The Civic Theatre

I was here for an event with the New Orleans Chamber. I liked the way the entrance sits to the back of the street and there is like a walkup. It isn’t scarry like the walk-​up to CellarDoor because it is wide and well lit, but has the same sort of «prepare to enter something cool» vibe.
The layout is catered, I believe, to address multiple uses. I could easily see concerts here as well as wedding receptions and parties and that is great. There are high ceilings above the open space, a bar in a separate area which helps with the flow, and multiple balconies. Unfortunately, the décor left me feeling that there was no particular theme or ambiance to the location as well. It is so much of a blank slate that is was bland. That being said, if you are looking for a blank slate to create your own ambiance in, this is a pretty cool location. A great medium sized space that can become whatever you need it to be.
Do also keep in mind, with this location, you will be hard pressed to find free parking but that is true of many locations within the CBD, at least before 6.

This is a decent venue for watching live music and other performances. It retains much of its old theater architecture which makes things interesting with multiple levels. The space really seems on the smaller and intimate scale so you can really get up close to things. The single bar does seem to get a bit too crowded at times so maybe some ideas to add additional bar locations could be developed. The drink prices are outrageous so I don’t drink much here and they really need to bring the prices down to realistic and reasonable levels. I like to drink beer when I watch live music so the drink prices here really discourage me from attending events at this venue as I refuse to pay rip off tourist prices.

Went here for the first time to see glass animals perform and I really liked the venue. It’s very pretty and I liked the artistic interior designs.
Parking is awfully close because there’s parking across the street from the venue so it’s just a short walk.
There was a line going down the street but we got into the venue pretty quickly when doors opened for the show. I guess it’s because they don’t check bags. They just scan tickets which I found weird.
Going in you immediately see the bar. There’s a bar on every floor which I thought was cool but it’s a bit pricey.
The venue is pretty small but that can be a good thing because even from the balcony level you still feel really close to the stage.
Overall I liked my experience here and will probably return for future shows.

I had the pleasure of attending a Hannibal Burres (comedian) show at the newly renovated Civic Theater.
Although there was a line outside when we arrived, it moved quickly.
Upon entering the theater, first thing I noticed… it was freezing! Thank God we had balcony seating, and it was warner up there.
The theater was really pretty. With exposed brick, ornate detailing, and purple and blue lighting, it was a pretty and interesting mix of old and modern.
The theater is small, which I liked. We were seated in the first balcony, and could see the stage just fine.
Drinks are on the expensive side, as in $ 4.50 for a bottled water. But that’s to be expected for a show venue. I was pleasantly surprised that they gave me tap water when requested.
I’m looking forward to attending other shows at the Civic.

My God. I hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate hate this venue!
First off the sound is horrible. I don’t know if it’s the sound-​guy or not but really you have to find that one spot in the club far far away from the stage to hear anything. The beer prices are ridiculous! No re entry? Really? This is LA. not L.A. No ATM. HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BUY MERCH AND SUPPORT THE BAND? YOU WON’T LET ME LEAVE TO FIND AN ATM?! JERKS! Top of that why the hell is there a roped off line to the merch table? It’s a table. A table! No need for red carpet! They aint selling Tiffany lamps! It’s t shirts! Gezzz. Ohhh FANCY! No… it’s a t shirt. Calm down. What the hell is up with your floor? I felt like I was about to fall through it! Makes the mosh pit more fun I guess. I’ll stick with local bars and local D.I.Y venues where I can actually leave and come back and don’t feel like a hostage in a pretentious oprea house thanks.

Beautiful interior. Bathrooms are wonderful and clean even when there are tons of people there. Bars are located on each floor so you can easily get a drink without missing anything. Band sounded great.

What a weird place to see a Heavy Metal Show! Considering I’m used to being crammed into basements or backrooms of bars while sweaty people slam into each other like exited electrons in superheated plasma, it was bizarre to see all of the nice seats, chandeliers, and carvings on the columns
The sound here was EXCELLENT. Really, some of the best I’ve had. After the better part of two decades spent blasting my brains out at metal shows, I’ts refreshing the hear someone get the sound right — just loud enough to wreck your neck while keeping everyone up in the mix. Kudos to the sound guy.
Beer was a little pricey, but that is to be expected. I definitely recommend it, and will be back — hopefully for some of the other great stuff they do at this place.

Attended the Opening Night of the New Orleans Film Festival at this venue. It’s a classic piece of New Orleans history — love the architecture and multiple balconies. This place was quaint in the sense that it clearly holds a lot of nostalgia, yet was upgraded in the ways that make sense for modern functionality (the bathrooms were awesome! fantastic lighting for selfies!).
I also loved the wall paper near the bar on the 1^st level.
Would love to come back again for another screening. Sad they only hosted one event at the Civic Theater.

Two stars seemed too low for this beautiful venue, with its lovely remodeling (so blindingly white!) and its excellent line-​up of eclectic shows. But, I have to say, it’s not my favorite.
So far I’ve seen the following at The Civic: a screening of The Bayou Maharajah, an excellent documentary film; John Waters’ Christmas Special, which was delivered on a bare-​bones set reminiscent of stand up; and a Neko Case concert.
The theatre was great for movie-​watching — I sat on the bottom floor and didn’t have any trouble seeing/​hearing, getting up to go to the bathroom without tripping over peoples’ legs, or buying a drink (lines were long but quick). For the Waters special, I was waaaay up in the nosebleed section of the balcony, and still could hear and see relatively well, although I could barely make out the pencil-​thin moustache.
For Neko Case, I was on the floor, and though I could see, the acoustics were dreadful. There was terrible echoing and feedback, and I could barely make out the words to her songs (which I love!). Thinking that it was maybe an issue with the band bringing their own equipment, I mentioned the bad sound quality to one of the bartenders in the lobby. She said that she’d noticed that sound quality at rock/​louder shows was often pretty bad. Such a bummer.
In sum: I’d go back for quieter events, but I’m not likely to splurge on a very expensive concert ticket given the bad acoustics.

Cool looking place, but I hear the sound is bad. They may be right. I don’t really know. Been to a couple shows here, and it sounded at least okay to me. Check out Lucky Rooster around the corner for happy hour food and drinks before a show.

I have been to the Civic Theater twice in the past month, and I really like it! It’s an absolutely lovely place, first and foremost– high ceilings, modern architecture and flashy but subdued wallpaper. There are a few bars located throughout the venue– not exactly cheap, but they’ve got beer, liquor and wine so it’s good for me! It’s standing room, unless you’ve got a VIP pass then there’s a really attractive balcony area. The floor is very unsturdy and wobbly, so when people start jumping around it can be kind of crazy! Security is actually pretty strict about smoking… so if that’s something you like to do while watching a show, then keep in mind you’ll have to step outside (or be secretive, lol). Overall, 2 good experiences, and I’d definitely come back.

Beautiful venue conveniently located in the CBD. The renovation of this building is a great addition to this part of town at night for shows.
The booking team keeps a very eclectic line up of performers. I love watching shows here because you get a much more intimate feel with each show. Most shows have an option of standing room on the floor or buying a seat in the levels above. I personally like the flow and people watching available on the floor.
Drinks can be a bit steep, but I honestly think the pricing fits with the style of the venue. The bartenders are pleasant and take their time with your drinks.
Highly recommend checking out a show here.

We went to see Christian Scott and Esperanza Spalding here a couple months ago. What a beautiful job they’ve done! It’s fairly small and the seating felt very… vertical. But I like that it was on the small side, it felt very intimate. The bar is stocked with better than your average. They had a fancy cocktail menu and my husband was happy with his Hopitoulas. Look forward to seeing more shows here!

Wait staff was very friendly, the bathrooms are really cool upstairs. The drinks I thought were reasonably priced but other people complained about the price. I honestly know what to expect for prices and this was the same as HOB etc! We saw JJ Whitehead and Jim Jefferies play. The show kept us laughing the whole time. I can’t wait to watch more comedians play here!

I’m so glad that this theater was given the TLC it needed! I saw Neko Case there with my boyfriend a few weeks ago and had a great time. There’s a bar in the lobby that’s not cheap, but has some very tasty original cocktails nonetheless.
Although I don’t know that this applies to all shows, the floor was open standing room and the balcony was seating. I liked the option to do both since our show wasn’t packed. I thought it made a great venue for the particular show we saw.
Another exciting thing to note is just how unique their line up (at least for this season) is. I’m really excited about more than one band coming in town, and for the most part they’re folks who don’t fit the arena show venues but are perhaps a little too hipster for something like the House of Blues. I think they found a good niche of music that was lacking here (at last as far as national acts go, God knows we’ve got our local music covered!) and addressed it.

Fantastic venue!!! It’s small & intimate. I saw John Waters XXXmas show. Our floor seats were a few rows back & to the side but we had no probs seeing him. Being short, a lot of times a decent view can be an issue. There were a few other issues though. The craft cocktails by Neil B were good but they were tiny cups for $ 10. Before the show started they ran out of the one we were drinking. Seriously?! Second issue, there was only one exit. The other exist was closed. Twenty plus of us tried to leave through this exit which was down a twisty turny hallway. Good thing there wasn’t a fire! Only having one exit… how did this pass the fire marshall???
I’m thrilled this venue did open. NOLA needed another venue choice. The reno is gorgeous!!!

The place is a lot bigger on the inside. The lighting is beautiful and the seats very comfortable and spacious. Plenty of leg room compared to other venues. My only gripe was the one bar that consistently had a long line. Great place and great show.

For the first fifty-​odd years of my life, the Civic Theatre languished either empty or as disco club in which I had no interest.
Then the floodwalls failed, and New Orleanians both native and new set out to «make it right», as one of the more famous new local denizens put it.
Count the Civic Theatre in that number. I watched the excellent James Booker documentary «Bayou Maharajah» in a full house, late-​night New Orleans Film Festival screening.
For movie viewing, the theatre worked well. There appeared to be no bad seats (I was happy with my tippy-​top seat in the first balcony).
The screening was accompanied by a q & a with the film maker, with the stage revealed. That stage hosted quite a few notable theatrical performances, including the original touring production of South Pacific. (For the younger among you, imagine WIcked or Phantom as performed at the Saenger, only with better music and no last minute, budget-​driven digital keyboard substitutions in place of live horn players.)
Just that alone is history enough for me.
The Civic’s gorgeous sign now marks the condominium conversion on the back side of the property. The nondescript (or just less-​descript) official entrance is now on O’Keefe. At night, the original sign is worth walking around the block to see.
Five stars, because New Orleans has great theatre and film communities that deserve these kinds of historic and irreplaceable gems for their performances. With this restoration, the owners definitely did their civic duty.

I saw Russell Brand at The Civic! Ok, now to review the venue and not Russell. Let me think. Got it!
First and foremost, one thing I immediately loved is the fact that parking is a cinch. There is a parking lot right across the street, so parking is painless and there wasn’t a long walk so I felt super safe. I got in line before the doors opened, and although there was a bit of wait, everything was handled pretty quickly and we were in in no time.
The bar is there immediately when you walk in and the bartenders did a good job of keeping up with the crowd. Drinks are a little steep, but you are there to see a show really, so that’s not a huge deal. Once in the theater, I was overtaken by how beautiful the whole venue was. It was wonderfully redone and everything was nice and new and fresh. I was fortunate enough to be seated on the floor and it was the perfect spot to see the comedy show.
The staff was super nice and friendly and were more than happy to help people find their seats. Everything went really smoothly considering this was only the second show at the redone Civic.
I can’t wait to see future shows here. The place is gorgeous and is going to be fantastic for plays and concerts.

I recently went to a Empire of the Sun concert at the Civic Theater and really enjoyed myself.
–The architecture is awesome. As the oldest theater in New Orleans it is a beautiful historical building that has been preserved well over the years.
–The show I went to was general admission only. I loved how the floor was for standing room only for the twerk generation to show off their newest cat shirt, jump up and down and get all sweaty to the sick beatz.
The upstairs had cushy seats for us «elders» who after a long day just want to take a seat and enjoy the show sans achy back and sweaty bodies.
–It has a relatively small stage so its great for lesser known bands who can’t quite fill a large arena, but will surely pack 1,000 people.
–The bar was good, short lines and nice service.
–Clean and convenient bathrooms.
–I talked to almost everyone sitting near me, because I will make you love me and everyone was really digging the space. So feel free to look at my review as a general consensus.
I hope more artists choose to have their show at the Civic theater, it is a great addition to our community and hopefully will be utilized to its fullest potential.