Rochester Main Street Armory

Address:	900 E Main St, Rochester, NY 14605, USA
Phone:	+1 585-232-3221
Site:	rochestermainstreetarmory.com
Rating:	3.7

Location

Photos 100

Reviews 4

Paul Cicotta

The Rochester Armory always surprises me for the wide-range of events it holds every year. The In Living Color Paint Party Event at the Armory was one for the record books. Google! Tip- bookmark the In Living Color Page for next year so you can get tickets cheaper online way ahead of time. Remember, this was a paint party and you WERE THE CANVAS. So that means waiting in line in the FREEZING cold with nothing but a white shirt and cargo pants was difficult. While shivering uncontrollably, I happened to admire the solid architecture of the Armory. It makes you feel like your walking into an medieval church. The security did a TOP NOTCH job monitoring everyone at the event. This is the armory, and any veteran knows you cannot get away with carrying drugs in there. It was interesting to see all the people get busted for cocaine, and ecstasy at the security check point to the paint rave party. Once inside the Armory, I had to tackle a variety of missions. First thing is I had to get a cool In Living Color Paint Party Tank Top. This tank top made all the paint glow on you even better. Second, I had to get a bottle of my own paint. You get to choose from a variety of colors to shoot at people, I choose Blue. Last, I got a cool glow in the dark necklace to twirl around. By the time you know it I was transformed into Raver Paul for the evening. The stage was incredible to look at with multiple flat screens, strobe lights, neon lights, and other holographic projections. Google! Tip- Do not bring your cocktail onto the dance floor, because it is going to get paint in it. I consistently heard the girls cry when there 10 dollar cocktail had a glop of paint flown in it, that is WHY you dont DRINK on the floor of a PAINT PARTY. The dance music and the energy was a stimulating experience. Before the main show started, we all shot our own paint at each other. The paint was actually refreshing since it was so HOT in the armory. There is something sensual about dancing together with a whole bunch of people covered in paint. It did not matter what your preference was, it was the energy you were giving off at the time. The whole evening I felt like I was in the Blade Movie Rave Party Scene, only with paint. The waving of my hands in the air to the techno beats magically got me pushed up to the front stage!! Up close and personnel was the DJ Booths, and the singers. My favorite song was listening to " I Got That Summer-Time Sadness" by Lana Del Ray. Then out of nowhere the real PAINT PARTY begins. Were talking HUGE silos of paint hosing you from the stage, and from the balconies above. At one point I could barely breath with all the paint flying at me. Of course there are some kids in the crowd that were overly pushy which got a little hectic, but thank god for the strong men that acted liked pillars for me. Eventually you get so much paint in your eyes, life starts to get blurry and red for you. Google! tip- where a pair of cheap sunglasses to protect your eyes from the paint. Finally, the security guy asked me if I wanted to get out after 4 hours of dancing and paint. My eyes couldnt take it anymore, and I got swopped up out of the mosh pit. The security guy was cool and said " You are lucky you are small enough to pick up". I even got to take some pictures on stage for a second at this point. Google! Tip- DO NOT bring your camera, dangerous to get any shots without damaging the camera from paint. It was worth the price of admission to get this water park paint experience. Next year I am just going to get the cheap ticket, and relax with cocktails while dancing to the music. Only worth full price if you want to get the WHOLE paint explosion. The paint afterwords gets sticky and cold on you, which is a good sign to go take shower at this point. Paint is Sexy to dance with, not afterwords to mingle.

Paul Thomas

Recently visited this facility for my first time, for a fairly large concert (Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson, on their Twins of Evil tour) and it was a pretty craptacular experience all around. Firstly, while the event was not sold out, the two clumsy lines to get into the building were massive, and their inability to process attendees efficiently glaring. We arrived promptly in line at 7:15, and were only able to enter over an hour later. The lines length, and inept processing, is not that rare in venues like this. Unfortunately the dolts permitted Marilyn Manson to begin LONG before we were able to enter the venue, and we missed approximately two thirds of his set, which was incredibly annoying. Furthermore they had far, far too few people/stations in house serving beverages, which made it darn near impossible to even get a beverage at all. Considering the profits they realize with beverage sales at events like this, I have to assume they are either wrestling with some bizarre, draconian city/county rules, or management is very, very stupid and hate earning money. Lastly the sound was pretty terrible. I had heard enough about the venue to know the sound was going to be great by any means. But on top of all the other ineptitude, having the sound be so cruddy was one more annoyance. Oh, even though Im a boring-looking, sober, compliant middle-aged guy with a boring haircut and clothes, and nothing on my person except a phone, camera and wallet, the bozos at the door were compelled to search me twice. Will never go here again.

Kimberly Falkowski

Drove to Rochester from Buffalo to see Cage the Elephant. Holy cow! The acoustics in this building are incredible! I would definitely come here for a show again. The only downsides are: 1. There is a huge balcony area with seating which nobody was allowed to use, for this show, at least. It may have been a security thing, but it would have been nice to have somewhere to sit for a long show. 2. The only beer is Labatt. The bartender serving us was really great, though, and it made the experience of drinking beer I dont prefer better! 3. Security checked womens purses, but there was no sort of pat down or metal detector in use. I hate to say it, but after so many terror attacks, I think it might be an important step to take. Also, I saw two concert-goers with backpacks. I really hope those were checked thoroughly.

Nicole McMahon

I went to the Main Street Armory this past weekend to see In This Moment with some friends. Before the main act in between sets, I was sitting by the wall with one of my friends drinking water, just relaxing. The next thing I knew, security was escorting me out. When I asked for an explanation, they told me that I was "too drunk" and a liability. Thing is, I had two drinks and was fine. I wasnt bothering anyone, I want doing anything. I dont know if maybe this was some kind of case of mistaken identity or something but it was ridiculous. No one would answer my questions, and my friends were just as bewildered as I was. Being completely embarrassed and confused, we left. I will never be going back there again.