The Ready Room

This venue was the perfect place to see a show. It was spacious and had incredibly clean bathrooms! The stage was viewable from anywhere and the sound was decent, if not the best. The bar was absolutely fantastic, and the bartenders were friendly and provided excellent service. All in all, an excellent and intimate venue.

Nice place to see a show.
The staff did a great job with a little problem I had with my online tickets.
Thumbs up!

My first time at the Ready Room was to see rapper Big KRIT. God, I love that man, lol. As soon as I heard he was bringing his tour back to Stl, I jumped to it. The BF copped us VIP tix bc it came w/​a meet+greet and other dope memorabilia.
The Ready Room is located in The Grove on Manchester, between Boyle and Kentucky. It’s a block down from the Gramophone, the place where I experienced KRIT for the 1^st time! Parking was a FOOL, so we had to circle the block a few times, but the Almighty looked out for us, and we got a spot on a side street. As we approached the venue, there were two lines going east & west of the door – VIP and General Admission. The doorman commanded attention from the somewhat anxious crowd and gained order. VIP was let in first. They checked IDs & afterwards was met by another guy handling the VIP list. He found our names, gave us our laminated passes for access.
RR is a small venue. Kinda grungey and hip. There’s graffti, concert posters and other cool art on the walls. The place was dark, but blue, purple and red lighting cascading the space. There’s a large bar close to entrance. The stage is located in an open space. ***If you want to be close to the stage, you must get there early! We decided to hold fort on the side of the stage. It held a great view AND close proximity to the restrooms. The restrooms are blue, lol. However, they were clean and spacious. I didn’t feel itcky using it.
For the most part, it’s standing room. There’s a few, VERY few tables and chairs along the wall in the back. But it’s a first come, first served situation. The sound system was decent. Security was sprinkled around, so you knew they didn’t play.
IMO, RR is slept on as far being a great venue. The space is cool, the staff is on guard and they always book great acts. Not to mention, the location! You really can’t go wrong here. I’ll be back.

This venue totally SUX. Standing room only, no seating. Can’t hear the performers lyrics due to far too heavy bass. Sound guy should go back to his basement. Management doesn’t care, just collects the money. Came for Rachel Platten. $ 20 get what you pay for. Sound so bad people were walking out. Not Rachels fault this place would make anyone sound bad. Get Ready for disappointment.

Should be called The Echo Chamber instead of The Ready Room. Worst sound of any major venue in St Louis. They spent a bunch of money on a fancy PA when really they should have bought lesser equipment and some soundproofing.
People say this is a roomier Firebird but that’s not true. Firebird has stellar sound. You’d be better off staying home and listening to records through tin cans and string than attending a show here. It’s a shame too because their calendar is great, but the only thing they’re doing is stealing bands from vastly superior venues.

Good venue to play a gig or see a show – good PA, competent soundman, roomy stage and standing area for audience. The bar is separated from the stage area by a concrete wall, seating is limited to a few round tables in the listening area, the bar area has a couch by the door and a small shelf for drinks along the wall. The bar has a cool utilitarian vibe, and a good selection of draft beers and spirits. Would recommend.

At the Ready Room last night for REK. Amazing band and incredible show. Sound was on point venue was better than advertised. We spent the extra to get reserved seating and were not disappointed. 2^nd row still close enough to hear stage talk. We will now be monitoring this place to see who’s coming next. This is a great spot. Don’t be fooled this place is amazing.

3.5 stars. It’s a roomier Firebird, sight lines are hit or miss. Can it hold 800 people? I’m sure it can but 100 or so of those people would be stuck behind a brick wall which separates the bar from the stage. Seating is extremely limited and apart from the bar there are ZERO places to put down a drink, no ledges no shelves, nothing, just the dark floor so best of luck there. The sole exceptions are if you have a bar stool w/​small round table or the one ledge behind that massive mirrored brick wall in which case you might as well listen to the bands CD since you’re not seeing a thing. Others have complained about the sound but so far not a concern tonight, things sound crisp and perfect (I’m wearing earplugs).
3 bartenders working a pretty packed show tonight and that’s a very good call, bar length is about 18 – 20 people long. $ 5 for a Schlafly Wheat draft.
This place could be première, just need to work on a few things. But I’m glad to have a most decent venue here in the city.

I saw Janeane Garofalo last night at The Ready Room and until yesterday I had never heard of The Ready Room. As far as venues go it was actually pretty great. It’s easy to park in The Grove. Lots of restaurants and bars around. The bar in The Ready Room was convenient and had a nice beer and drink selection. A+ for cleanliness of the venue and restrooms. The sound quality could have been a bit better but all in all a really great night!

Great venue for a performance — but the bar charged everyone in my party (4) twice for each transaction. Keep your receipts.

This place is an awesome place to see a show. The kind of place you could see a band you don’t know at.

Had a great time but I do see why they are lacking stars… Had and almost impossible time getting a beverage from the male bartenders. Not sure why but the woman behind the bar was the only person that would get me a beverage consistently. Band was great along with the atmosphere… Cheers!

I went here for the first time this past weekend for the Raekwon and Ghostface Killah concert. This place is not a bad concert venue however there were some issues. First of all, no one was allowed into the venue on time. The doors were supposed to open at 7pm. This didn’t happen and we were all lined up outside waiting to get in until about 7:50 pm to 8 pm. That may not be the fault of the venue and it could have been the performer’s fault, but it still wasn’t the best experience. There isn’t much seating inside the venue but it’s a decent sized space. Like most of the other reviewers have stated, the sound quality here is poor. There aren’t good acoustics so I found that it was hard for me to decipher what song was being played/​performed because it was difficult to hear the words/​treble over the loud bass. That isn’t the best situation considering this is a concert venue where the whole point of being here is to hear music! During the show, Raekwon’s mic stopped working, which was a bad look on the venue so he had to use his DJ’s mic. There also was an issue with the lighting after the duo asked that the lights be shut off at one point in the show and the lighting guy kept getting that simple request wrong. It was awkward. I will say however, I was impressed by how large and clean the bathroom was. It exceeded my expectations compared to how basic, dark, and «no-​fuss» the rest of the venue appeared.

This was a decent venue. I am going to admit that I am a wee bit partial since I recently just came to see my favorite band. It is a small place that you can really feel the energy of the music and the crowd without feeling overwhelmed. It was well organized the lines weren’t bad. Best of all the beer prices were not outrageous. Very surprised. I will keep them on the radar for future happenings.

Definitely the best venue of its size in St. Louis! They pull in some of the best and hip acts out there. Great selection behind the bar and very well priced considering it’s a venue. The staff is knowledgeable, friendly and obviously knows what they are doing! If a show is coming you are considering, go!!!

Great location. Good size venue. Wide angle stage viewing. Good-​sized bar with draft beer and full liquor selection (maybe could use 1 more bartender for busy shows). Friendly staff. Those things get 5 out of 5 stars.
BUT THE SOUND/​ACOUSTICS… 0 out of 5 stars. I’ve been to 7 shows here because they book really good national acts, and I can’t hear a single lyric. Drums sound muddled (no punchiness). They usually try to compensate for the terrible echo and lack of clarity by pumping up the juice to a nearly unbearable level.
People will still come for the great musical acts that show up (usually at a very reasonable price), so I’m hoping they’ll save up enough money to do some serious renovation and acoustic upgrades. Hopefully the place isn’t debt financed… if so, it could take a while to see improvements.
Anyhow, don’t hesitate to keep seeing shows and definitely give them your business. The more money they make, the faster acoustics will improve. Fingers crossed.

Went to the Ab-​Soul show here. Show was on time and was great. The sound system was good — loud enough and able to handle the bass. It was a great show and the bar has good pours. I can definitely see why Grove-​dwellers closed them down due to noise complaints, but they’re up and open now. They a diverse number of acts, everyone from Ab-​Soul to Walk the Moon to Ty Dolla Sign to Little Dragon. They also have comedians — Tig Notaro is coming through this month at all. Inevitably, I’ll be back.

Touring acts in The Grove? Hell yes!
The Grove is my favorite area in Saint Louis City, and it continues to blossom as businesses move onto that patch of Manchester Road. One of the more recent additions has brought professional music acts into the area, The Ready Room.
You probably have heard of it. Recently, The Demo and Ready Room were under scrutiny from their neighbors about noise. Here’s an idea: live in an area covered with three o’clock bars and complain about the noise coming from rock clubs.
Needless to say, Ready Room and its sister club came out with a few bruises, but the two are back in business and bringing small professional acts to The Grove.
My first concert there was The Afghan Whigs. Right away, the room has many similarities to The Firebird: dark and wide, bar off to the side. However, RR is much easier to navigate with its more spacious design. Also, this space allows for more audience. The place was hopping and ready for some Afghan Whigs!
You could head to the bar in the back for drink, but they also have a cash station with Schlafly cans, which I liked immensely.
At show’s beginning, I was positioned in the front, but near the end of the set, I had to move out. However, I found a nice spot by the sound board, and the view was pretty solid. I didn’t have any trouble seeing the band.
And they keep booking quality acts, so I look forward to my next visit at The Ready Room!

Dirty, dark, hipster hideout that books good music.
Expensive cover. even for local music, which i thought was a rip-​off because the drinks were very expensive. Maybe some of the cover goes to the band (s)?? I’d freakin’ hope so.
Probably won’t be back here unless it’s a must-​see show.

The Ready Room is a new concert venue located in the Grove, near the Gramophone. The 800-​person capacity venue offers a sweet spot between the larger Pageant and the smaller Firebird.
I like the space. The stage is big and elevated to the perfect level so it’s easy to get a good view (unlike the Firebird where it’s hard to see anything in the back). There’s places to sit down on either end. Vodka-​sodas were $ 5 and pretty strong.
I wasn’t able to fully assess the parking situation. I parked on Tower Grove on walked the 2 blocks to the venue. There was a hot-​dog vendor outside after the show. That’s always nice.
Overall this is a great addition to the city. and should hopefully lead to lots of great concerts, so definitely support it.