Thunderbird Café & Music Hall — Restaurant in Pittsburgh

Edit: super lame manager. They just literally cut off Ballyhoo! From playing two more songs. And had a hard cut off time! Ridiculous. Assanine. The band was even surprised. So lame. We paid $30 for ballyhoo and not some lame DJ! Get real. One of the coolest, small, intimate music venues I’ve ever been in. I love the brick walls. And speakeasy feel upstairs and walk down stairs to the venue on the floor. Super awesome how it is a tier level. Hardly any room in the upper tiers besides Standing on the balcony. The floor seemed like it could get very packed. I went to the hip abduction in May 2024 and had a blast. I eventually weaseled my way to the front row and met lots of cool people. Yuenling pounder was seven dollars Craft beer I had was eight dollars… so not bad. I’m no audio professional but I do have some minor experience and also work as a stage hand. They have two tall speakers that are suspended above the stage, so I’m sure it sounds great on the balconies, but I could barely make out the vocals on the floor. They need to have a low lying speaker behind the band stage level. Other people around me agreed that they couldn’t really hear his vocals at all either. which was a bummer because I was trying to intently listen to the lyrics but I couldn’t make out hardly anything being sang. Overall had a blast. They could’ve definitely use more bartenders. There was only I believe one upstairs and one downstairs. And when I went upstairs to get a drink, thinking I would save time, I guess the girl was outside, smoking a cigarette for a while, so me and a few others were waiting, super thankful that they have multiple water jugs around. I meant to take a picture, but that diet water jug was fire. Hahaaha y’all...

I have always loved the Thunderbird Cafe, but since it's renovation, I absolutely LOVE it. The sound system is much better IMO, the venue is bigger, has a very acceptable bar that's quick to get a drink at, and the stage and venue overall can hold more people. Next show i hit there and record at, im going to try to get a SEAT on the balcony so I can record from up there, which is parallel to the stacks/speakers.

I have always loved the intimacy of this venue, and it STILL has that feel even after its renovation when it was finally made bigger and the T-Bird bought the building next door.

IMO, its a great place to see a show at, or just go to grab a drink or two with some friends!!! But since it's renovation, the "taper" in me really loves it. It's better sounding system translates EASILY onto my recent Perpetual Groove recording from 10/19/2021, and its NOT filled with an abundance of crowd chatter, which was ALWAYS a staple at the old venue. It used to be one of the absolute worst venues to try and record audio at, and now its one of the easiest.

I'll ALWAYS have a special place in my heart for the now defunct Rex Theater, because it was an amazing venue all-around with incredible sound AND staff, but if the shows that used to happen there, now go down at the new Thunderbird Cafe, I won't be quite as heartbroken as i was when the Rex Theater closed...

Had an overall great time at Thunderbird for HUNNY. Draft list was more than generous in range, had an Arsenal Cider and a Dewey Beer Co goze. Wish they said prices and pour Size on menu, but at 8 and 7 bucks respectively, seems like market price, as long as I'm not paying that for Bud Light I'm happy. Service very fast and courteous. Easy viewing for everyone, balcony was nice to have the option. bathrooms surprising clean. Crowd had some good energy, but nothing to let me know how they handle a heavier crowd w/ moshing or crowdsurfing if that were to happen. Bouncers, doormen, stage dude, bartenders are all professional, amicable chillers seemed like a nice working vibe on easier nights like that. Sound was better than expected, they played to the room and it was a comfortable but not underwhelming level from right on the stage to the bar seating where you could even have a conversation. For sure looking forward...