Reviews of Aura (Night Club)

Wheels Waves

The general admission has to go. There is no room for it and you can't see. $60 for the general admission ticket and you couldn't see anything without leaning on people's shoulders with seats. It caused 2 fights while I was there that also made it so you couldn't enjoy the show. If I had a seat ticket it would of been a great venue but my General admission experience was not even a 1 star. I'll go back but only for a ticket with a seat.

Cameron Ross

The sports bar is a complete hidden gem. Great food, great service, and always local beers on tap.

Mr Nordic

I began my evening with my fiancé to attend her 15th Reverend Horton Heat show (my 2nd) and the beginning of a series of events leading to my fiftieth birthday. The opener was solid (Blasters) and Junior Brown kicked it up another notch until security came to the center of the stage while we were dancing and cut my darling’s barclet. I searched for the words to object but before I spoke, security had handled my darling and marked both her hands with a red “X”’s stating “she can no longer procure spirits, she has been marked”. We were not at the bar nor disrupting our surroundings yet the authorities came in force and discluded us from further sales activities. The second group finished (shortly thereafter) as we left the venue, late in the evening, having never seen the artist we hoped to enjoy in our home town. There is no way we shall ever return. I would not return to see my favorite artist here at this venue but that is okay. They’re playing at the State Theatre next month. I am done with Aura after my first experience and this rare post to warn you away.

Jeffrey Fairfield

Nice intimate venue, awesome acoustics.

Rebecca Ban

Small, balcony seats need to be numbered not ga. Merchandise booths hard to get to if u r in balcony. Drinks sucked. I guess it is Portland Maine.

Rachel P.

The bar blatantly overserved which made for an awful time. A bunch of ladies kept getting in fights with each other because they were pounding bud lights and getting angry drunk. I'm sure that security would have been better off if there was a 5 drink limit.

Ruth Burns

Me and my husband went there last night for the 1st time and we had an awesome time. Geoff Tate was great and the place is small but up close and personal without being suffocated. Food was awesome and so was the service and staff in all areas. We will be back. Even the locals were cool.

Michael Metcalfe

Seating too tight. A little bit sterile, lacking character. Like seeing a show at Walmart

Steve Hegstrom

Good place

Marilyn Massicotte

Wow. What a nice little venue! Acoustic is fantastic. Comfortable seats. Nice views from floor and balcony. Only downer is they won't allow food inside. Very modern looking. Fully renovated and well organized events.

Kevin Dunham

I Prevail show fn unbelievable! Excellent venue with courteous and professional staff

John Kreutzberger

Classy venue. Great seating in the balcony for those that want that but still room to dance.

Taliesen Itchkawich

Great staff and an awesome small venue. Great prices and amazing food. Don't miss your favorite bands live.

Johnathan Taylor

This place is donk. Ceilings are a little short if you tall in the basement. Let's go to space.

Ross Crampsey

Excellent venue. The bar was also impressive before the show.

Emmet Meara

Left us outside for 20 minutes in the rain. Impossible to find seats. No ushers. Rows not marked. Sucks.

Celia Mawhinney

Great small concert venue

Melissa Lauckner

Not a bad seat in the house!! Seats are SO comfortable!

JoEllen Blanchard

Wow @@@@@, stunning , clean, air conditioned venue , with great acoustics. !!!! Rock on Aura

Greg Legnard

I'm not a fan of Portland and will go out of my way to book my yearly concerts out of state just to avoid the B.S. Portland has to offer. Aura has totally changed my way of thinking! I attended two shows there this month and I must say this place is pretty damn awesome! The staff is awesome, the venue is awesome and there isn't a bad seat in the house!! Bravo Aura bravo!

Helen Muccitelli

Clean bathrooms, numerous bars so wait time for drinks if reasonable, variety of choices of location to listen to the music, floor, tables, balcony

Benjamin Moore

I photographed the Super Bowl event at Aura and it was a great space for that and any other general event, let along a stellar live music location. The venue itself is brand new, basically - with a ton of bars scattered around inside.

Jim Plunkett

The is the best music room in the town right now - Fuel was just tremendous last night

Carl Belanger

Newly renovated and it looks great some bugs to work out the first night of reopening elevator breaking down supposed to be brand new.

I Review Places

The heck is this place. Why would any band book a show here. Went to see a metal/rock show here and people were making circle pits and walls of death ( which is expected), but this venue is so small, holly molly, im surprised no one got seriously injured. Also security sucked. They didn't stop drunk people from literally punching each other, they just stood there and they were terrible at noticing crowd surfers, which is odd because it's such a small venue, you'd think they would spot them. Oh well, go here at your own risk if it's for a metal/rock show.

Google This

Cool and modern and the sound was good for the concert I attended. My only real complaint is the floor area is way too small. Their goal was a 1000 person venue. If that is still the mark they should remove the bar in the back (there is another 50 feet away) or shave back the stage. Keep the number the same but give your customers some room. Sardine can is an understatement, at least for the sold out show I attended. I'll probably go back to get another feel for the place, but if it's the same, I won't return.

Cord Tocci

Awesome venue for shows. You will feel like you are hanging out with the performers. A nice intimate place!

Smang Johnson

Waterfront concerts books for them as far as I know. In case you didn’t know, it’s a company run by a known domestic abuser, so I’m not about to spend my money there.

Debbie Grijalva

Great seats. So comfy. Great view of stage from any seats. Food and drinks. Really nice place for smaller venues.

Christopher Baker

Cool place, the stage is close to the floor area so it makes for a good experience with the performers.

Junior Curbow

This is a cool place to catch some music and dancing. They serve good food next door. There is some great artwork on the parking lot walls.

Michael Mcdowell

I mainly went there for karaoke, only to be disappointed. I've been to so many different karaoke venues, being from Boston and currently living only 12 miles outside of boston, and this was one of the worst karaoke nights I been to. All they wanted to sing was a bunch of punk rock / alternative rock from the 90's, the DJ only catered to the regulars, Not sure but I think he skipped over me a couple of times. I sung a classic by "Prince" no one even stayed to even see what I was gonna sing. And the people that remained did not applause. I've never been to a karaoke where absolutely no one applauds for me. I always sing good selections and I know I have a great voice. Not a good atmosphere. Maybe they were stereotyping me in a racist way and saying to themselves, "why isn't he up on the second floor at the rap night venue, "isn't that what those blacks wanna hear all the time". Why is he down here with the white people doing karaoke? Because I thought it was real karaoke! And I don't wanna hear that garbage they call rap.

Rosemarie Sirois

Favorite place to see live music

Bill Greenberg

Great venue. Staff is very professional and engaged. Pretty amazing customer service. This place is first class and will bring me back to Portland again and again.

Alex Bakman

Inadequate Security. We were trying to watch the concert, but the people behind us were totally stoned and drunk out of their minds and were putting their hands on me, my wife and my daughter. Security was nowhere to be seen!! When I tried to get these out of control idiots to stop I was asked to leave. Amazing and Sad!!! Think twice before buying tickets to a a concert in this venue

Christine Golden

Went to see Sevendust there 5/8. The last time I was there was to see Sevendust, but when it was the Asylum, and vowed I would NEVER go back there. Aura is nothing like the old dump. There's not a bad seat in the house, I was in the balcony. The sound system is fantastic, clear and VERY loud, as I like it. One odd thing, once the lights go down, the signage is terrible and you can't see where the bathrooms are. A lit up sign saying "women" would have helped a lot. Also, a few people stumbled down the stairs in the balcony as they didn't put a white strip or lights on the stairs and you can't see where you're walking. If you're a large person you probably won't like the balcony seating, but there is plenty of space at the top to stand and lean on the area where you can set a drink down. It got VERY hot after 3 bands played before the headliner. I hope it's just because it's the start of hot season and not going to be a ventilation problem.

Julia DeWitt

This venue is fantastic

gotpoolonbrain noob

Small but good

Ralph Dibernardo

Best concert experience ever. Polite and friendly staff. Great & reasonably priced food. Everything we hoped for and then some. We will be back for sure. Thank you aura.

william spruce

A friend and I flew up to Portland from DC just for a metal show (Avatar) in May 2019. We were impressed with the venue, the sound and the staff. We chose to sit in the balcony; great view. The bartend staff in the lounge and in the venue itself were all friendly. Great folks, great sound. If the timing is right and for the right show, I would travel up to Portland again to visit Aura.

Ezra Juskewitch

Intimate, but full service. And all in a great town.

Ross Gilchrist

A DEFINITE must go to!

Ken Faubel

Nice venue but... we went to see an America (1970s folk rock) and got there 30 minutes before the show. The line to get in was around the corner and halfway down the block. It took 40 minutes to get in and the show was starting. People were still coming in 30 minutes after that and disrupting the people around them. No sense of urgency at the metal detectors. Security was stricter than an airport. I guess somebody got stabbed with a nail file... although maybe not at an oldies concert.

Tim Hanson

Drinks being (typically) expensive is the only negative here. I really liked the intimate venue and everything else about it.

Mark Houdlette

Outstanding concert space for Portland... will definitely look for opportunities to go again.

Rose Bouchard

We attended the Eaglemania concert and the show was FANTASTIC!!! We had a great time! Also bought tickets for our next show!!

Jay Stank

Chairs everywhere. Music isn’t turned up at all. Port city is 1000000x better.

Garry Robitaille

The band was great. But the venue sucks except the cool bar tender the staff was the worst. Had to check a empty water bottle because they afraid I'd try to walk out with over priced beer.

Dennis Jacques

Great place to see a show!!

Lorrie Eyberg

Loved seeing Best Not Broken and the Gin Blossoms. This is a great venue!

I love foods

I drove three hours for a show, that got canceled without any notice. After spending on hotels etc. What a waste of time. Thanks for letting me know less then a hour before.

Whitney Cole

First visit to this place and I grew up here. Very nice bartenders and good venue for a concert. The venue is split and we had floor seats but balcony may have been better. Definitely worth a visit for a show.

Logan Prinz

Easily one of the best venues I have been to in New England.

Dwf Foster

Awesome venue but the staff needs to be revamped we went to Hollywood undead demric and butcher babies we were in the crowd as it gets pretty crazy a group of people bumped into my son and spilt his beer a little on the floor staff came over and cut his bracelet off it was the second set and if we weren't there for Hollywood undead we would having left that being said me and the group I went with will not be going back

Heather Foss

Was noce

Dan Mc

Overall not a bad venue for a show. If you eat there before the show, you get seated first when the doors open. Good beer selection, typical pub fare, good presentation, fairly priced. My waitress Ashley was awesome, and my burger was just right. They had a Banded Horn Porter on special for Happy Hour. Carrying a variety of local brews is a huge plus. Also, they have a lot of healthy options as well for those who like a fresh salad with their rock n roll. The staff was mostly friendly. Mostly. They have metal detectors at the entrance. I had a small utility knife that I use for work, and had to hike back to the parking garage to put it away. I would have been perfectly fine with it, except for the attitude I received about it. Overall not a big deal, just frustrating. I posted a few pictures from different angles to give you some idea on the seating. The floor and balcony general admission was not seated. Standing for 4 hours and constantly having people squeezing by to get drinks, come back with drinks, spill drinks on the floor, go to the bathroom, come back from the bathroom, etc ... It definitely detracts from the concert experience. To be fair, I'm big on show etiquette. Get there early, and find your seat, or place to stand. Once the show begins shut up and stay put. If I'm paying good money to enjoy a show, that's what I plan to do. They have a coat check room, the lady there was very cool. It's $2 cash only. She also sells earplugs for $1 if you want them. Personally I thought the sound was just right. Loud enough to be a concert, but not so loud that it becomes problematic. My ears weren't ringing like the old CCCC shows back in the day. It's a huge improvement over the Asylum. The aesthetic is pleasant, and the venue looks great. It's really well done, and most of the vantage points give you a decent view of the stage. If you're vertically challenged, you might not agree with me, especially if you have to stand. A huge credit to the venue, they have been bringing a steady stream of varied acts to town on a consistent basis. Portland is a better destination with this venue. The picture is standing at the back of the floor general admission area. The show was Jason Bonham's Led Zeppelin Experience.

M.A. Goldman

Lovely space.

Arthur Bridges

Been there many times. Enjoy every concert. Very good venue.

Jay Foley

Great venue for a show. Much better than it's previous setup as the Asylum.

Steve Tantillo

Great place to go eat and see some good bands

Corey

Good facility. Nice bar and seating

david thurston jr

Not a bad seat in the place.

Mike Miles

I am of two minds about this venue. On one hand, this is a brand new performance space, with a tremendous sound system, and great sight lines. The only marginal seats are on the aisles in the balconies, where the support members interfere with seeing the full stage. It is relatively small, and balcony seats are amazing. And Aura brings great people to Portland. On the other hand, the people who run the place seem in some ways to be utterly indifferent to their customers. I called for three straight days, and left messages on several extensions. No one ever answered the phone, and nobody bothered to return a call. This says something to me. I ended up driving downtown on a beatly hot day, paying to park, and going to Aura’s sports pub to get a question answered. And the business caters to younger people. Not surprising, as I am sure that that is where most of their business comes from. If you have not been there before, you may not know that general admission means that roughly 60% of attendees are going to stand. And you may not know that doors open at 8, the first act starts at 9, and the main act may not be on stage til 10:30 or 11:00. For the Pink Martini show, an older crowd showed up, and learned the painful lesson that most of them would be on their feet for two and a half or three hours BEFORE THE MAIN SHOW STARTED. A lot of them left feeling pretty much disrespected, and vowing never, ever to return. As marginal to Aura’s revenue is the $$ from people in their sixties might seems, a ton of baby boomers came to consciousness in the 1960’s, and music is part of our identity. Don’t expect us to be there at 1 in the morning, and especially don’t expect us to stand for three or four hours. And hey, answer your damn phone.

Lou Rawles

This is a stunning location. The facilities are beautiful and the entertainment is top notch. Events are very well managed and they cater supremely well to both the younger or older crowd depending on the show. I highly recommend coming to see a show here. You will not be disappointed!

VHS GRAVEYARD420

Nice venue much better than asylum was

P. K.

Great Venue! Awesome job with the renovation!

Joshua Stanford

A nice place to poop.

Barry

Great pub food and outstanding service! Prices are fair and amazing venue for live music!

Michelle Lemay

A little tight on standing room only. But I guess that is why there are some seats. Just sold out of them real quick

Dennis Jaques

Great music venue! Just remodeled.Best place to see an indoor show in Portland!

Jay Baker

Would have been 5 stars, but found out that the guy sitting behind us, talking LOUDLY with his date during the show, was actually an employee. I had to tell him to keep it down. Rather than do that, they just moved down the row, to other open seats, and kept talking.

Angela Nelder

No words...

Ashley Heeter

Love the new management! This venue is very nice. Wish they had more ventilation though

Kelly Cassum

Security is a joke. They bouncers prevent you from entering when they think you have been drinking when you haven't. Even quick to call the authorities. $160 spent on tickets and didnt even get allowed entrance to see the show. Before you buy tickets to this venue, be sure you don't mind throwing money away.

Marcus Bowers

Been going about to Plague (Goth/Industrial night, Fridays) for about 3 years now. Loved it then and still love it now. It's a really great crowd.

Dan Gimenez

Great sound and goid bar areas. The walls need black draping on the walls if the play rock bands. Walls are white and too bright for a rock show. Everything else was AWESOME!

Mikefire Sixnined

Great place to see a show. Seating as well as floor space.

Tom Long

Aura is quickly becoming one of my favorite venues in Portland, Maine. Great sound system, well thought out use of space with 2.5 levels to view from (floor, ½ step up bar, and my favorite view: from 2nd floor).

Kevin Demers

The venue itself is nice with the exception of a non-working elevator... Seriously, a freshly redone venue and a broken elevator during a show. The management however is horrible, there night of the show people who carefully selected seats were told the seats were taken away for general admission standing and if we wanted to be able to sit we would need to get into a long line to get a seat with less than ideal selections. In short, management made a money grab to try and squeeze out more tickets. Simply put, they screwed everyone who bought reserved seats! Until the venue management decides to do right by paying customers, stay away.

Robb Buckland

Great fights great night !!

Brandon Krupski

The physical transformation from The Asylum to Aura is impressive. The venue looks beautiful. The bar tenders are great and the selection is decent. The "security" for the shows... quite a different story. You don't kick people out the door 15 seconds after the house lights come on. I understand the desire to clear the place out in a reasonable amount of time... but I think you can give folks a solid 10 minutes before the gestapo rolls out. Many people drove a long way to see these bands and drink your beer. I literally walked down the stairs from the upper bar area to where the bands setup their merch for under a minute, then went back to where my people were only to be stopped at the stairs by a person who stepped in front of me about and inch from my face "What are you doing?" "shows over, make your way outside" The security nonsense is enough to turn a 4 star venue into a 1 star review, but the custodian that was keeping the floor fresh all night is a good touch and worth another star. Kudos to you, sir. Nothing worse than standing in sticky beer for the duration of the show. Retrain or fire your security. They're trash.

Alan Platner

The place has all the personality of an international airport terminal. A harsh blue light illuminated the audience the whole time. The bartenders attentive but the drinks were pretty weak. The concert/security staff were a total mess no knowing who was checking IDs or even having wristbands. Unless you really want to see the act you will have a better time at HOM or Port City.

Benjamin McDonough

Great venue for shows

Mark Moberg

Fantastic venue

JC Jackson

Perfect venue great sound plenty of room

Barbara Hines

Great venue for concerts. Easy parking with plenty of restaurants nearby

David Turnbull

Great venue for a show.

Megan Stewart

Best show we have seen in a long time! Sound was wonderful, better than snhu arena

Scott Buchert

Great spot to see a band. Saw OAR. Great band. Usually see them at the pavilion but Aura good sound. Not a bad spot in the house.

Caroline Watts

Spent about $60 per general admission ticket for the balcony and COULD NOT SEE ANYTHING. Seats were assigned AND oversold, so you were forced to stand behind groups of people. We were totally unable to view the entire concert- I would NOT pay to go back here.

Donald Hines

Great venue first class all the way

Eva S

At first, I was a little worried because I heard that the venue had no ventilation whatsoever but I need to say that it was much better than I expected and we were not sweating that much, despite being inside for hours. I like the design, the sound is not bad either, but what really bothers me is that the restrooms are kind of outside of the main hall, you need to go through the security again to get inside. What I found really nice was that they let you use the restrooms while waiting outside for the show, that's a big plus.

Christina Klee

Great venue can see concerts from ever seat.

Raymond Goulet

I haven't been up on the balcony, but the floor is way too small. I liked the openness of the old set up a lot more. Maybe I just need to get used to it but after my most recent visit I left disappointed.

Trevor Herring

No bad seats, lots of bars, run well.

Boni Hunter

Awesome place to see a show. The sports bar has great food too.

ronald stevens

Not only was the food delicious but the staff was very welcoming and helpful. This is an excellent venue for shows

Thomas Jalbert

Place is awesome !! Clean Perfect .

Katelyn

It's too bad they don't have more seating. If you're ever looking to go to Aura for an event where you would like to SEE the entire thing I recommend buying seats. GA Balcony & Floor(standing only) was extremely limited for walking room and a little too close for comfort. The bar staff was friendly at first, but didn't care for helping me with direction to where we were supposed to go. With all the seats that were not occupied you'd think they would've let us 'upgrade' our tickets but no, they said we had to start from the beginning and buy new ones...which was very frustrating. But now we know for next time I guess, if we ever go there again. Nice renovations, hopefully they'll work on a customer's experience better..

Kenneth Wagner

Seats are very close to stage. Very clean. Volume seems pretty jacked for size of venue.

Alan Pelletier

Saw Mighty Might Bosstones. House PA sucks. Too small and sweaty. Liked old layout ( Asylum )better.

kim plavnick

The ONLY thing i dislike about this venue is that it's 5 hours from my house!! I would love to attend on a more regular basis. The venue is great, the food is tasty, the drinks are good, the staff is wonderful, and there is an awesome variety of shows! Love Aura!!!

Lori-Ann Townshend

We had a blast. Very nice venue and comfy seats.

Rachel Dunn

Beautiful renovation

David Metzger

Good venue. On the smaller side. Decent drink prices.

Cera Catron

There are many sections to this business, and all of them are great. The sportsbar has great service. They offer a rather large menu, and the food is always really good. The downstairs space is often used for small music events like retro night, or the local goth-alternative event. The remodel looks amazing, and the sound quality was really improved. The concert space is awesome. There are 3 bars, and the balcony area doesn't have a single bad seat. I've already seen a few shows there, and the experience has been great. The only downside is that this is an increasingly popular location, so the wait at the bar keeps getting longer!

Michelle Leighton

This place is sooooooo much nicer than the Asylum (not that the Asylum was bad) Aura is just a REALLY nice venue...I will definitely be seeing more bands here

Shawn Duross

Aura is a beautiful, new, state-of-the-art concert and function venue. The lights and sound are top of the line, and the staff and crew are knowledgeable and friendly.

Bonnie Anderson

My new favorite club for seeing live music. Clean, easy access, easy parking, quick pleasant staff and an incredible close-up intimate experience

Charles B. Hamlyn

This place is simply amazing! Not a bad seat in the house. It's got all the grandeur of a theater but compacted into a close intimacy with the performer(s) on stage. The decor is very modern, the flow is great, easy in, easy out. If you ever get a chance to see a show here, jump on it! I'll definitely be back!

Bill B

Possibly the best small venue in Portland. Great sound, not a bad seat in the house.

drew coombs

The place itself was cool, reasonable bar and an intimate venue, but the sound was way off. I am sure it was more the act's fault but it was so loud I was made disoriented, almost sick, totally willing to give it another shot though.

Brianna Jaro

Blown away. Such a wonderfully intimate venue. Not to mention an incredible 2017 band line-up, considering how much accessibility the space offers. I think it's awesome. An impressive, nuanced addition for Portland. 5 stars to boot!

Dana F

Really nice indoor concert venue

Paul Bradbury

Nice venue to see live musical performances where every seat has a clear and close view of the stage. Seats are vertically aligned around stage to give optimal sight lines.

Cheryl Hoover

Amazing venue! Marc Cohn concert was fabulous!

Stuart McDonald

Newly renovated, great sound, lights, seating, and bar; this place is awesome

Kimberly Fournier

LOVED IT !One of the best venues! No comparison to the old club. Good service and good time.

Walter Jackson

Wyclef live! Absolute fire!!

Samantha Caldwell

Big place with good shows! Pricey drinks though

Steven McCormack

Unbelievable

Daniel Moler

Surprisingly good lunch. Very affordable. Diamond in the rough. Don't let the renovations fool you.

Diane Leavitt

saw Gary Gulman last night (4/4/19)... great venue, great show.

Kim Fowler

General admission venue was terrible especially since we were at the meet and greet and there was absolutely no place for us to get in afterward, so we were unable to really see the show(we did our by the bar just to get a glimpse of the performer). The venue was over sold and there were not enough places for those that had paid decent money for tickets (over $50/standing spot). Can't believe the City of allow this many people in a venue even if you could see. I will not go back for GA ever again!

Ivan Marrinson

Does booking with a known domestic abuser as far as I know. Not gonna give them any of my money. Maybe if they stop doing business with waterfront concerts.