The DCU Center is a great place to see a show. I recently attended the 2013 American Cup Gymnastics show. Our seats were in the upper level and I thought that the views would be horrible but they were actually great. Even better, they let us move down to the 100 section because they needed seats filled - fine with me! Nice staff too. Read more about my experience on my travel blog site
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Its great to have a large concert venue in Worcester and I've been lucky to see many great performers there. The venue isn't perfect.. It could be a bit more modern and upscale inside and the bathroom lines are always horrendous. Â
I would be more of a supporter of the DCU, but the fact that they host the Ringling Circus events which are known for their cruelty to animals makes me reconsider.
Good luck if you're a guy at a crowded concert and you have to pee at this venue. Worst bathroom lines in New Enlgand. Â
Decent sound, ok seating. I've gotten vertigo up in the 300s over a railing. The only redeeming feature is that almost every interaction with staff was friendly and helpful.
The DCU Center is a decent venue. . . I have only ever been here for concerts but when I travel out, it is usually worth my time.
The large venue has several entrances and while this may divide up large crowds and get people in faster, it has many drawbacks as well. Â For instance, I had assigned seating for night 1 and general admission for night 2 of a recent Phish show and had some difficulty figuring out what doors I was allowed to enter. Â After waiting in line, you'd find out you were required to enter a different set of doors, only to have to wait in line again. Â Wish the entrances were labelled better or more staff directing people to the correct doors. Â
After making your way through ticketing and pat downs, patrons are bombarded with dimly lit hallways circling the inner stadium. Â Over-priced food/beer stations, poorly designed bathrooms (with entrances on both sides so people have to fight over whose turn it is to enter), and space for band merchandise line the halls as people penguin walk through the small space to get to their destination. Â The arena is large but at the same time intimate. Â I've had tickets all over the arena and the only time I was really unhappy was up in the rafters in the 300's level seating. Â Otherwise, you generally have a decent view of the stage. Â General admission was bearable as well, the floor is lined with metal railings for people to lean on. . . great for people like me who easily tire while standing up for an entire show.
The acoustics here are pretty good, gets a little echo-y towards the back and muted up high. Â Seating is comfortable, cup holders present. Â I'm sure I will be back again when entertaining bands make their appearance. Â Never experienced non-musical events here but would be open to attending them at this location. Â Parking is a nightmare in downtown, avoid it if you can!!!
Saw Cirque du Soleil here...Extremely dissapointed. Sat basically back stage, could not see the performance, the TV screens, or anything more than 5 feet above the stage because the poorly designed upper deck blocks your view. The tickets were called 'obstructed view' but there was NO VIEW. It is disgusting that they would sell tickets in these areas. If you actually want to SEE the show, you need to pay at least $118/ticket. Very dissapointed, and will not return.
Review Source:This has to be the worst venue to see a concert in all of southern New England. Â I saw a concert there last night. Â Great show, but here are just a few of the "issues" I had with DCU:
- Bathrooms...Men's and Ladies are both equally bad.  Not enough of them, at least a 10 minute line for the MEN'S room and longer for ladies,  only 2 urinals in the men's room and 5 stalls in the ladies room.  Note to  DCU management:  If you are running an ARENA, you need to be able to accommodate arena-sized crowds.
- Staff: semi- incompetent and  slow, in no hurry to move people through the turnstiles, or move them quickly through the concession lines.  Little to no crowd control throughout the arena.
- Concessions: Expensive yes, but that's to be expected. Â I made two visits to the concession stand. Â First visit: Â the worker screwed up the register and it took several minutes for her to stop flailing over it, find a manager, get it voided, and get the line moving again. Â Then I asked for a beer. Â She said "they are warm, is that ok?" Â Sure, give me a warm beer....That was better than the 2nd visit to the stand, when I asked for another beer and she said "we're out of beer but are expecting a delivery soon." Â Are you kidding me?
Great show, but Mickey Mouse facilities, staffing, flow control, concessions, etc.
I've been to the DCU center twice and for two very different events. I think depending on what they are hosting they could be a perfect venue, or a ridiculous venue... as unfortunately I experienced both.
The first time I ever ventured to here, it was for PBR (i.e. Professional Bull Riding Worcester Classic). Â It was perfect! The floor of the DCU center was covered with hay, there were rodeo clowns, bucking broncos, cowboy hats, chaps, and I drank a lot of cheep beer like Coors and had a great time. It was total immersion into the culture, and what better venue? When you stepped outside the seating area and out to where the food and drink vendors were, you were surrounded by people wearing cowboy hats and giant shiny belt buckles, walking the cemented floors and buying YUCKY hot dogs and GROSS nachos at premium prices. It all fit!
Now, the next time I went was very recently for Cirque du Soleil Dralion. It was not the right atmosphere for such an elegant (minus the weirdo clowns) and stunning show. There were peanut vendors walking the seating area screaming "Peea-nuuuuuuuuuuuughts! Get'cho peeeea-nuuuuuuughts he'ya!" There was nasty hot dogs and nachos and popcorn outside. Cheap bad wine and cheap beer were also being sold at high prices. It just didn't fit. Food at DCU is over-priced and over-gross, and it is only very very noticeable at a show like Dralion. I think if you were here for a concert or monster trucks or something, you could deal with being surrounded by people eating processed cheese on greasy stale tortilla chips and not have it bother you.
Also there were employees of the DCU center screaming at the crowds and in an uncouth manner. "This section's closed!" obnoxious and rude just doesn't work when you pay cirque du soleil prices! You expect the employees and ushers to be somewhat polite?
I combine the 5 star and 1 star experience here in this review. A very large venue for all kinds of shows, but for some it doesn't seem to work.
So I came here to represent the ship during yet another Boy Scout convention/event. Yeah yeah, I know what you're thinking...but sadly, this is what I do!
Our adventure started when we entered the required parking garage, and the man at the entrance asked if we were there to see Sesame Street. Now, I'm 23 and J is 31. There were no children in the car, so we were a bit confused at the question. We answered no, but the guy seemed all about the Sesame Street thing. We told him we were there for the boy scout thing to no avail.
Anyway. We finally found our way in to the convention portion of the place, and promptly found our area. I'll leave the rest of the boy scout event at that, so as to avoid boring you all :)
Complaints?
First, the area was pretty cold. Since I was nowhere near a door, I was a bit confused..until I realized they had all their fans on. At top speed. On a freezing January day. Yeah, I didn't get it either.
Later on that day, the power went out. When we located a DCU staff member, he told us it was being "worked on" and that the generators should kick in shortly. 45 minutes later, we were still without power and were essentially sitting in the dark. Not cool.
It is a big space though, and they handled set up of the area quite nicely.
The DCU Center...I saw Bob Segar there in 87, and Peter Gabriel in his Secret World tour 10 or so years ago...Quick question for these major acts
Did you know Boston was 45 minutes due East..No backrows or moats to cross..Just take the Pike
I am not ethnocentric, but there really is not much around this place. Â I like Hampton Inn and Woosta Pizza as much as the next guy, but perhaps a better venue might add to the fan experience
These people are just plain disorganized. Â The lines seem endless and at the same time inexplicable...Whe I pass from this world and enter hell, I think I will end up waiting for a beer at The DCU as eternal punishment
Then again, The Almighty cant be that cruel
Before I go, this incident still cracks me up...I was waiting in the beer line, and it seemed like it mushroomed into two separate parts. Â Both parts waited equal time, when this new "customer service agent" apparently decides our segment was not the real line
When our team protested, she launched into a tirade Fbombs and all..I have never seen anything like this in my life. Â She threatened us with Fn security, and reminded us we were not going to have any fn beer. Â She even told us to f ourselves for good measure
Hey I saved $10 fn dollars
It was so laughingly horrendous service that I feel The DCU should have another star for being so memorable
Last weekend = weekend in Bahston (that's how they say it).
Last weekend = Nickelback concert (don't judge).
Last weekend = rocking all night long (blisters on my feet, ringing in my ears).
2nd stop -- DCU Center
Venue:
As a trade show location, it's on the small side. Although bonus points for making me smile at the standard purple and white drapes of the booths being set up.
As a concert location, it's not huge, but not too small to feel crowded. It's a typical 3-tier, floor, mezzanine, upper, layout. The flow for the building is nice, and with multiple entrances, our floor tickets got us in quick. Downside: we had floor GA, and I'm short, even in heels. Upside: we claimed some seats near the stage and no one came with tickets. Score!
Acoustically, it's not the best. There's reverb and dullness, and there were was a quick dissipation of sound. That said, we were sitting close enough to hear it and hear them well. I had an awesome time, and our seats were fantastic. I liked this venue a lot, and if I have the option of seeing another concert here or at MSG, I'm definitely heading back north. Even if the usher popped the beach ball and was an asshole.
Food:
I didn't have any food at the venue, but I'll tell you this: Damn expensive. $6.50 for a beer?!? This isn't NYC, anything more than 5 would be excessive here. Food looked a little more reasonably priced, but I'd still eat before you go.
No, nuh uh, not good! Â I hate this place! Â Can we talk about how the line for the ladies room is at least 30 minutes long before any show and up to 45 minutes during any breaks? Â And why do they let people line up at both the entrance and the exit? Â Two long lines of people to fight over 3 or 4 stalls? Â It's absolute madness! Â I will try my hardest to NEVER come here again!
Review Source:I am a fan of the DCU Center. It has actually booked shows that I have really enjoyed. It is also walking distance to Viva Bene where I can get a couple of drinks preshow when the opening band is not someone I care to see.
Bathrooms -- Clean in the beginning but always lacking in tp when I hit them that last time before we leave.
Floors -- actually tidy -- quick response to cleaning up whatever bodily fluids may make for a slippery walk -- kudos
Vendors -- Polite and yet effing expensive! Would I pay $35 for a NIN shirt at Newbury Comics? Hell no! but for some reason after Viva Bene it seems reasonable.
Floor staff -- So polite and helpful. I swear it was someones Mom that helped me into the pit Sunday night. How sweet!
Lastly it is only a $12 cab ride (one way) from my house to DCU.
I love our local sports arena slash concert location.
I ended up here for a Foo Fighters concert which was opened by Serj Tankian's solo act (former singer of System of a Down). I had never been to Worcester let alone the DCU center and after a long, annoying commute my friend and I arrived there and walked over to the DCU. It was actually not as bad as it looked from pictures. The place is in good condition and is a sports arena which is a very suitable arena for concerts as well. The acoustics were fine and we all had a blast.
The place was nice and spacious and there was no bad seat in the house because the band had 2 stages they could play on and switch from. The security was good and the beer was cold. The only thing is that it's far from Boston and from what I've heard, parking there can be painful unless your a very patient person.
It's the Centrum. Always was, always will be. Â
I graduated here, 'nuff said. Ok, so it was in a little knockoff room to the side, but still!
When I was a kid I used to go to the Home Show with my parents. Â Good times. Â And when the Worcester Sharks were still the Ice Cats. Â The Ice Cats were so much cooler.
They also have concerts, and Rodeo's and Monster Truck Shows.
Good ol' Worcester Centrum Center.
For some odd reason, we ended up going to watch a Worcester Sharks game at the DCU center this weekend. Actually, the odd reason was that it was bobble head night and our goal was to get at least one. Â However, who knew that over 3,000 people would be at the game?
Anyways, the Center is nice and spacious and they gave me a student discount with no problem so we got wicked cheap seats. I would suggest that if you go for a game, sit on the long sides, rather than the middle. They got the t-shirts, chance to drive a tricycle on the ice, and the blimp dropping $100 coupons for food above them.
The bathrooms seem to be older than the rest of the building, which is odd. A lot of the doors didn't close properly.
At the end of the night, I spied a box in one of the rows and grabbed it. Finally, I have a bobble head...even if his neck is broken.
If I could, I would give this place 3.6 stars. I'm still torn between whether that means it should be rounded up to 4, or downsized to 3.
In any case, I had an excellent time when I saw the A Perfect Circle concert here. The band was fantastic live, the stage effects were really great, and the acoustics were really quite good. The crowd was fun, and while I have seen better seating/pit areas in other spaces, it definitely wasn't bad at all.
Overall, all this would have made me give the place 4 stars, but the fact that the staff was so horrible about me keeping my bag at the entrance leaves me no choice but to knock off at least another half-star. Yes, I know that it's their job and that many venues hosting such events have to enforce the dreaded "no bag" policy, but honestly when are they going to just suck it up and realize females especially usually come with a bag in tow?
They can check it all they want for whatever they might fear inside it, but don't stop me taking it inside just because I'd rather have an external bag and not some sort of fanny pack strapped to my body! Not only do we have girly needs to take with us, but female clothing isn't always so friendly towards shoving wallets, keys, phones and whatnot into pockets etc. I can't blame this establishment for this too badly since they're not the only ones who do this and it's (sadly) a relatively normal thing in larger music venues, but it's still a royal pain.
In any case, I was still able to really enjoy the concert.. only after:
I was turned away for my bag, my pleas of  "I came on the train from over 1hr away, where the bloody hell am I going to keep my bag then?" were turned down and me being told to either throw it away or shove it in a bush somewhere... and then my friend's far-fetched idea actually worked, and we went back to the train station (which was open late enough, thankfully), made friends with the night security guard at the station and begged him to kindly let me keep my bag in his office for the duration of the concert. I grabbed my essentials, hoped he was for real, and was so happy when the concert ended and the supernice guy had kept it safely for me, and I could pick it up from him at the station before my friend drove me home.
I know that was a run-on, breathless sentence but that's pretty much how I felt after all the psychotic running around in Worcester re: the bag situation before that concert. Thankfully, I was only breathless afterwards because the concert was so good.
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