patience, but there was little pushing or shoving. Once inside the theater, Heather and I had no idea where our seats were located, having never been there previously. Before I could get concerned, a bevy of female ushers approached the entering crowd and anyone who needed assistance got help immediately. The seats themselves were comfy. I can vouch for that because I am 6'4" tall. Heather and I were seated in the back. As I looked around the entire venue, including the stage, I realized there was not a bad seat in the house. The stage was unobstructed and a clear view appeared available to anyone in the main seating area. I can't speak for those in the balcony. With appropriate lighting and excellent temperature control, all that was finally needed technically was an excellent sound system to complete the requirements for a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I need not have worried as the sound was neither too loud nor too wimpy. There were no screeching microphones or any kind of flies in the soup to spoil a very rewarding night. The performers were true Broadway veterans. However, that wouldn't have mattered much if the all the elements mentioned beforehand weren't in place. Even getting to the bathrooms during the intermission was quick and easy because of their close placement to the theater and the number of restrooms available. OK. So, yes; I am one of those people who say, "Why use one word when 10 or 20 will do?" I went into considerate detail because I think the staff at Popejoy and future attendees deserve nothing less. Had the staff been rotten at their jobs, I would have excoriated them with same amount of scrutiny as the above review. As you know by now, I highly recommend Popejoy auditorium as a venue and now you...

Very uncomfortable seating. Not conducive to an event lasting more than 45minutes. Would never go back to this venue. This is similar to economy seating on a plane. If someone wants to pass you have to actually stand up, push your seat up and step in to let the person pass. No leg room at all, and most uncomfortable hard seats. We watched Shen Yun which lasted almost 3 hours. It was a very bad experience. Especially considering the high ticket price.

If you charge the public premium cost for premium seating tickets, at least invest in some better cushioning for your seats and remove every other row to provide more legroom.

Additionally, the seating layout is terrible. If you have someone slightly taller than you in front of you, forget about being able to see anything. In fact, two rows in front of you are obstacles.

Again, they have packed seats into every inch to maximize occupancy with no regard for providing a reasonable comfort level to the paying customer.

As soon as you walk into the front door, you are welcomed with WARNINGS!!!! Over and over again to power your mobile devices off. I guess they don't want the public to take pictures of the seating layout to show how uncomfortable they really are.

Like we would never fly a long trip on economy, we would never visit the Popejoy venue unless hey properly refurbish the place and do something about asking for over $150 per ticket and having you virtually sit on a block of wood with a cold hard concrete floor. Not even an investment for...

This venue is amazing! There are a couple of levels of seating, but really there's not a bad spot in the entire place! The grand hall is absolutely stunning and the entry is beautiful and reminiscent of old world style ballrooms. I absolutely love the beautiful stage and the plush seats! We sat for a very long perfprmamce and I was comfortable the whole time! Even the bathrooms are elegantly done with beautiful hardwood and updated touch free wash stations. The show we saw was Mean Girls, it was absolutely wonderful and entertaining and so amazing how beautifully it was performed! The only drawback was the directions for arrival. It was dark, I am not familiar with the area, and there were road blocks at different entrances making navigating with Maps a challenge. The parking garage was $7 but so close and very spacious. We were able to park within 300ft of the front doors to the Hall. It was a great experience and we will definitely look forward to seeing more...