Marquee Theatre Tempe — Local services in Tempe

ATTN ARTIST MANAGERS. DO NOT BOOK MUSICIANS HERE. (As a musician myself and active concert goer please read) I sure do love going to concerts, but I sure dislike this place a lot. Is being rude a job requirement here? They would not let me enter without throwing away my pack of gum. "Are you gonna make this a thing or just throw it away?"- security girl. So I tossed my new pack, feeling like an elementary school kid that was just scolded by teacher for having gum. The level of disrespect was not a good start. The show for FKJ was sold out. The only place to stand was up against the wall in the very back or in the door way. The entire place was jam packed with way too many people. The sound quality was trash. If you have to stand under the balcony or back, you might as well just go home, which is what I would have done if I wasn't with people. It was such a terrible and pathetic experience for a music venue, I would rather pass on artists I love and wait till they come back at another venue. I will neverrrrr come back here. Update 10/2023: I did the thing I said I wouldn't do and tried this place again. Once again every single person working here was incredibly rude. This theatre is disgusting. I'm a late 30s working professional and parent who was once again treated like a trashy teenager by a bunch of trashy teenagers. The entire group of people I was with were baffled at how awful we were treated and how sticky and gross the floors were in this place. Someone in the theatre lit up a joint and they thought it was one of my friends. It was not. A security woman came out of nowhere and grabbed one of my friends and shoved her all the way out of the door and demanded she leaved the property. Even as my friend tried to explain it was another group lighting up. She missed the entire show because of complete incompetence and a failure of professionalism from the employees here. Arizona has some wonderful theaters to book your artists. This theatre is dated, disgusting, lacking in decent audio equipment and very poorly managed. Please don't book anymore wonderful...

I came here with my husband and another couple. It was a Wednesday evening so the place was not particularly packed. We really enjoyed the openering band and the headliner. Great show overall if you don't mind standing for 2 hours or there about.

Drinks were pretty pricey but nothing different from any other stadium or music venue: for two 16oz cans of beer it was $23. The bar staff was reasonable.

The bathrooms were clean .... enough. Not sure why they had a scowling concierge sitting in the women's bathroom on a stool with signs posted on the mirrors that she " appreciates tips" What exactly am I tipping her for?

Now onto security because I see that security is a hot topic in many reviews for this place. I find security people in general to be incredibly uptight and even asinine at times about the rules, perhaps it's an authority trip high or this job provides an outlet for the worst kind of rule followers. Either way, the security here is just simply ridiculous. I was 16 weeks pregnant when I was there, and the downward grade of the main room floor + standing = major lower back pain after 45 minutes. The patio offers seating but it's filled with smokers. So I moved one of their plastic, folding chairs just inside the lobby to sit away from the second hand smoke. It didn't take long for a security guard to approach and tell me I had to move because I was blocking an entrance. Okay, fair. I explained my predicament and requested that I be allowed to sit for just 10 minutes anywhere in the lobby(which was not very busy on this Wednesday night). She refused and told me my only choice was to sit back outside among all the smokers. WOW, just wow. Aside from the ethical dilema, her inability to think outside the box and provide a safe, alternative was disheartening to say the least.

My conclusion, go here if you are willing to put up with am over bearing amd grumpy security staff while paying triple the price...

My husband and I went to a show there last night to celebrate my birthday. It was actually our first concert since COVID so we were really excited to see some of our favorite bands at one our favorite venues. As we were standing in the ridiculously long line I started noticing that other women did not have any purses, I had a small one. I asked my husband if the email with the tickets said anything about a bag policy, he checked and said no. I went to their website to check but there was an error and wouldn't load. When it did load the layout looked different and weird, with a white background and the text was small. It did not look like the website layout you see now. I checked their FAQ section and did not find anything about a bag policy. Zero. As we got closer to the security card check another girl walked by and gave me a heads up that I wouldn't be go in with it. She was on her way to go put her purse in her car. I appreciated that but it would've been nice to know BEFORE we left home. When we got to the security guard, who was very nice, we told her the clear bag policy was not listed anywhere on their site or in the email with the tickets. She proceeded to point to a laminated piece of paper taped on the table next to her about the new "clear bag policy" and told me I could buy a clear plastic bag for $1. All that information should've been on their website or provided when you get your tickets emailed to you! After she finished checking our vaccine cards, which by the way, was listed on their WEBISTE, SOCIAL MEDIA, and I also received an EMAIL when it was announced months ago but they couldn't do the same when they changed their bag policy?!?! We had to step out of line so my husband walked back to the parking garage to put my bag in the car. Once he came back she let us back in so we didn't have to wait in line again. My one star rating is for the change to the bag policy without providing notice...