Workplay

WorkPlay brought on a new GM, who is rocketing this venue, not back to where it used to be, but beyond that, he is shaking things up expanding and improving the BAR, stepping up the national artists playing there, upgrading the total physical part of the entire property.
WorkPlay also has 3 famous, State of the Art recording studios. One does primarily TV and Radio Commercials and another does musical artist, While the 3^rd caters to the PRO’S finishing up projects.
It also contains one of the best and busiest Private Event Spaces in Birmingham. Weddings, Corporate Luncheons, Corporate dinners and meetings.
Both venues possess STATE OF THE ART, SOUND AND LIGHT PRODUCTION
HUGE, HUGE ANNOUNCEMENT COMING IN JULY !

I saw Morgan James here ¹²⁄₂₀₁₅. The venue is small and intimate, but I didn’t feel over crowded. I feel the venue allows for the artist go «back to basics» so to speak with performing.
The a stage, artist, and their bad azz band.
Definitelyworth going to see a show here.

I’ve been to several shows at Workplay over the years. I prefer the theater room as opposed to the sound stage. The sound stage doesn’t have anywhere to sit unless you sit against the walls, and it can be rough on your feet on longer shows. The theater is great — 2 story area, intimate/​cozy, good acoustics — just have to make sure to get there early so you can get seats.
Overall, I still really enjoy Workplay and the acts they bring to the city.

Pretty decent venue. Good beer, good people. Overall, I give it a 4 out of 5

Drove from Baton Rouge for the Iris Dement show. Enjoyed opening performer Pieta Brown. Paid a little extra to sit near the stage, and it was so worth it. Great crowd, music, space, evening.

I absolutely love Workplay as a venue, particularly the smaller, 2-​story room. It’s so intimate and cozy, you feel like it’s just you, the musician (s), and a few other people. The sound is always great and the bathrooms aren’t gross like some other venues. My only complaint is the service, which is always painfully slow because they seem perpetually understaffed, and the cost of cocktails (ridiculously high). Stick to beer and prepare yourself for a long wait for your drink and you’ll be fine. Totally worth putting up with that in order to enjoy such a great space for performances!

Sadly, this venue has lost its glory. The owners are running it into the ground.

Went to see the Rebelution show at WorkPlay. Loved the place. As you walk in there is a bar to the right and a smaller music venue. Our venue was at the large stage down the hall. (both venues share central bathrooms) They had 2 bar areas and an outdoor smoking area in the L shaped hall. The stage is high so everyone can see. (no seating) The sound was fantastic. Probably the nicest crowd I’ve ever encountered. Atlanta crowds can be rude and pushy. Plenty of free parking around the venue and it felt safe as well. Looking forward to another trip over to BHam to enjoy another show there.

Enjoy the shows at Workplay. We go When Black Jacket Symphony plays and have always enjoyed the place. You should wear your good jeans and look spiffy when you go here. The drinks are good. Service is okay. The bar can get busy, but they have plenty staff, so it is okay. We will be back.

Every show I’ve ever seen in the theatre has been amazing. Love the sound stage too as long as it’s GA Standing. I do not like seated shows in there.
Service at the bar area and in the theatre is hit or miss.

I’ve been here once to watch a band. I enjoyed it.

Perfect sound venue. Only problem is they only book one or two shows a year worth seeing. And if the show is on the Sound Stage (in back) – forget it. It’s only slightly more soulful than the BJCC. Workplay is becoming the venue to see tribute bands – going the way of Louie Louie’s (long gone) and Zydeco (going fast). RIP. Or get someone with a brain to book your shows.

TIME&PLACE: Thursday late night
Came to Workplay to watch Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue on a random night I ended up in Birmingham.
LOGISTICS
*They don’t really have food – only drinks.
*The venue layout is a bit confusing – when you walk in, there’s a small bar to the right with TV screens, but if you go to the left down the hallway, that’s where you can buy tickets and enter the actual concert area. They also have a small bar set up there, but you can go back and forth to access the big bar.
*Parking wasn’t bad — I parked down the street, closer to Iron City, but there was plenty of space where I walked by, and before/​after the show, lots of people walking around so no safety worries.
*The venue itself is VERY simple — a big stage, high ceiling, and a lot of space for people to stand around. Feels a bit like a soundproof warehouse, where there just happen to be concerts going on.
Had a good time! Will cross my fingers and hope that the next time I’m in town there’s a good concert to check out.

I haven’t been to a concert in Birmingham in ages. A band I adore decided to play a show in Birmingham so I bought a couple of tickets to the show without regard to the venue. I made the trek from Atlanta to Birmingham having no idea what to expect. This little gem blew my mind and I would easily return to see more shows if other bands I adore make a pit stop here.
First let me discuss parking. Parking sucks at most venues in Atlanta. By sucks I mean parking is nonexistent or very, very expensive. Workplay has a small parking lot directly across the street if you arrive early enough to snag one of them. We were not early so we went on a hunt for other parking. There’s a large pay lot half a block away. Being an out-​of-​towner, I was fully prepared to pay for the parking lot. On the way into the lot, I spotted a parking spot on the street with a meter. I quickly made a u-​turn to grab it. Since it was 8pm on a Sunday night, I figured we wouldn’t need to feed the meter. Unfortunately, there was not a sign with hours for the meter so we resigned ourselves to pay. We huddled around the machine trying to figure out how much we would need to pay. Then looked at each other and said surely this was wrong. It only cost 25 cents for 2.5 hours. Let me repeat. One quarter will let you park for two and a half hours. (!!!) That’s just crazy talk. I’m used to paying 25 cents for 10 minutes. We put in two whole quarters to be on the safe side. For fun, we decided to see how much the suckers in the pay lot paid. $ 10. Moral of the story is to park on the street if the Workplay lot is full. There’s plenty of spaces in the block surrounding the theater.
The venue itself was excellent. We entered the space and found ourselves in a small, intimate area. There was a raised stage with an open area up front for those much younger than me to get close to the performers. The area is surrounded by tables on the side and booths in the back. The entire first floor was pretty full so we headed upstairs to see what was up. The upstairs is a balcony that is full of tables. A nice couple from Chattanooga was kind enough to let us share their table with them. We plopped down and enjoyed the entire show from the comfort of our seats. No annoying people standing in front of you. We essentially looked right over the stage. Great view from all areas. We had table service so we didn’t need to get up and order drinks. The drinks were extremely cheap. We had three bottles of beer and the total was like $ 11 with a 15% gratuity included.
The show and venue were awesome. Kudos for such a great venue in the downtown area.

This place is great! Besides being one of the driving forces behind the revival of the Birmingham music and radio scene, it is also a great place to catch a show. This 2-​in-​1 venue offers a sound stage and a theatre-​for large, loud shows, and smaller, more intimate shows respectively. They have a full service bar and there is not a bad seat in the house. Plus, happy hour is great daily. Visit Workplay and you’re likely to fall in love with a band that will have you saying «I saw them before they got huge» in the near future.

Great venue for live concerts!

Saw a short Within Reason concert here… could not hear the lyrics very well, but that was a sound board issue rather than a problem with the venue. Would like to return for another show

Every show I’ve been to here has felt special and uniquely intimate. There’s this sense of community you get from being in the audience here that you really won’t find many other places — and the musicians are almost always more willing, and even excited, to be a part of the Workplay community on nights that they perform. it’s really a pretty awesome thing. A big plus for me too is that ticket prices here are always reasonable, which you won’t find easily anywhere else. And Birmingham, if you haven’t been to a show here before, there are a lot of really good opportunities coming up! Workplay’s website has a good list of events, or you can even find shows on the Birmingham Mountain Radio website, which is where I look.

I once touched Lucinda Williams here– that is a fact. Workplay has been the music-​venue-​du-​jour since it opened, and I don’t see that changing anytime soon. For famous acts, it provides an intimate space to connect with fans. For small acts, it feels like the big time. One of the best features of Workplay is its bar/​venue space combination. You can literally just go to the bar there, and never enter the show.
But, should you have tickets, just carry your drink with you. The main space they use for concerts has an elevated stage, a large empty space in front, then two levels of balcony-​type areas with various types of tables and chairs. There are no «assigned seats,» so concert-​goers can meander around, mingle with friends, and mosh to their hearts content.
It is this relaxed approach that allowed me to touch Lucinda– I lurked by the stage near the speaker for most of the show and, for the brief moment she wasn’t playing or chasing shots with a beer (she’s such a bad-​a$$), she reached out to the crowd and BOOM– I made contact. It was thrilling. I’m pretty sure we could’ve touched Jakob Dylan had we tried hard enough, but we didn’t.
I’m a fan.

Witnessed two very different shows here and enjoyed them both. One show was in the larger venue – a blackbox style stage/​standing area. Not much to comment, pretty generic.
The smaller, more intimate venue is really special. For the show I attended (Jay Clifford), there were tables in front of the stage and two levels of seating with nice lighting and great sound. There were servers bringing around beer and wine every 15 minutes or so – perfect. Drinks are reasonable and the bar is really nice.
A truly great venue.