Empire Control Room & Garage - Austin, Texas

Nunia B.

Pretty good venue. It is surprisingly smaller than you would expect, but a good number of people can still fit into the space before the band. The space before the band is basically dedicated to moshing if it gets crazy, and the sides are where everyone else spills out. I saw Melt Banana, and it got to basically full capacity. Since the venue is so small, it's pretty easy to get to a spot where you can see the artist if you're a big fan. It got really hot in the room, wish the ac was on higher but they probably don't want to risk it being overworked. After the show, the artist was nice enough to give autographs and take selfies with people while packing up! There's an outdoor patio, too, where you can still listen to the music from afar while taking a breather. However, it's mostly for smoking, so it starts to reek further into the night, which can be unpleasant if you're sensitive to smells. At the height of the night the place starts to lack on seating too, though many people don't mind sitting on the wooden planked ground outside.

diamond D.

The venue was very nice and had plenty of space.The sound was great and the ticket cost was great. An a very safe environment! I had a great time and will definitely attend another event there!!

Amanda

First time here at for a show and it was such a fun experience. We saw Adan Diaz and Good Kid on a Friday night. The atmosphere was on point and the energy was so great. Looking forward to other shows here in the future

Kareem F. 1.

I definitely did not expect this venue to be like this. Attended the inspire promotion 'Rule in Hell' pro wrestling event & in the words of any true wrestling fanatic. It was awesome!!!. It's your typical whole in the wall dive. Outside, hot, and hard. The perfect condition for great wrestling. The Venue was large enough to accommodate maybe 100 folks. Drinks and merchandise were available for purchase at the venue.

Joey R.

It was a little pricey but it's Austin, Just went out to see the Alisha Sheffield and Iniko concert last night. Fell in love all over again. Bathroom was clean and most of the area was covered. A+ on keeping this a family friendly event. Got 2 shirts, couldn't be happier.

Jacob H.

This review is going to be an outlier. This is to document our horrible experience. It's going to be long.

A small gripe: the mixed drinks sucked. It may not have been due to the fault of the workers, but the alcohol was disgusting. I asked for a rum and coke, and the entire drink tasted like a dirty tequila. "That sounds like you got a lot of alcohol." Yeah, it sounds that way, but it didn't give me any intoxication feeling, so it wasn't that much. I'm really not sure what I was given. Whatever it was tasted a few months expired. My girlfriend had the same experience with an entirely different mixed drink. Also, I got a notification that I was double charged for my tab the following day. I have seen a few other low-rated reviews that also mention overcharging/double charging.

The real issue. We meet a woman in her 50s here. During the performance, she fainted and was unconscious on the ground for 4 minutes before a single worker came up to help us with her.
Finally, an older man who worked here came to help us move her. From the second that man arrived, it went downhill. My brother and a stranger were helping move this lady to a safer spot where she could sit and get some air to recover. The employee couldn't have cared less about this lady. All he cared about was getting her off the property, and he was actually repeating "she's a liability" over and over and over. He also kept telling my brother to go away. While all he was doing was trying to make sure she was going to get taken care of, since we have been with her since she lost consciousness. He got so annoyed that he looked like he was on the verge of fighting my brother. He even told me to get my brother to walk away, all because we didn't want to leave the woman until we knew she was okay. Once she was outside the venue, not a single employee tried to make sure she was okay. We had to tell one of them to give her a chair to sit on. After this point, we stayed outside the venue with this woman because it was clear the workers were not going to help her and were not trained to either. No one was called to check on her. The older man cared more to argue with us after this point than anything and had to be told to walk away by his manager. Even the younger manager cared more about arguing with us than checking on this woman. He definitely got upset as well and didn't let us go back in after this point. After about 20 minutes of being outside, I helped move the lady's chair farther from the exit door, but at an angle where she could still see the performance. This caused a third lady who worked there to start telling me how she couldn't be there; it's in the way of the exit. It was further out of the way than where the employee originally put the chair. As a note, there were 2 different employees sitting in chairs, way more in the way of the exit than we ever were. It was just another person going on a power trip trying to argue with us. Once the older lady was out, they didn't even want her to be able to see inside.

I'm sure both employees did exactly what they had been trained to do, other than argue, obviously lol. But it was the most business HR-trained BS I have ever seen from a venue.
Every other venue I have been to where something similar happened, there is always someone trained to help people in need and deescalate the situation.

I would not come back. I'm also sure they couldn't care less about it.

I guess some pros?
There was a nice outdoor seating area, so that's good.
Some people were allowed to bring in their own food as well.

Boone R.

Dooooope venue in Austin! All the infrastructure and production quality of a theater (minus the seats of course), with the vibes of being outdoors at a festival tent. It's sick. Plenty of space in back for those who like it, thick dance party up front for those who need it. Absolute gem and exactly what live music fans are looking for. The staff is also dope and does everything to keep the place running safe and smooth without being in your face unless you're being a jerk. If you somehow haven't been, get there immediately. ❤️🔥🎵

Christine M.

Great venue!

First & foremost: sound has generally been pretty great for each show I've been to.

Being able to see the bands has been mostly fine, IF I stay inside the garage itself (any further back and the concrete is sloped (like a driveway. To a...garage) and it gets really difficult to see)

Bars have a decentish craft beer selection, St Elmo hop water (YESSS!!), Lone Stars (add some Lone Star Lights, plz!), and generally some tasty tasty themed cocktails. 🍻😃