Emo's Austin — Local services in Austin

This was by far the worst venue and concert experience I have been present for. I want to preface with this was not a reflection of the performers or their staff; they were lovely and were very prompt and organized from what I could tell. This was an issue with Emo's staff and organization.

Just yesterday, we had tickets to the NSP Pure Elegance concert. We had purchased the VIP tickets as my partner was a huge fan.

About a week before the concert, we received an email that told us: "Please arrive at the venue at 4:00PM to ensure you have ample time to check in, collect your limited edition merchandise, access the merch booth, and find a spot!" "The VIP program will begin promptly at 5:15PM"

So, like just about everyone else in the VIP program, we arrived 15 minutes early (3:45).

It was clear that Emo's was unprepared and understaffed for what was needed. We were forced to stand outside in 95 degree heat with little to no shade for an hour, as they did not open the doors to allow people in until 4:45. Thank god there were icecream trucks present where we could purchase water, otherwise there absolutely would have been people passing out from heatstroke or worse. They were struggling with getting the security gate set up at 4:20, 20 minutes after we were TOLD to arrive. They did not even start moving people through security, which was staffed by a singular man, until around 4:25-4:30.

Now, that was just the hour before the concert.

The concert started at ~7:00; we had been standing on our feet for about 3 hours at this point. My partner, who is disabled (and visibly so, they have a cane that they needed to lean on) was starting to hurt from such a long period of standing. At around 7:20, she communicated to me (visibly in pain) that they needed to sit down. I escorted her out from the crowd. There was nowhere inside to sit. There was exactly one place where people could sit indoors; a small bleacher-esque setup that could fit maybe 30 people if they squeezed. This was supposedly ADA seating, for those who needed it. This was not enforced whatsoever; not even a sign saying it was meant for those who are disabled. So, my partner opted to lean against the wall to try and take some pressure off of her feet. Within not even 2 minutes, a man (fairly skinny build, glasses, wavy brown hair down to around his back) who was with Emo's came over to us and told us we had to find some other place to rest as the area we were in was a fire lane. I understand that he needed to do his job. However, the manner in which he did so was extremely rude and frankly seemed discriminatory.

When I had returned from the bathroom about 20 minutes ago, there were probably 5-6 people standing directly in that fire lane. When I was escorting my partner, he had just cleared them out in a fairly cordial way. However, when he approached us his tone was incredibly aggressive and accusatory (and we were struggling to hear him as the music was loud). Only when someone with a cane, visibly disabled and in pain, decided to try and rest against the wall he took this angry tone. When I asked where she could rest, he (with a scowl) said "you'll have to go sit over there" and pointed to the extremely full bleacher-esque area I mentioned earlier. After we looked back, someone coming out of the crowd dropped her drink, spilling a significant amount of alcohol on me and the floor. After this happened, he looked at us and said "see, this fing st happens when you stand here", as if we were at fault for the person spilling beer on us. The gal had not tripped on us or anything, it just slipped from her hands. At this point, we left to find somewhere else for her to rest. After asking another employee, we were informed the only place to potentially sit would be out back on the outdoor patio. We found a space to sit out there, in the still 85 degree weather.

We ended up leaving early, as we had such a terrible experience and my partner was in tears from that series of events. I will personally never attend an event at...

Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end. Emo’s Austin has really lost touch with people and the fans that attend the shows that keep them in business. I’ve been going to shows at Emo’s before it was even located on Riverside. Just alone in the last three months I have been to three shows here, buying two tickets at a time and spending hundreds in bar sales over the years.

I finally decide to be selfish and purchase a solo meet and greet ticket for an artist that I love and have seen before. More importantly, though I was more excited to see the opener, so for months I have been checking my email daily waiting to see when the meet and greet was, because I didn’t want to miss the opener.

I contacted Emo’s multiple times through Twitter (now deleted), Instagram and their Contact Us form on their website, since they do not have a phone number available to call them. Every bit of information lead me to an 800 number that was not accepting calls at this time. I only wanted to know what time the meet and greet was and nobody was available to help me.

Someone finally replied to an Instagram message and said, “check your email” as if I hadn’t been checking my email every day from the day I bought the ticket (which was the first day they went on sale). I had received one email from Emo’s saying doors open at 7 and that was it.

I arrived at 7 and the girl at will call told me that I had missed the meet and greet. She moved me down the line to talk to someone else and that person said “Talk to the people at the merch table, they handle the meet and greets”. There was one teenager working the merch booth that I approached.

Unfortunately for Pink Sweat$, she was very rude and before I could explain what had happened, she interrupted me and said, “For one or two?” and then handed me a poster and a VIP badge. She said, “I just work the merch booth.”

Whether Pink Sweat$ team dropped the ball on the meet and greet email is beside the point. Emo’s has made it nearly impossible to offer any sort of customer service available to the people who’ve been supporting them for over a decade.

Nobody offered a refund, a discount, a coupon, an actual apology! They stood there staring at me as if it was my fault. I could have bought 3 tickets for the cost of the one ticket I bought, brought 2 friends, and would have spent A LOT more money on bar sales for the three of us as opposed to just me. Considering it was an all ages show last night and most of the people there looked they were dropped off by their parents, they could have used the bar sells.

Instead I paid triple the cost of a GA ticket for the same (if not worse) experience that I had. At least then, I wouldn’t have spent an hour of the night crying in their back patio.

This is not my first time at a show or dealing with music venues. I’ve worked concerts, festivals and events as a coordinator, customer service rep, and security before, and expect more from a seasoned venue such as Emo’s.

Shout out to W3 Security team for being the only professionals at the show last night.

Super disappointed and happy that Austin is opening up new venues that hopefully have a...

Yeah the venue is decent & bar staff too but the security staff is a whole other issue good luck being a POC or LGBTQ+ because you will be targeted for no reason. Security was literally attempting to instigate a fight when they accused us we gave alcohol to a minor didn’t even let us explain anything. The two security guards swore we did but we literally had our drinks with us the whole time and we were over 21 we did have our two nieces under 21. One person went to the restroom and the drinks were right beside us outside of the restroom and they said we were giving someone alcohol in the restroom how if the drinks were with us. We spent at least $500 between drinks and our tickets and to have security talking down to us and being so aggressive towards us they came out yelling at us like we were doing drugs or had a weapons made it absolutely horrible . It was a tall skinny man bald on top but long thin hair and a short hair heavy set woman with a Mohawk. He literally snatched the drink out of her hand and slammed it in the trash and kicked two of our party out. They were accusing my minor niece of being drunk all four of us (21+) had all with us at all times, literally bought of second round of drinks and we were completely sober. I was taken aback because I had never in my almost 40 years been treated that way so unprofessional and rude toward a customer. When we began to question why they started yelling at all of us had to go and we had to leave now. They said they were watching us for 30 minutes but we hadn't even been there 10-15minutes. How is a security guard going to tell someone swing on me go ahead and yelling at them and then keep talking mess as they're walking away to exit the building. Mind you had they came up to us normally and asked us to leave it would have been fine we would have understood but to be yelled at was completely unacceptable. Unprofessional people here worried about the wrong thing and targeting people because they assume they saw something but there was a drugged up person in the restroom and no one was bothering them and no one is worried about them. There was also another girl who had was being carried by her friends because she was completely out out it and no one stopped them. My family was targeted because of the color or their skin but no one said anything to me because I wasn't the same color. We didn't have any issues with any of the other security just these two in particular. These two bouncers are a couple of little kids with gigantic egos looking for a fight. This is highly unacceptable and for it to be a place in Austin where everyone is supposed to be so all inclusive this place is the absolute worst. I will never attend another show here and I will warn everyone I know about this venue so they can stay away as well as the artists I keep in touch with. Just know if you see these two consider your night...