Rock & Roll Hall of Fame — Attraction in Cleveland

We visited on a Thursday afternoon in mid-April 2025.

We parked over in the Cleveland Science Center Parking garage as they opened late as well to accommodate the late night opening of the rock and roll hall of fame.

There was one other group standing at the large sign in front we had to wait for our turn. There weren't too many folks here when we entered which was great. We picked this date to visit specifically because the rock and roll hall of fame opened late and we wanted to make the most of our time in downtown Cleveland.

Upon entering the giant glass pyramid, there is a welcome kiosk where they checked your tickets (we purchased them before hand) and give you a wrist band. It's a large and very cool looking atrium. To the left is the food court and to the right is the merch store. The suggestion given to us was to go downstairs first and make you way up.

It follows time and history of music through the decades. It's chronological for the most part and they represent different genres of music. It is a little dark. Everyone is kind of drawn to their own decade of music. I great up in the 90s and so there had a good representation of those groups/bands and then all the way to present.

When we went to the next floor they had "The Garage" which was a ton of instruments that you can play and the kids had a lot of fun here. They are all interactive in one way or another. They even had acoustic guitars to play with as well. I think my youngest enjoyed the pinball machines the most. There were three just sitting outside the garage area and is free to play unlimited. There were also no lines so my kids played it for awhile.

Going up tot he next fall was the actual rock and roll hall of fame. We looked at the exhibit for the new inductees but spent the least amount of time here.

We went up another floor which had more exhibits like Michael Jackson. Then on the tip top highest floor was the Bon Jovi experience.

We walked back down and a large section of the "Power of Rock Experience" was closed during our visit and blocked off. But we went to the merch store and spent quite a bit of time in there. It was fairly large. We ended up buying some pins and mini guitar figurines and they also gave us free mugs with our purchase.

We walked back to the parking garage over at the Great Lakes Science Center.

Overall it was a great experience we could've definitely spent a little more time in there but music is really a large interest of ours and kids were tired after spending majority of the day here and across the street at the science center. If I was in town I'd consider visiting again but there are other things to do in...

Let me start by saying that I wanted to go here since I first heard of it way back when... so much so that for my 50th, this was my destination.

The place is a great place for a Rock n Roller (even an aging one like me). It is filled with memorabilia and great displays. I spent hours just looking at everything. I thought it was cool they included some "newbies" in the wardrobe section, since Rock is not dead. I also appreciated that the acknowledged all those who came before... "Rock n Roll" may have begun with Bill Hailey and Elvis, but without Robert Johnson and Bill Monroe, it never would have happened.

Highlights were relics from The Wall, Elvis's jumpsuit, the boards from Electric Ladyland and the recording gear from Sun Studios. The "Garage" section when you can play around on actual instruments was the highlight. I definitely let out my inner John Bonham.

Now... let me say this... don't come here is you're a fan of a specific artist because you may be disappointed. Although they are HOF members there was virtually nothing about The Allman Brothers, Abba, Aerosmith, Albert King, Chicago, Cream, David Bowie, Dire Straits, Cat Stevens, Dr John, Eagles, Yes, Rush, Led Zeppelin, Queen... the list goes on. There was one thing (handwritten lyrics) from The Grateful Dead and only the props from The Wall from Pink Floyd. The only this from Bob Dylan was display on the wall that said "Bob Dylan & The Band" and then absolutely nothing from either.

I kept waiting for the displays for every artist and they never appeared. How is there a "Hall of Fame" that doesn't have a display for every inductee? Any yes, as stated, the nod to newbies was cool, but how does Taylor Swift have a section but not even a mention of Linda Ronstadt? They had drum set ups from Green Day but nothing from Keith Moon or John Bonham? Joe Satriani's guitar but none from Eddie Van Halen??

I've read that exhibits rotate around, but I still think there should be a permeant set up for the inductees. There was an area for this years...and there should be something like that for every band.

Still a very enjoyable visit and I was able to touch the CBGBs awning (and sanitized by hand after LOL) and took tons and tons of photos. Happy to check it off my...

We visited the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame the day after seeing The Rolling Stones in Cleveland. Perhaps it was not fair to expect a museum to hold up to an amazing Rolling Stones concert. Well 100% the museum held up! What a great experience.

Located on the water the museum is an interesting looking building from the outside. the design of the building really helps with the flow of the exhibits on the inside. The main floor is very large and took the longest time for us to explore. Each floor above was smaller than the one below. At the top was the featured exhibit of Bon Jovi a 2024 Fall of Fame Inductee. If I am being candid this was my least favorite exhibit. Not because of the curated items but the band never really impressed me.

I like to think of myself as a bit of a scholar on rock music. The museum had me shaking my head in amazement with many of the exhibits. One area of music that was featured was 50 years of hip hop. Not a genre that I am a big fan of. Yet, seeing the clothing of Salt N Peppa and Biggie Smalls was truly powerful. The detail the museum goes to to create an experience is impressive.

Now a visit to a museum would not be complete without a gift shop right? Of course the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has a gift shop. And what a shop it is! Here are two things I learned that hopefully will help you when you visit. 1) not everything sold at the gift shop is available on the online store. I missed out on buying gift for my daughter because I thought I could buy online and not have to worry about carrying it in my luggage home. 2) The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame thinks we are all still in our 20's and can wear mediums and larges. Being on the big and tall end of the scale this was disappointing. I would have loved to buy a shirt or two but nobody wants to see my mid-drift.😉

If you have not been you need to make plans to visit. This is a must see spot in Cleveland. I know we...