Oriental Theater — Attraction in Denver

If you are looking for a taste of old fashioned entertainment meets Colorado lifestyle than look no further. This was my first experience with The Oriental Theater and it wont be my last. I had only read reviews of the venue before buying tickets to see The Rail Splitters and The Steeldrivers. I ended up giving them a 5 star rating because the overall experience was top notch.

We got there early and enjoyed some beers during sound check and met most of the staff and all of the bands. Crazy how friendly and laid back the place was. Let me start with the owners - Great guys. They don't over manage their venue. They let you enjoy it. Yes the building is old, but the character of the theater is priceless. The 1920's charm of the venue really reminds you of better days, when you dressed up to attend the theater and it was a privilege to be there.

Drinks were cheap, easy to get, and not far from hand. Two bars in this small of a theater really makes it nice to leave your seat and grab a drink and not stand in line for 20 minutes missing all your favorite songs. The men's restroom had no lines, and the women's was a short wait (Not far from the bar and a new drink to enjoy while in line).

The only drawbacks of the whole night - 1. The sound guy was new... So any of his mistakes can easily be corrected with some more training and experience (he was sick and missed a training last week I was told). He managed to solve most of the issues in a matter of two or three songs. 2. The venue is kinda run down but not in a dirty or dingy way - The bathrooms were clean, the seating areas were clean, the floors looked clean. But this is an old venue and its hard to turn a large enough profit these days to keep the vintage style and look up to its original standards. It really made me feel more at ease and I sat back and enjoyed the show. I'm a sucker for the old theaters of our past.

Lastly, I highly recommend you attend an event here. This will forever be a great memory of a great concert. I attend over 50 events a year and rarely am I this satisfied with a venue. The Oriental Theater is a must. Meet the staff, enjoy the show, leave with...

Hypocrites. This is a theater that is supposed to be about inclusiveness, but does not care about the differently abled. When I asked for a seat and informed the staff my gf has scoliosis and cannot stand long, I was scolded and told it was standing room only, and that was the policy. The upper balcony chairs are not gone, but are not allowed to be used. The chairs that are RELIED ON by people with conditions which make them unable to stand for long periods of time. Because after years of having full balcony seating, they have chosen to take away all the chairs upstairs for their shows. In addition, the venue ignored my inquiries after this for two weeks, and then responded rudely. Do not recommend. Update: The venue now accuses customers of lying, to cover their mistake. Speaks volumes. I have no reason to lie about this. They do. We were never offered downstairs seating. We were told standing room only, too bad. The owner also proceeded to lie on several other social media platforms about their ADA noncompliance. If you look at their history, there are other complaints about their noncompliance and they have no intention of fixing it. The owner is rude and attacks another reviewer, and accuses her of lying, about the same night a few reviews below, too. In fact, if you read long enough, you see that he attacks any negative reviewer rudely and usually accuses them of lying. He even goes so far as to accuse a female reviewer of being a masonagist because she gave a negative review. Other reviewers he calls ignorant and stupid, and says very clearly "We don't care about your opinion". Very professional. He even goes so far as to accuse a reviewer of having a mental disorder because they didn't like his venue. That is exactly what he does when you bring him any serious concern. Deny and attack. I can't believe the audacity and rudeness to customers they should care about and listen to. Especially when it has to do with accessibility and...

Overall, I have fairly mixed feelings about the Oriental theater. It has tiered flooring down to the stage (each tier has a barrier to lean on) and there’s a second floor to watch the show from. This makes for good accessibility and gives a variety of different points of view. Though, the reason I’m mixed about this venue is due to the sound quality more than anything. It’s been pretty 50/50 as far as whether the mixing is good or not. There’s always at least one band that is just audibly unintelligible (typically the openers). It’s not terrible when compared to other Denver venues, but I do think it detracts from the experience at certain points. Although, I’m sure some of this can be chalked up to the bands. Another more insignificant issue about this venue is that the the barricade makes moshing way more awkward than it needs to be. Keep in mind, since the floor is tiered, the floorspace for moshing is already pretty small, and then to add on to that, the front barricade is slightly raised making for an angled floor. It can just catch you off guard if you’re being reckless in the pit. Anyways, other than these things, The O is a great Denver venue and I never feel disappointed when a band announces a tour...