Harvester Performance Center — Attraction in Rocky Mount

My wife and I attended the Sara Evans concert at the Harvester Outdoors venue. First, about the concert. Sara Evans brought her son, her daughter, her son's girlfriend and another guitar player. And she proved she has a voice for the ages. She sang country hits and pop covers. And she made them all sound great. Now, about the venue. The day of the concert I received an email alerting us that there would possibly be storms moving through prior to showtime. We were instructed that we should go to the Harvester building if that were the case. Everyone would be given a number so they would not lose there place in line. Sure enough a storm brought heavy rain as we stood in line. We went to the building but everyone there just milled around waiting for the rain to stop. When it did it was everyone for themselves getting back in line. I'm happy to say that the patrons were considerate of each other and all went well. Once we were seated another shower moved in. In the email I received prior to the show it was clearly stated that umbrellas would not be allowed inside the facility. Silly me, I followed the rules. No one else did and they remained dry. If you have ever been to the Harvester, I'm sure I don't need to convince you why it is a great place to see great concerts. If you have not been to the Harvester, you need to check the schedule and find a concert to attend. Inside the Harvester is fantastic for listening pleasure. The outside venue is great for music enjoyment as well. The people who volunteer and work the concerts are super friendly. They are helpful and do everything they can to make sure you have a...

This was my first experience with the Harvester. I am from Martinsville. I attended the Tommy Emanuel Concert. I made reservations on line. You have Very professional reservation folks, excellent help with questions and Of course the Tommy Emanuel Concert (with warm ups) was amazing. A couple things: In the interest of making things better! I reserved in the Gold section. No advanced reservations were allowed for seating so I had to get to Harvester an hour early to get a good seat. At my age, standing outside in the heat for an hour was not really desirable. At 6PM when I ask arrived and got in line, I was 4th in line and was pleased with that position knowing I would be on the first row. I am a guitarist so being an avid Tommy fan it was important to have a good view of his choosing hand. Well, I found out that Doug, in line ahead of me was standing in for 5 additional people who were not in line but out eating. Boy, I would like to have done that too! I had no idea your organization allowed that. So instead of being 4th in line i was 9th. Also, apparently many seats in the first row were already reserved as there were some white papers ln the seats and folks saying they were saved. Then, Doug's folks took the center seats on row 2! Before you know it, I'm on row 3. Then there is another hour to wait for the show to begin. I really didenjoy the concert. Just a few concerns. I arrived at the Harvester at 6PM and finally got to see my hero at 9PM. I think you can do better than that. But overall,...

Let me start with the positives. Great acoustics, and the stage lighting is surprisingly really great! This venue also books a wide variety of fantastic artists.

Now, here is where they lost me. The prices are ridiculous. The “gold section” is roughly the first 10 rows with the rows stretching from wall to wall meaning if you are in the back of the gold section line you just paid 20-40 dollars more than general admission to have a worse view. The main room reminds me of a hotel conference center which isn’t awful but there isn’t much of a slant to the floor so you’re staring at the back of the people in front of you the whole show. This wouldn’t be as big of a problem except the stage sits relatively low in relationship to the floor. If the stage elevation was higher it would make it easier to see.

The doors into the main room are on the side so every time people get up and walk out the doors open and light comes in despite the curtains they have up. Depending on the show and the crowd this will happen thousands of times and be loud and a distraction.

This is by no means a bad venue, but I can see the same bands in cooler cities with more to do for a lesser price. The prices kill this venue for me. The excuse that it’s small and intimate does not hold up. There are venues of similar or smaller size with more reasonable ticket prices and stage set ups. $100.00+ for gold section for bands your can see for $50.00 at a better venue makes it a no brainer for me to...