Gateway City Arts

The venue is ok and most of the people who work here are decent. The sound guy is awful, and is not professional. He is rude, and doesn’t even know how to do his job. I’ve seen some of these bands play other venues and he did not due them justice at all. He’s yet another pretentious music “engineer”. I will think twice to come here again if this is what I have to look forward to. I really hope he is not the full time sound person.

My wife and I went last night for The Lone Bellow show. It was a general admission show with folding chair seating for 200 and plenty of standing room. Show started at 8:00 and doors opened at 7:00. We went to the adjoining restaurant Judd’s to have a couple drinks and a quick bite to eat before show. We both had the cream of mushroom soup which was hot and delicious. I then had the braised rib with mashed potatoes. It was very good. My wife enjoyed the goat cheese flatbread. The prices are very reasonable. The Bartender and servers were extremely pleasant and helpful. The owner stopped by the table and chatted with us for a few minutes. She gave us a little history of the building which was a paper company and warehouse previously. They repurposed a lot of the wood and factory artifacts. I could have stayed for a few hours at this place. 7:00 came and we headed next door to the concert venue. A quick check of IDs and COVID vaccines and we went right in. The bar is in the back with a decent liquor and beer selection. Most drinks are $8. Early James, the warm up band, started promptly at 8:00. After their set, The Lone Bellow took they stage and just blew everybody away. What an amazing night. I will be keeping my eye on Gateway for upcoming shows

It's a cool venue in downtown Holyoke. Nice big stage with excellent lighting/rigging. Beautiful old-time wood bar with a large selection of craft beers, specialty cocktails and the standard offerings. Drink prices are high for Holyoke. You'll pay $12 for a specialty drink. It's too bad the event marketing isn't very strong. Low attendance to some events that sell out in other markets. Relatively high event ticket prices for this market as well which may be a deterrent for people. If they could balance out the advertising and pricing, they would have a big hit on their hands. Check it out if you can. It is worth a visit for sure. Make sure you have your vaccination card with you for concerts. They will check it.