When it comes to music, Atlanta and Chicago are easy trips to make for me. I've been to State Farm…read morefor a few concerts now. -- Blackpink (2022) - 2nd and 3rd time seeing them. -- Bring me the Horizon (2025) -- Twice (2026) All of my seats have been in the lower 100 sections. I've never had a bad time here. During the Blackpink concerts, I even met some people that traveled up from Brazil! I love other venues around the city(The Eastern, Masquerade, Roxy, A few others), but when groups grow, State Farm seems to be the place they play... until they're large enough to sell out the football stadium. State Farm Arena is good enough. There are things to do pre-show around the stadium (Coca-Cola Museum, Civil Rights Museum, Aquarium, Olympic Park). There are a few places to eat around but I'd suggest finding a place to eat before you head down to the arena. Out of all the NBA arenas I've been in, you can definitely see and feel the age of this arena. It gets the job done but it needs some upgrades. The staff is always nice and helpful here. I've started to see the setup in other places now but I seem to remember this arena being one of the first with one of those walk-in, it monitors what you take, and leave without any cashiers or employees being around. (Note: To get into the mini-market, you have to swipe card(puts a hold on your card for 25 dollars). If you spend under that, it'll adjust within days. If you spend over that, it'll also adjust upward. I was skeptical at first but it works flawlessly. Bmth sounded great. Twice sounded great. Blackpink sounded okay-ish... the sound was definitely off, muffled, and trying to be LOUD for part of their show. If one of your acts roll through, definitely check them out here. SPECIAL NOTE: Plenty of parking around but if you can, try buying parking in advance at the CNN lot. It usually sells out but if you park on that deck, it's much easier to get away from the traffic post-show.

We had a great time!! The seats were comfortable, the staff were really nice, the areas were well…read morelit, the bathrooms smelled decent and they were clean. The food is a different story (3/10)! It wasn't up to my standards but I didn't starve. My burger wasn't throughly cooked and my cheesesteak looked like someone just stood there, watched the meat brown and slapped it on a roll. I didn't bother eating it because the presentation was trash. My rating is for the atmosphere alone.

I've been meaning to write a review for the Atlanta Spirit ever since I read Amanda D's review from…read moreFebruary 2011. So far, the only two reviews on Yelp for the Atlanta Spirit are from Thrashers/hockey fans. I write this review primarily from a Hawks/basketball fan perspective, though I do think they royally screwed up with the Thrashers. How can a world-class, major sports city that's hosted the Olympics and just about every major sporting event lose an NHL team? Sad. In 2004, Time Warner sold the Atlanta Hawks, Atlanta Thrashers, and operating rights to Philips Arena to the Atlanta Spirit. The Atlanta Spirit is an ownership group comprised of seven businessmen, some of whom don't even live in Atlanta. The group originally had nine members, but one got kicked out (I'll get to that next) and another passed away (at age 83). In 2005, the Spirit immediately got off to a rocky start rebuilding the Hawks franchise by overseeing the trade between Atlanta and Phoenix. The Hawks traded Boris Diaw and two first round draft picks in a maximum salary sign-and-trade deal for Joe Johnson, who, at the time, was only the Suns' fourth-best player (behind Steve Nash, Amare Stoudemire, and Shawn Marion). I'm a huge NBA fan and when that deal was proposed, I remember thinking how ridiculous it sounded. Joe Johnson was a good player, but no way was he worth max dollars and building a franchise around. At least one owner of the Spirit agreed and it was Steve Belkin, the governor of the group. His disagreement with the Spirit and Hawks management eventually went to the courts, where Belkin was exiled from the group (two other owners picked up his share). Then-Hawks GM Billy Knight wouldn't even shake Belkin's hand afterwards. The trade was eventually consummated and so began the Joe Johnson era in Atlanta. I can see the Spirit's thinking -- no NBA superstar wanted to play in Atlanta. We'd just come off six straight losing seasons, including a league-worst 13-69 in 2004-05. The Spirit had to overpay for someone to come here. In the eight seasons since the Spirit have owned the Hawks, the team has made the playoffs five times. We just could not get over the "hump." The hump being out of the second round. In Atlanta, Joe Johnson became a six-time All-Star. Josh Smith won the dunk contest in 2005. In 2007, we drafted Al Horford. He became a two-time All-Star. We took the eventual NBA champion Boston Celtics to seven games in an exciting playoff series in 2008. Jamal Crawford won 6th man of the year in 2010. So there were definitely some highlights with this group. Joe Johnson, however, was not a superstar. He was and is a very good player, just not a cornerstone. You can't blame him for signing a maximum contract if a team is willing to offer it. In 2008, ownership did the right thing by firing Billy Knight, but his replacement, Rick Sund, signed Joe to a 6-year, $120MM contract in 2010. We would be stuck with Joe forever! (Or would we...?) Speaking of Billy Knight, he made one of the worst draft mistakes ever, by drafting Marvin Williams with the No. 2 pick in 2005 over Chris Paul and Deron Williams (taken with the next two picks). At the time, the thinking was, Marvin Williams would turn out to be the best overall player from that draft class. We already had a ton of forwards, though, and we badly needed a point guard! June 28, 2005 was the day that could have changed the Hawks franchise for the better for decades to come. Instead, we got Marvin, followed by Shelden Williams the next year. The Atlanta Spirit, as a partnership, have a hard time gaining the support of the fans. NBA teams like the Mavs (Mark Cuban), the Lakers (Jerry Buss), the Heat (Micky Arison), the Spurs (Peter Holt), and even now the Nets (Mikhail Prokhorov) have visibly passionate owners who genuinely care about their teams and make an effort to reach out to the fans and local community. Even Cavs owner Dan Gilbert made headlines with his emotional letter to Cleveland fans after LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. I wouldn't be able to pick out any of the Atlanta Spirit owners in a lineup. I'll admit Atlanta is a fairweather sports town. I'm not sure completely why that is, but I know part of the reason is because this is a transplant city. I, myself, moved here from out-of-state and adopted the Hawks as my "#2" team behind the Spurs, who I grew up cheering for. Last month, the Spirit made a great hire in former Spurs VP of Basketball Operations, Danny Ferry, as the new GM of the Hawks. In less than two weeks, Ferry has already done what most thought was impossible: he traded away Joe Johnson's albatross contract (to Brooklyn) and Marvin Williams (to Utah, for a PG no less). A new era is underway in this town and the rebuilding process is swiftly on-going as I write this review. Atlanta has the makings of a great NBA city. If the Spirit can change the culture, the city will embrace the Hawks.

Wow, what a disaster. I'm not a hockey fan, I'm writing about their Hawks ownership. They already…read morescrewed it up with the Thrashers, and they've been screwing up the Hawks since they took it over. Most of what I'm going to write is going to be a rehash of what I wrote for my Atlanta Hawks review. At that time, I didn't think of reviewing Atlanta Spirit. But I have to blam Atlanta Sprit for most of the blame. We all know their dumb moves to handicap the Hawks franchise: * Signing Joe Johnson to a ridiculous contract. * Drafting Marvin Williams before Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Andrew Bynum, David Lee, or Danny Granger. * Making Hawks a treadmill team for over about a decade. Paying Joe Johnson 20million/year seems like their biggest mistake. He's a decent player, but not max level guy. It hindered the franchise from making any moves in the free agency. Marvin Williams also seemed like a decent player. But he was not worth the #2 pick. Hawks needed a good PG, and they could've had Deron or Chris Paul. But nope, Hawks loved their SFs. Almost a decade later, they righted their wrongs and hired Danny Ferry. He undid all of Hawk's past mistakes. I don't know how Danny Ferry will turn out, but he's already making a bunch of good moves. Just for that, I'll give the Spirit Group 1 more star.

I really miss the pre-pandemic days! The Gulch has been an Atlanta staple for years. It has long…read morebeen the site for tailgating parties for Falcons games and more recently Atlanta United games. On my way to a Falcons game I decided to meet some friends who were already tailgating in the Gulch. Though I had crossed the bridge above many times before, it was my first time actually venturing down below and partaking in the scene. And oh, what a scene it was! There were grills out everywhere sending the delicious scent of BBQ into the air. There were DJs pumping out favorite music jams, people were dancing and having a good time, and there was even an alcohol brand that had a tent set up with bartenders pouring drinks. It was such a great environment to get everyone hype and excited about watching the game and supporting our Atlanta teams. I'm sure the Gulch will definitely be missed by a lot of fans once the upcoming redevelopment plans get underway.

Was here for a mamma mia burlesque show. They were located right next to Mercedes Benz stadium and…read moreeasily connected to marta blue green line. The event venue is huge and seating is giant white couches. They also had beverages on sale inside and a food truck outside. The show was great and thr lighting well suited for content including lights on roof. My only grapple is that the acoustics are not good. So if you are here for a musical or music concert it doesn't sound great. They really need to step it up on the sound system.

I came here for a drag show. Had to wait a while outside to get inside for security. Inside was…read morenice and really enjoyed acoustics and lights reflecting off the dome. It felt like you were outside and really enjoyed the seating. What I did not like were overpriced drinks where the soft drinks for drinks were not available or were flat. The restrooms were nice but did not realized it was decked out version of port a potty.

Drove from Orlando for open play and hit traffic and bad weather, so I knew I'd be arriving late…read more Called a few hours ahead to cancel and was told no refunds within 4 hours. Instead of working with someone traveling in for a tournament, they kept the $17 for a session I couldn't realistically use. Policies are one thing, but zero flexibility is how you lose customers. Not worth it. #dillStinkers

This is one of my favorite places to play pickleball. Comfortable with seating near courts, decent…read moreamenities, solid pro shop, and DUPR round robins to keep matches competitive BUT FRIENDLY. Staff are always nice and drop in pricing is fair. If I lived closer, I'd join as a member without question, but I drive here on weekend morning all the way from Brookhaven to play because the people are nice and quality of games is fantastic. 5/5 open one in the northern suburbs

Normally a football stadium but on this day beautiful people in all white invaded!! This is an…read moreinvite only event and the venue changes annually. This year it was held at the Center Parc Stadium. This was an awesome and well organized event. We brought our own table, chairs and food. For an extra fee you can have everything provided including transportation. The entertainment was a blast and I definitely will be attending next year.

Came here to watch a college football game and see the marching bands perform and also for a white…read moreparty. I was pleased at the cleanliness of the stadium. I hadn't been back here since it was the Braves stadium. It was really easy to find our seats and we had a good view of the entire field. The seats are a bit tight and hard, but it was a baseball stadium. I think discomfort in the seats is expected. I did get food while here. They had some food trucks inside and other companies set up selling food. The prices were to be expected. The food quality was really good. I want to say I paid right under $5 for ice cream and I wasn't at all surprised. The main entrance is very open, so we took time to sit out there on some steps to get away from our seats for a minute. It wasn't very busy so it was like a mini break from reality. I'd come back here again for an event. The space is really clean and open. The restrooms were clean too. The directional signs were on point and helpful.

My friend's company has season tickets and she scored tickets to a Hawks vs. Knicks game (which…read morehappened to be the last Hawks game of the 2020 season due to coronavirus). So I got to go to Atlanta Social for free. If I had paid, I would've been disappointed. We went at 6:30, and the game started an hour later. Getting there an hour early was definitely the move. It wasn't crowded, we had our pick of tables, and the lines weren't long. As it got closer to game time, the lines got pretty long. The food was okay. The good: chips and guacamole, pizza, dessert bar (cookies, ice cream with choice of toppings, some trifle thing). The not-so-good: "tomahawk ribeye," quesadilla. It was very average and not worth the price that I've heard people have paid. Free wine and beer, but liquor is an up-charge. The service was great. Everyone was so friendly and helpful, and they were so quick to clean our tables and take empty plates. They were also good about refilling empty dishes. I was a little surprised that, given the times, it was still buffet style. I would've been more comfortable had we gone down the line and they served us, rather than everyone touching the serving utensils. I would only go back to Atlanta Social if I'm not paying. If your company is paying, go for it. If not, don't waste your money.

Our tickets for the Hawks playoff game included entry into the Atlanta Social Club. The food was…read more5-star and well as the service. This is the only way to go to a game and think is spoiled us. They had shrimp, pork, jumbo dogs and more! Included beer, wine and soft drinks.

This review for the Georgia State University Sports Arena is long overdue. The GSU Sports Arena is…read morehome to Georgia State's men's and women's basketball teams as well as the women's volleyball team. It's located in Downtown Atlanta, just a couple blocks away from the State Capitol. It opened in 1973. I attended a Georgia Tech at Georgia State men's basketball game here and I believe it was the only time in the schools' histories that Tech played a true "road" game at State in 17 meetings. In the past, State has played at Tech. Tech won in a close contest, 72-67, and is currently 16-1 all-time against State (.941 win percentage). GSU Sports Arena is small with an official capacity of 3,854. Compare that to Tech's McCamish Pavilion at 8,600 seats (https://www.yelp.com/biz/mccamish-pavilion-atlanta) and Kennesaw State University's Convocation Center at 4,600 seats (https://www.yelp.com/biz/ksu-convocation-center-kennesaw). At approximately 3,800 seats, GSU Sports Arena reminds me of a high school gym, but bigger. The good thing about small arenas is the atmosphere. They can sell out and get packed and loud quick. I haven't been to a lot of mid-major college basketball arenas, but I thought the size of GSU Sports Arena was appropriate for the level and popularity of the program. Former GSU coach Ron Hunter, who's now the head coach at Tulane, elevated the status of GSU basketball during his time with the team (2011-12 through 2018-19). He led the Panthers to six postseason appearances in eight seasons including three appearances in the NCAA tournament. They peaked in 2015, making it to the round of 32. The increased prominence in GSU basketball led to Georgia Governor Brian Kemp's May 2019 approval of a fiscal year 2020 state budget, effective July 1, 2019, that includes $48 million for a new convocation center and basketball arena for GSU (additional construction costs will come from private funding). The new arena will be located at the corner of Capitol Ave SE and Fulton St SW, near Georgia State Stadium (the old Turner Field), home of the Panthers football team. It will seat about 8,000 people. I'm not surprised GSU is getting a new basketball arena as this one is dated and has seen better days. At least the concessions were cheap. Along with GSU basketball and volleyball, this arena has hosted a variety of events including ESPN's annual college slam dunk and three-point contests (when the Final Four has been in town).