The Vanguard

Good venue for live music. The floor is standing room only. There is a mezzanine level with stools and a few tables. We watched the bands from there. Excellent view. There are several places to eat within walking distance and a pay parking lot to the north across the street.

Concert area with a bar. Upstairs has places to lounge and sit. It has a dance floor and a place to sit against the walls if needed.

I came here for a show towards the end of may 2022. It was easy to find. Parking was pretty decent and free which is always cool. The vibe of the place is cool. It was nice that it was all ages but the way had a bar serving drinks (if you had your ID) and soft drinks for under ages. The sound of the concert was great! It wasn't blow your ears out but you still felt rocked. As far as I could tell in the dark, the place was as clean as it could be and there was plenty of trash and the bathroom was easily accessible. Would love to come to another show here.

This venue is essential to Tulsa. It features the intimate concert charm of the Cains or Brady and brings fairly well-known artists like KFlay. I am pretty impressed with the amount of great bands that have been at the Vanguard. Did I mention the tickets are rarely more than $20 each? I hope it continues to be a place where we get to see some amazing artists. They have a bar that seems to carry the standard beers and is able to make most drinks (not Bloody Mary).

I have had the opportunity to visit The Vanguard twice in the last week. I saw Dave Mason and Eli "Paperboy" Reed and they were both great shows. I paid $100 per ticket for Dave Mason and $15 a head for Eli. Big difference bit I'll explain.This place is small and I mean SMALL. Not a bad seat in the house. I know you have heard that before but here its really true. It has a large bar but no servers. If you want a drink you walk up and get it which was OK for these shows since neither one sold out.Dave Mason (member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame) played on a Sunday Night with no opening act. I bought the highest price tickets ($100 each) that were offered mostly because all the other price tickets were posted as General Admission tickets which means you are standing for the entire show. My wife has bad knees and cant stand for too long without her knees hurting and therefore ruining my evening so i bought tickets that said "Reserved Seating" but had no seat numbers printed on the tickets. The door opens at 7pm and the show starts at 8pm. We were able to park right in front on the street since we were having a drink at the Hunt Club next door while waiting for the doors to open. At 7pm, everyone in the Hunt Club got up and went next door to The Vanguard. We were drinking among a bunch of other Dave Mason fans and didn't even know it. We walked down a long hallway finally came to the end where a guy put 2 (not 1) two wrist bands on us. One for the VIP area and one for being over 21. Now comes the weird part. We were told to go up front and look for our names on the backs of the chairs. Sure enough we found our names printed on 8x10 sheets of paper that was taped to the backs of the chairs and sat down. We were in the 4th row which was the last row of seats but was still only about 20' from the stage. The problem is that right behind us was a velvet rope that separated us from the GA section. In other words I could have paid $35 a ticket to stand about 3' farther back to watch the show and save me some cash. And since there was no opening act, the show only lasted about the usual Hour and a Half so we could have stood that long with no problem. Oh well. Live and learn. There is an upstairs area with chairs but I don't think the view of the stage was very good from there. I believe that they charged around $65 per ticket to sit up there. I couldn't believe that the place was not sold out but there had been some confusion with the ticket seller (Ticketfly) and the venue concerning the actual date of the show because Dave had cancelled an earlier show for health reasons and they had two different makeup dates posted. I can't think of any other reason why this little place wouldn't sell out for Dave mason.While standing in line to get in we looked at the schedule and saw that Eli "Paperboy" Reed was going to be their on the following Tues. So we decided to go back.This time there was no one in line to get in so we walked up to the security guy. We paid the $15 a head to get in. This time there were no designated seating. Only a few chairs on the perimeter and an area to dance in front of the stage. There was maybe 10 people in the entire place so we were able to sit down very close to the stage. I noticed that the upstairs area was not even open for this show. The show started with a singer/songwriter singing and playing guitar for about 1/2 hour. Then a quasi rock-a-billy/50's band from New York got up and played. They were pretty good but not exactly my cup of tea. By the time Eli and his band got on stage there was maybe 15 people in the place. I felt bad for the band. It didn't portray Tulsa as the great music city it calls itself. But it was a Tue and there wasn't much advertisement (if any) for the show so? It was so bad that if anyone got up to go to the bathroom or bar, everyone stopped and looked. Between songs it was very quiet. The show was good but would have been much better with a larger, louder crowd. There were no dancers on the dance floor.We were able to park right on the street again but I understand this is rare with the more popular shows. Mixed drinks at the bar run around $6. I'm not sure what beers went for. Obviously there was no waiting for drinks. I'm not sure if the place was decorated or not because it is pretty dark inside. The stage was a good size for this size venue and they had good lighting and sound.I would go back again especially now that I know what to expect.

I only watched a couple episodes of The OC in my teenage angst but being in this venue made me think I could see Seth Cohen walk by.The venue is intimate and in a great location in downtown Tulsa. Parking is tricky but with the Guthrie Green nearby more spots have become available. Upon entering, you walk down a mysterious dark hallway where you do your due diligence and have your ID ready to be checked and parooze the merch tables. The bar is stocked and the bartenders are quite friendly.The venue is two stories. I have never paid the extra money to be a VIP and explore the upstairs but I can certainly vouch for the lower level being awesome. The lighting creates the perfect live music ambiance and the sound is always a great balance of "I can sing to the top of my lungs to this song and not worry about my friend hearing me" and your ears not ringing the next morning.Thanks for bringing fantastic and reasonably priced shows to Tulsa, Vanguard! Now, let's work on Seth Cohen.

Went here for the Genitorturers show 5/17/2014. I like small clubs like this especially when they have bands that not many in Tulsa have heard of. The Genitorturers ALWAYS put on a great show and when you can be right up front to see what's going on it's even better. Drink prices aren't out of line and service was good.

this is a good venue. i went to a couple of shows (well-known & local artists) & the atmosphere is cool. a few drawings surrounding the area and the bartenders stay active. when it comes to the well-known/popular artists, it's best to come early if you want to get real close to the stage b/c the area isn't THAT big, no seating unless you go upstairs to the other floor. also located in a good area, surrounded by other bars and restaurants.

I love going to the Vanguard to see My So Called Band. Although it is not my favorite venue, it is adequate and doubles as a tornado shelter!

I really love this venue. It is much smaller than Cain's, but allows for a more intimate and acoustically pleasing concert experience.When you first walk in, it looks like the space is going to be tiny, but it is very comfortable! There is a VIP area available, but unlike Cain's it is only on one side of the room and doesn't offer a straight-on view of the stage. The bar is very big and they usually have at least two people behind the bar. Drinks are pretty affordable and there usually aren't long lines (I've only ever been to concerts that weren't packed, so there might be lines during the busier shows). I quite like this venue because at all the shows I've been to, the sound quality is excellent. You're actually able to hear the band clearly and I love it! Check out the Vanguard for smaller touring acts as well as local talent!