Every show we have attended has been great. The staff is friendly and provides great service. The traditional feel of the ambiance is great, feels like a old style theatre. We always enjoy the show, seating is comfortable and the food/snacks/drink service works good. Popcorn always hits the spot for a show. read more

Adler Theatre - Picture of the stage before show - Performing Arts Near Me - Davenport, Iowa

There are much nicer and newer concert venues in Iowa that have the Adler beat by a mile - give them a try. The Gallagher Bluedorn @ UNI in Cedar Falls, Hancher @UI in Iowa City, the C Y Stephen's ISU auditorium in Ames, and multiple halls in DSM Metro Including the DSM Civic Center, though it has squat for parking. The historic restored Paramount in Cedar Rapids after 2 major Renos is comfortable. read more

After reading many negative reviews about this place, mainly concerning uncomfortable seating and poor acoustics, I was wondering what our first experience would be there as we attended our first concert at the Adler. I know sound can vary between different types of entertainment, but for the Mannheim Steamroller concert I thought the sound was great. As for uncomfortable seating, yes it was somewhat uncomfortable as my legs (I'm 5'4") were up against the seat in front of me. Granted, we were in the balcony which I understand is worse than the main level. I can't imagine anyone over 5'6" being able to sit in the balcony. The show was so good that I didn't notice being uncomfortable. There are lots of steps to navigate and I witnessed one elderly lady fall after reaching the top step. We chose the balcony since tickets were much cheaper for that area. We could see the stage quite well as the sight lines were great even from the "cheap" seats in the far upper corner. I had seen several reviews complaining about rude staff. I found every staff member there quite friendly and helpful. One female usher was very concerned as she saw my wife struggle to navigate the steep steps without a railing to hang on to. I felt a little scared myself leaving after sitting cramped for 2-plus hours. Unless there would be some "must see" event there, we probably won't be back because of the steps - an elevator was out of order that night - and no leg room. On the good side, the place was clean and there was ample parking available with free on-street parking and reasonably price parking in a ramp across the street. The decor of the theatre is nice. It's just not a good place for older people who aren't real short. read more

This is in deep bowels of Davenport, kind of a rough Saturday night crowd neighborhood. Parking garage across the street has those dang nuisance phone app pay to park systems. The curb is a helluva step so find the ramp to use to get up to the sidewalk. As I was waiting in lobby I couldn't help but overhear how rude the head usher was to her staff All. Night. She either needed a smoke break or was worn out. The place must have been a beauty in its day. It is named after the QC Times owners, but not because they built the place nor left a bundle of money to take care of the venue in perpetuity! Auditorium is steeply ramped, be careful. Still has the original seats. If I lived here I would have gathered friends to help volunteer on a renovation project & gone to the major corporations and businesses for starting the fund raising campaign. One major QC employer has built MULTIPLE cultural enhancements to benefit across river but nothing down here. Shame on them & community for not asking! This entire QC area could be quite a nice tourist destination and attract all ages if they had been looking out for themselves awhile back, but it's so bad now it cannot be saved. Iowa cities elsewhere have been dealt catastrophic blows repeatedly & recovered so my guess this is an Illinois rooted problem. Ticket prices did reflect the rundown conditions of The Adler, but the event we saw was fabulous and acoustics were pretty fantastic. read more

Warning! If you are over 6 feet you better buy a seat on the lower floor in the first few rows. You might still be in trouble there, but you have no chance anywhere else in the theater! Unfortunately this nostalgic old theater was built in the 1930's and apparently everyone back then was 5'2"! I'm 6'4" and I was unaware that seating was so cramped. Really think they should post this on their web sight or ticket locations. I would have gladly paid more to enjoy the show, but one I was in it was too late! Ended up moving to the back of the theater so I could at least stick my legs into a isle. I am impressed with the City of Davenport for keeping an old venue like this up and running. I'm sure it came at a large price! It could use a bit of an up grade now. Paint a ceiling is cracking and peeling, sound system is average at best and not sure what they can do to increase comfort for its guests. Take out some more rows? Skip a row in the balcony so there is leg room? It's nice Davenport has a theater for live events, but tall buyer beware! Don't think I can go back... not unless they remove some seats and rows for more comfort. read more

If you were at a rock concert and on the main floor, you better hope that people don't stand the whole shell because you won't be able to see squat. I was sitting towards the back of the venue recently for the Goo Goo Dolls and people stood the whole show. They weren't even dancing. They were just standing there. Standing. Staring at their phones, and standing. Sit the hell down unless you're going to dance. My back hurt from standing so I left before the show was over. Miserable experience. It might be a great place to see a show if people would sit down and quit playing with their freaking phones. Three star venue. Zero star Iowa audience. Two star review. read more

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I was eagerly anticipating, and foolheartedly hoping, that I would be seeing Gordon Lightfoot here on 10/25/20. Alas, It is seemingly not to be. I wanted to leave a review though, because the woman I spoke to on the phone (I don't recall her name) provided one of the most positive, engaging customer service experiences I have ever had. She was so kind and understanding and very informative of what to expect going forward. She is a credit to your establishment. Regards, Richard Ganther (a hopeful future patron) read more

I waited too long to get my tickets so I thought I was screwed when the best tickets I could get were way in the back in the upper balcony, but I could see everything. The seats were tiny though and my knees were mashed up against the seat in front of me. I'm a short person, so that's notable. It's got pretty retro decor, but charming. Overall I liked it. I just don't understand why ticketmaster would sell me seats way in the back when there were at least a dozen empty rows in front of me. read more

Adler Theatre - people sitting in the auditorium - Performing Arts Near Me - Davenport, Iowa

First, The positive: This place has pretty architecture, and it has a nice feeling of being in a historic theater. That's about all that I had to say that was positive about this place the last time I went. We went to see a musical, and the show itself was fine... but this rating is about the venue, not the entertainment. Cramped seats. I'm 5'7". I pity the 6 ft soul who has to sit in these seats. Have fun sharing your knees with the seat in front of you. And hopefully you like the person next to you, because you will be sharing shoulder space. These are the original seats, and that part's cool, but a touch more space per seat would be greatly appreciated if you're trying to focus on a nice show rather than the ache you are developing in your knees and your shoulders while trying not to encroach on your neighbor's seat or develop an intense pain in your cramped legs. Not very clean. Perhaps this is because the signs actually encourage you to bring your food and drink into the theater. The huge tubs of popcorn are great at a movie, but they really bring down the ambiance in what otherwise should be a classy and historic theater for performance art. Scary bathrooms. State of disrepair in the one I was in, where the stall doors were peeling into fragmented panels, being held together by duct tape, there were no functional locks on the stall I went in, and there was a huge wide grate with a view into a large, dark, room-sized vent(?) directly behind the toilet. Creeeepy... No rules about people seating or leaving during acts. So not cool at a musical. Not even a way to adequately keep the lobby lights from shining in when they let the doors open during the performance. I've been to many performance theaters in my life, and most will not allow those doors to open during an act. Here, I guess that's not their concern. Issues with the sound system. The mics went out randomly on performers... not for very long, but long enough where if you couldn't hear them shout their lines, you just missed that line. We could hear the speakers pop occasionally as the mics tried to decided if they wanted to randomly mute part of a line. Yeah, so... I don't plan on attending more shows here. I get that they like being frozen in time (it lends to the charm), but there are some fixable issues here that I don't see them attempting to attend to. read more

They seem to good productions scheduled here but the quality of the sound system really sucks. I've been to a concert or we had seats near the front and couldn't understand the music we had to move underneath the mezzanine to hear it. We recently went to kinky boots and we couldn't understand a word they said in the first five minutes of the production we didn't know what they were saying at all. Apparently you're rolling the dice when you buy your tickets to whether you can hear the production or not read more

Poor Management Decisions.. Allowing people to arrive 15 minutes into a performance ... having multiple ushers with flashlights, requesting seated guests to stand while late arriving people take off their coats and fold them and work their way to their seats, disrupting and blocking the view of most of the seated theater occupants. Late arrivals should either be kept in the lobby or held in the back until intermission. read more

Beautiful theater with wonderful architecture and ambience. We are attending a wonderful performance of the Quad City Symphony Orchestra. The music is wonderful, but I cannot enjoy it. The seats are remarkably small. I am 6'2", 256 pounds. I am not a small man, but I bulge over both arm rests. Even sitting as straight and tall as possible, both of my knees are crushed painfully against the seats in front of me. I'm never quite comfortable in theater seats, but this is ridiculous. I can't help but wonder how much better this experience would be of they had 10 fewer seats per row. read more

Gorgeous theater that appears to not be updated at all! I loved seeing those "signs of time" in the decor and style of the theater. The acoustics were great; we were there for an author's reading and could hear everything perfectly. Parking was easy, there was a ramp right across the street and had $5 event parking. There are also a number of restaurants within a few blocks of the Adler so dinner before was an easy walk back to the theater. My only complaint regarding the theater was I wish the staff would take a stronger hold on the assholes with phones out during the performance. It was very distracting. read more

I saw Cinderella at the Adler not too long ago and the theater is beautiful. Our seats in the balcony were small and didn't offer much legroom, and you couldn't really see much up there. However, I think it's pretty cool that The Adler has offered such quality entertainment to residents of the QC for so many years, and would definitely encourage anybody whose favorite artist or show was playing there to pick up tickets. read more

Love this place. Excellent acoustics. Add to that dinner and parking across the street and you have a wonderful experience.

To be clear this is a review of the location not the performance that I watched. The chairs were extremely uncomfortable and spacing between them was terrible. I'm average height of 6 foot and my legs couldn't even fit behind the seat in front of me. My legs dug into the seat and was extremely uncomfortable. I'll try to avoid location if at all possible. read more

I will never come back to the Adler Theater, they have 2 or 3 people per main isle going up and down looking for people taking photos and videos, really, my son was told not to take pictures so he stopped then was typing a text and she actually went behind him and looked down at his phone, she probably read the text too, she was there looking at his phone for awhile. Starset loves video and pics being taken. I have never felt like I was in a prison before for watching a show, these people are really keeping an eye on people, it's crazy. They also was getting in the way when telling people to stop recording, I paid good money for the show and saw a lot of backs in front of me telling other people to stop recording. read more

The shows that the Adler brings are awesome. Also the history of the building is great... However, the feel of flying on a low cost airline is the only thing I can think of when it comes to their seating... Normal size (6') and your knees are buried in the seat infront of you... Your shoulder is in the person next to you's shoulder... And way to hot! read more

I appreciate the variety of performances that the Adler brings to the QC. While I have yet to sit in the balcony, there really doesn't seem to be a bad seat in the house. The lobby, however, needs to be expanded. Very cramped! As another reviewer posted, I did find the refreshment selection to be odd for a theater of this type. Vending machines in the hall and small tables holding tubs of soda and water bottles in the lobby felt more like public school sporting event concessions. None of these are big enough issues to keep me from enjoying this beautiful little treasure in downtown Davenport. read more

While I appreciate what the Adler houses.... I do not appreciate the room that my knees have while I am there. Both my knees and my heart have been destroyed by this experience. Hoping they will consider remodeling for more leg room read more

I was really surprised with this place. I was not expecting this place to be so aesthetically pleasing as it was. It is a beautiful theater. It has a very good layout as the place was full for the show I went to and there were no major bottlenecks and the flow of people moved fairly well. Unfortunately, I am unable to comment on the acoustics. I was lucky enough to get front row seats!!!! I am hoping to be able to get back here to see another concert. read more

Good Sound, but the venue is absolutely beautiful, and larger than most intimate settings. The locals are friendly, and the venue workers were very laid back making for a fun night of music.(no power trippers whining about kids being at a concert). worth the drive from dekalb for sure. verrry niccceee. read more

Doesn't even deserve a star, nice job playing phone police, and good job looking over my shoulder every 20 seconds staff