Cactus Theater

Nice venue, good sound, balcony seats are great.. Enjoyed a pomegranate margarita. VIBE Lubbock was on stage....great musicians!

The Doors tribute this past Sunday in a word, spectacular! It was literally like being at an original Doors concert from the 60’s. Jim Morrison’s mannerisms were adopted perfectly from the legend himself. I hope the band is brought back again in the near future.

Last night was the first time for my wife and I to visit the Cactus Theater. We went to see Paul Overstreet talk about the stories behind some of the songs he wrote and sang over his career. Of course he also sang some of them. We really enjoyed the venue. Everyone was nice and the atmosphere was more personal. We have been to shows like this before in casinos and I just didn’t like it because the atmosphere was off. It wasn’t personal or relaxing and enjoyable. We’ll be watching the schedule for more shows like this and we’ll be back.

The Cactus Theatre is a delightful performance venue located in Lubbock’s depot District. The theatre dates to 1939, when it showed movies and had 720 seats. It survived until 1958, when competition from numerous other theatres in town, not to mention drive-in theatres that leveraged the nascent car culture, proved to be too much for the Cactus. According to their website, the theatre featured a “washed-air cooling system,” which we would call air conditioning today. The marque had 750 feet of neon on it. After its closing, the building was stripped inside and out, leaving behind a shell of it former glory. It thus sat empty for many years, until a local businessman and investors bought it in 1993 with plans to bring it back to life. It reopened in 1995 as a concert venue, which it is to this day. The renovation included installing more modern seats (code for wider and more comfortable), reducing seating capacity to 400. I had the pleasure of seeing Jimmie Dale Gilmore (of Flatlanders fame) and West Texas Exiles there on 29th March 2024. It was a great show. The acoustics were spot-on perfect; there’s not a bad seat in the house. It is a great venue for smaller crowds who seek an intimate experience in the performing arts. I’ll be back.

The Cactus Theater hosted the very talented Elvis performer Moses Snow and he definitely ROCKED THE HOUSE!!! My son and I LOVED the show and for his first time at the Cactus Theater he's ready to go back! I very much loved the fact that Moses Snow added local music talent like John Sprott and others.

I LOVE the Cactus theater!! Such a fun, nostalgic venue to catch a show! The seats are comfortable and the sound system is fantastic!

The Cactus is a local Lubbock treasure. We try to catch a show there at least once a month. There's not a bad seat in the house.

Was there to see Lacy J Dalton concert. Cactus Theater is a wonderful and very intimate venue to experience such an amazing show. The staff and attendants were great. Lubbock is very fortunate to have this theater and the incredible shows they host and also movie nights!

We saw some live entertainment. The sound was great, the entainers magical, and don't forgot the popcorn, memorable

Great place to see a show! Place is nice, good sound system, comfortable seats, and restrooms were clean. Can get pretty crowded in the lobby, and parking is a pain, especially if there is another event going on downtown. Great staff, and really enjoyed the show!

The Cactus Theater is so nice I am in a program and we have been performing there and they are really nice enough to let us use it and they hold shows

If I could give 10 stars I would. I bought my sister tickets as a gift. She went with her fiancé who has TBI and needs a little extra help sometimes. The staff went above and beyond to make them feel welcome and comfortable. They had a fantastic time and had a wonderful night out. Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart!

Such a quaint movie theatre! I love the small town feel of the place. The ladies at concessions were so sweet. I was craving a margarita, but being 7 weeks pregnant I could not partake. They mixed a cranberry spritzer for me and threw in a free refill. Their popcorn is super yummy, and of course I had to add the extra butter on top! They had a character photo experience for their feature of the Little Mermaid. It benefitted the Lubbock Aquarium. So we have an awesome souvenir photo op with Ariel and Flounder. Lubbock is pretty awesome!

This is the perfect little home towny theater. This is located in downtown Lubbock on Buddy Holly. They don't have a personal parking lot, but there is enough parking across the street and on the street to not have to worry. I came here for a concert most recently and it was a perfect venue. Their popcorn is fresh and so buttery. They also have beer, wine, and spirits for a low price. I love that our community has a place like this. They are also usually open on the first Friday of every month for first Friday art trail of Lubbock. Great place for events.

Maybe I'm lazy but my favorite thing about this theater is that they have seats. I way prefer to sit down and watch a show then to stand in a crowded open space of people trying to look over heads and not spill drinks and wanting to take my shoes off. There's really not a bad seat in the house either. Meaning that they are both comfortable and all have a great view. I love that they offer popcorn and candy as well as beer, wine, mixed drinks, and sodas. The popcorn I tried was extremely addicting and delightfully buttery. The price for a mixed drink was about five or six dollars depending on whether you wanted well or premium liquor. The concession attendants were extremely friendly and helpful. BeBe had me cracking up. If you are wanting to use the bathroom or grab snacks or a drink during any kind of break in the show you're going to need to rush back to the lobby as soon as possible. It can get pretty crowded with a small lobby and 50% or more of the people attending the show concentrated within it. That's not mentioning the potential for added crowding with merchandise table set up. I've seen both of show put on by the groups of the cactus theater and a show that was independent of the cactus theater groups. Both were great! I have to admit that I wasn't expecting much from the cactus theater groups such as the Cactus Cuties and Holly Avenue, but they knocked my socks off. This is for sure my favorite venue I have ever seen a show at in Lubbock. Although it does have some competition in my book with blue light.

I want to thank Trina at Cactus for contacting me and refunding the purchase price of the tickets for the rescheduled shows.

I took my 27-year-old daughter here for her birthday to see the Glenn Miller Orchestra we had an absolutely fabulous time it was our first time for both of us. What a unique atmosphere intimate venue and wonderful acts that appear there. We have been back a couple of times since and will continue to attend events there

We just saw Charlie Stout and Band of Heathens here and it was such a great show! The music was great and the sound was amazing. We live in Austin so we see our fair share of love music and this stands up to any venue in Austin. The service was amazing. I'll be back every time I'm in town to visit.

Love the new variety of shows and live acts being brought in in recent months. Excited for future concerts!

Amazing talent and beautiful theater. We've been on many occasions and have never seen anything less than awesome performances! A must anytime you're in Lubbock!