Fraze Pavilion

Excellent small outdoor uncovered venue in residential neighborhood. Parking easy in and out across the street at the high school. Don’t expect good food and the beer selection is extremely limited, but your here for the music. I have attended dozens of concerts at the Fraze and the crowd is typically mid 50’s average so no rowdiness and it’s rare anyone gets out of their seat to dance or cheer bands. Very rare type venue that is extremely easy to get into and out of. You will walk further in most venues getting to your seat once you’ve entered a facility than you will from your car to your seat at the Fraze Overall very nice small venue only negative is the possibility of rain.

I have been going to The Frazer for about 12 years! I love everything about it! Unlike other venues, I have never had a negative experience there. The employees/​volunteers are always helpful, smiling, and glad to see you. The parking is easy enough, THE GROUNDS ARE STELLAR, everything is so neat and clean. It is a nice intimate center with excellent accoustics! I’ve seen everything from Kenny G to The Moody Blues to Cool and The Gang, and enjoy it every time. Go, You Won’t be dissapointed!

Perfect venue for a night out with friends and family. If you’re lucky, you’ll have perfect weather and won’t have to don a rain poncho! Get there early for the good parking!

I would never go here again! We went to see Old Crow Medicine Show and Willie Nelson on August 18^th. Since Old Crow was opening we wanted to get tickets close to stage and leave when Wille Nelson came on. Apparently you only sit in the pavilion if you are over 50 and want to sit through the entire concert. I understand that most of the people where there to see Wille and would have sat down for him but I actually had a lady ask me to sit down. We paid almost $ 200 to see them close up. If I was going to sit through the whole thing I would have sat on my couch and watched them on YouTube. I am only giving 2 stars because Old Crow was absolutely amazing! If you must see a band here don’t spend the extra money on pavilion seats. Get seats in the lawn and enjoy yourself

This is a very relaxing setting, the grounds are well kept. The seats are hard plastic but comfortable enough since you are standing for much of a concert. I am not wild about the food and drink options but they have sufficient options. I wish they could draw a few bigger names and I would go more frequently.

Someone reviewed The Fraze as the best outdoor venue in the mid west. They must be on crack. I never see a concert at The Fraze. Their policies prevent me from attending a concert there. They have a rain or shine policy for concerts. This is OK, however, you cannot bring an umbrella. What adult is going to want to sit through a 2 hour concert in a down pour? A MUCH better selection is The Rose Music Center in Huber Heights. It’s new, opened in the summer of 2015. It is totally covered so a rain or shine policy is just fine. I just attended my first concert there, Sammy Hagar and it was great. No worry of rain or the sun beating down on you.

This is an interesting venue. My first visit was last night for the Weird Al concert, and prior to this show I didn’t know much about the place. It’s in a neighborhood, and it’s more like a park that happens to have a small amphitheater. Because of this, it’s really pretty and shaded, and makes for a nice stroll to the show. Here are the things that make it kind of ‘weird’:
1. You can hear the music just outside the ticket gates, so why not just enjoy the concert for free? If you didn’t want to actually see the artist close up, you could totally just mooch. If I lived nearby I would do this all the time.
2. The parking is at the nearby high school. Bonus points for being free, but kind of strange that it doesn’t have it’s own dedicated lot. Leave about 10 minutes earlier to walk into the event. Took at least a half an hour to get out when it was time to leave.
3. The show starts RIGHT ON TIME. I thought that the time on the ticket was the time the ‘doors open’, but they were prompt. We were walking in ten minutes after the ticketed time, and he was already on his second song.
4. No one was standing. Seems like in other reviews there is a mix of people sitting and standing on the lawn, but no one was for this show. I prefer to be able to stand up or dance, but this seemed out of place. We got there and it was FULL. We found a seat along the edge railing. I cannot stress this enough… GET HERE EARLY!
Otherwise, this does make for a more intimate outdoor event. Depending on the artist, I would come back for another show. I think a quieter, more melodic band would fit well in this space. I didn’t have time to check out the concessions, so I can’t speak to that. Leave plenty of time to get here early, and you will enjoy your visit.

The Fraze Pavilion is a toss up for me.
It is a good venue for concerts if you have children (it is not rowdy and adult like some other venues), however, their concessions leave a lot to be desired.
I attended a show there this weekend and they have the normal soda, ice-​cream, etc. Their beer selection though, wow, terrible. They offered the normal bud & coors but their «craft» selection was 3 Yuenling and a Sam Adams… not much variety there.
I have been there in the past when their craft selection was much better, not sure what happened there.
The show was enjoyable though, the staff is very helpful in finding seats and crowd control.
I was not bumped or shoved once and have plenty of room to dance with my son even though the show as sold out.
Overall a good concert experience!

This venue seats 4300 folks and they mix it up with a wide variety of musical acts. The acts I can remember seeing over the years include Al Green, Dr. John, Robert Randolph and The Family Band, The Avett Brothers, Umphreys McGhee, and Darius Rucker. One of these things is not like the other.
The Fraze also offers a variety of free festivals throughout the summer typically featuring a theme i.e. Swamp Romp, Bacon Fest… that bring out food vendors from Dayton. It’s always a good time at The Fraze Pavilion.

I saw the Avett brothers here last year and it was my first time at this venue, and is by far one of my favorites. It’s a smaller more intimate outdoor venue that really makes it enjoyable especially for a summer concert. We bought lawn tickets which really is just a green space free for all, and bleacher seats available in the back uppermost part. The way it is set up, you can really view the stage from anywhere, and there was a mix in. The crowd of people sitting, standing dancing and laying down on a blanket. Bathrooms are a bit of a hike away but overall one of my favorite venues I’ve been to.

If you like to be hassled for stupid reasons by minimum wage workers who let authority go to their heads, this is the place for you. Government managing a music venue, yea right…

alright. let’s be serious. there are some good performers. but the venue is ridiculous. it has such potential — great open air, beautiful stage, fountain, walkable space, etc.
but there’s a catch — you feel like you’re in elementary school. there’s a list of rules that go like this: no talking. no outside food or drinks. no umbrellas (sun or rain). no empty water bottles to fill inside. no chairs. no cameras. no free admittance for infant babies. no nothin’. once you’re inside, it gets worse: no standing. no milling about. no speakers to hear the music while you’re getting a snack or a beverage. no dancing.
NO DANCING?! and if you break the rules… watch out! you will be asked to ‘move a along’
we bought bleacher seats, but the venue was too packed to get a seat. we bought a beer, walked around, stood by the sidelines, got asked to move, walked over to the fence and stood to watch the show, got asked to move, walked to the edge of the lawn, paused– trying to find a seat, got asked to move, and carried on like that for two hours. until finally, during the encore, we stood, with every other normal human in the audience and clapped, thanking the performer for entertaining us, and as they began to play their encore got yelled at, by an audience member sitting in the bleachers, that said this: «Hey! Sit down! I paid my money!!!»
Well, sir, so did I. And I won’t be paying to go here again. Not if I expect to attend a music concert anyway. Maybe for a church service. Or a funeral.

Saw Steely Dan at the Fraze last night. Loved the setting and the easy access and parking. We sat in orch A section about twenty feet off stage left with huge speakers about thirty feet in front of us. Music was great, but could barely hear Donald Fagen. Left early and on the way out noticed a huge difference in the sound in the middle of the pavilion — Fagen sounded just like I remembered when I first played my Aja LP in 1977. Will skip the expensive assigned seating and sit on the lawn next time.

We saw the Menus there a few nights ago. I think the Fraze is a great place to see a show. The venu is small and intimate yet it provides the feel of a larger show.
Get the box dinner from Grinders. It was fresh and delicious.

Great place for summer concerts. The restrooms are a bit of a hike to get to other than that I’ve always had a great experience there and with the staff.

Prior to the recent Sheryl Crow concert, I called the office asking about taking photos with a cell phone. It was suggested that I ask the ushers on the day of the show – which I did…3 times. I was told photos COULD be taken during the OPENING act, but not for Sheryl Crow. So… I took photos of Mallary Hope. At one point – in the middle of a song – an usher embarrassed me in front of numerous spectators by scolding me for taking photos. I called the office on Monday to complain and got the usual runaround: (1) the supervisor isn’t here and (2) we’ll call you back (but they never did).

Awesome outdoor venue and if you get the chance get to the Happy Together Tour Concert with all your favorite oldies! Gary Puckett hasn’t aged a day and still sounds fantastic!

Absolutely the best outdoor concert arena in the Midwest. This gorgeous mini-​sized amphitheater is in a suburban wooded community with a mix of residential and light commercial (office buildings here and there). However, the Fraze is so private and so intimate (lots of massive trees and greenery hugging the actual Fraze site) that it seems you’re far, far away from the rest of the world for a few hours. Best part may be: if you get there 90 minutes early you likely can park within a hundred yards or so of the venue’s entry point.
The Fraze is a small amphitheater, maybe 4,000 capacity, yet brings in shows every year like Sheryl Crow, legendary jazz bands, and worldwide tours of hard-​core rockers, yet offers a lot more than the usual: huge serene water garden with lots of Quality vendors surrounding it, and most of all a cool relaxed vibe that you must experience for yourself. Sit on the lawn in spring or summer and watch the stars (and the stars) shine.
Fraze is a treasure of Kettering and Greater Dayton. We live in Cincinnati and would rather see a show at Fraze than any other outdoor venue in the immediate (100 mile) vicinity.
Get thee to the Fraze!

I had heard a lot over the years about how much better Fraze Pavilion was than Riverbend. When a friend offered her B-​52s/​Go-​Gos tickets, we took her up on the offer.
On the plus side, like Riverbend, parking is included in your ticket price and you get a slip with your tickets that tells you which lot you should park in. They have a much more adventurous beer selection than Riverbend (though it could still be better). The pre-​purchased box lunch selection was a really nice option (though some tables would have made it even nicer). If you buy lawn seats, they rent out padded seat backs. Most the staff was very pleasant.
On the down side, the seating areas are not covered. This is a problem when shows are rain or shine. We ended up leaving after the B-​52s because of the rain. Also, something that we were warned about and experienced ourselves, there seems to be a tradition at Fraze for most of the audience to stand through much of the show. As my husband cracked, they could have saved a lot of money on the seats if they’d known everybody was going to stand instead of sit.
All in all, Riverbend, especially with the additional of the PNC Auditorium, is looking much better for this northern Kentucky resident. Now to get them to add some better beer choices…

Great place to take in a concert. And they’ve got some great ones coming up! Check out this webpage for a list of upcoming performances and some other great things to do with the family