TempleLive at Cleveland Masonic — Attraction in Cleveland

Bluntly, I did not enjoy my time at the Masonic Temple. I have one other scheduled event coming up there but I will not willingly choose to visit this venue in the future again if at all possible.

The staff were all great and I have zero complaints about any interaction we had with the staff at the event. This review is not a reflection on them in any way.

The root of my dislike and why I would never choose this venue in the future is the seating. For some background, I am 6'2" tall. I wear a 34" inseam pant. Several historic venues in the Cleveland area (some of the playhouse theaters for example) can be a little uncomfortable from a leg room standpoint between me and the seat in front but generally I can manage with some doing.

This was not the case at the Masonic Temple. I attended the show with two friends who are slightly taller than myself. What this meant is that the three of us had our shins or knees jammed into the seat back of the seats in front of us in a way that didn't disturb the folks in those seats but managed to leave physical indents on all of us(see one of my posted pictures for the situation)I have NEVER been more uncomfortable sitting in a venue in all the live shows and concerts I have ever attended. If we had choose the floor seats or floor tables, we may have been okay but for both this show and the next show, this was not something I knew I had to do.

The other issue stems from the fact our show almost got cancelled due to some type of electrical problem with the venue. Almost at the beginning of the comedians set, hai microphone popped and lost power. He walked off and he came back out 15 minutes later to announce they were cancelling both shows. Only for them to get a mic working and he finished the show. The subsequently cancelled the following show.

The venue is very old and Templelive has clearly spent virtuallyzero dollars on any type of facility upgrades whatsoever. The bathrooms were run down, seats were in bad shape, the stairs to get to seats are narrow and covered in a carpet that I am sure has caused some folks to fall trying to navigate.

For me, I won't go back to this venue again beyond the tickets I already paid for and won't be able to probably resell/refund.

For someone shorter then myself or with shorted legs, it would probably be a decent venue as sightlines are good based on how the seats...

Went to see Kingfish last night, he is a phenomenal performer, seen him numerous times and was excited to see him at this venue. However, the venue was absolutely awful, so much so that I will never attend an event there again, regardless of the performer. Unless I missed it when buying tickets, I did not understand that It is standing room only (good luck with that) - there are benches along the wall for those who can get one but once you sit there everyone else stands in front of you so you cannot see the performer and people were sitting on the floor, how safe is that? The only way to access the 2nd floor (2M) is via one small elevator unless you took the steps which the security team advised everyone not do because you will probably get loss due to construction) The room holds 500 people, which our show was sold out, imagine waiting for 1 elevator after the show so we left early so as to not wait to get out. There was NO handicap accessibility, people came in wheelchairs, on canes and had to fend for themselves and people stood in front of them. There is no bathroom on the 2M floor, therefore, you have to take the one elevator down to the first floor and take the elevator back to the 2M floor. While the security team seemed to be aware of the crowd, it was somewhat disheartening to also see them at times, video taping the artist and dancing.

These are just a synopsis of the venue, I have been here many times before and sat in the auditorium for shows and enjoyed it. The division of the space into smaller spaces is doing a disservice to such a great place and a beautiful building. Overall, myself and the others in attendance with me felt unsafe at this particular venue should anything happen, fortunately it did not. If it was possible, I would have given this a negative star rather than a one...

What makes this venue great are the acts themselves and the acoustics which are pretty nice when the sound guy gets it right. Seating is very comfortable, and there aren't many bad seats in the house although you don't want to be in the mezzanines that are closest to the stage. Arrive early to find a parking lot, and you probably will have to walk a ways. Would give this place five stars but there are some major detractions. First there is no air conditioning. They are attempting to cool the place by opening the side doors before, during intermission, and after the show. But on a night when it was in the 70's outside, the auditorium was like a steam room. Secondly, there are no usher's actively engaging with the people that are attending the show. My husband and I walked in and attempted to find our seats, but the labeling is so difficult to see at times we weren't even sure which section we were in and actually ended up sitting in the wrong seats for a time. Thirdly, I don't know who's in charge of the information that is put on tickets, but generally the time that's on the ticket is the time the show starts. For the first time ever in all my years of attending concerts, I had a ticket that said 6:30 and the show wasn't scheduled to start until 7:35. So my husband and I left work early, battled crazy traffic in order to make it to the auditorium by 6:10, and then we found out the show was not scheduled to start until 7:35. Ridiculous. Inexcusable. When others found out as well they were very angry. We all could have had dinner after work and then come to the show. The lesson here is call in advance and check the time-- at least with this venue. I'm sure there will be many people who will not be back. We might be, but it's got to be a...