Flint Center

The wife and I were at Flint Center a year and a half ago to watch a performance of Igudesman and Joo (*hilarious* show, check them out on Youtube). Assuming the place hasn’t burned down or otherwise been smashed by a meteorite, this review should still be relevant.
The architecture outside the theatre is a blend of functional and modern. There are some concrete benches in a courtyard in front of the theatre, and in the center is the Sunken Garden, a concrete art display with a pool of water around it. Not deep enough to go swimming in, mind you.
The theatre is laid out well. The ticketing booth is located in the foyer, and bathrooms and entrances to the auditorium are easy to find. Inside the auditorium, multiple entrances and wide side aisles help with traffic flow. Signs overhead direct you to your seating section. Lots of friendly ushers are on site to help, as well.
The architecture in the auditorium is a blend of modern edges and classic arches. Sound carries well through the whole room. Every seat in the house, balcony seats included, is directed at the perfect angle facing the stage. There’s plenty of leg room, and the only thing missing is fancy armrests and reclining seats!
Overall, this is a great theatre to come see a show. This place was obviously designed by competent engineers!

We hosted concert on Friday May 22^nd, this venue has worst management we have come across. Problem in every department, recommend you don’t consider this venue for your entertainment.

I went to Penninsula Symphony concert. It is a relatively big hall.
Not really big, though. Nothing wrong but nothing amazing.

Visited the Flint Center during a school fieldtrip for my son and we had a blast. Their auditorium is huge and they were hosting a lot of other schools so it was packed with kids from all over the Bay Area. The attendants were cordial and helpful in guiding each school in an orderly fashion. The show was great and all the kids had a blast.

Terrible seating layout and ushers that don’t know what they’re doing.
People kept getting up and down, and since the aisles are only on the sides, I kept getting my view blocked.
ushers were watching from empty seats behind me and were talking the entire time. Other ushers kept walking up and down the aisles with their flashlights. And they kept letting people in, even when they were clearly late.
This is definitely the worst theater experience I have ever had.

Nutcracker ballet plus a few concerts over the years… place is still high end even though over 25 years old now!
Most every seat gives great vision and the sound quality is fantastic. All shows lively and vibrant due to the combination of acoustics and coziness. Great high end date like and anniversary kind of thing. The balcony view is really cool. Reminded me of a Bugs Bunny concerto ! LOL. I love the place now for the ages. Will go back and see another show with yet another generation of our family! :)

Went for a comedy show. I think the theatre is well designed as it doesn’t seem there is a bad seat jn the place.
Would go back for another show for sure.

I’ve watched two concerts here, one acrobatic show and most recently the hilarious duo Igudesman and Joo… And now Mazart.
It’s time to give praise where it’s due. This is by no means a fancy theater venue. True– parking here could be a mini nightmare on the way in and a full blown hell hole on the way out. Some people leave a bit early to avoid that pitfall.
The size of this place is perfect for an intimate gathering. A perfect instrument to showcase a genius like Steve Jobs who once used this exact stage to show off his creation.
Most recently we watched a very funny musical genius duo Igudesman and Joo courtesy of Unilocal.Each ticket was $ 75. We each had our own plus ones. Four tickets total. Thanks Unilocal!These two rocked the show. Super funny and very musically talented.
Like what our dear Abby observed this theater has great audio. Clean and sharp and worth the hell you’d experience in driving out of the garage. Comfortable seats and easy access bathrooms. Very helpful ushers and for $ 10 parking it’s a steal! De Anza students are lucky. Although they take only CASH. There’s an ATM by the will call.
The will call window is by the entrance to the right and is very well organized with multiple staff assigned a task. A very short walk to the theater from the parking lot.
Now I’d like to watch more of Igudesman and Joo. The minutes flew by so quickly. Their show is a blend of classical music mixed in with some really funny interactions between the two. They played the piano and violin. Although they sounded much, much bigger than just the two instruments. Hilarious!

Global warming is real. I felt it tonight at the Bill Maher show. I think I lost a pound of sweat sitting there as I squinted to see Bill. I mean come on, with as many donors as you guys have would it kill you to invest in some large screens? I needed those cute little opera spectacles. Actually, that wouldn’t have helped either since the back row isn’t really any higher than the rows in front. Guess I should have paid an extra $ 50 to sit closer… wonder if the air was any thinner near the stage.

It is my first time at the Flint center. Thanks to Unilocal we got tickets to Nutcracker the Terracotta prince.
I’m glad I had the opportunity to experience the nutcracker in a different way instead of going to the ballet again. They show it with acrobatic acts instead of ballet dance. They didn’t demonstrate any new acrobatic, but they were professionals and a lot of fun. Some of the acrobats performed this evening had amazing skills, and were a pleasure to see. the show has good choreography, beautiful and colorful costumes and with the wonderful Nutcracker background music, it was a great evening.
I am very familiar with performing art theaters in San Jose and San Francisco, but somehow never came to a show at the Flint center. To me it was an opportunity to get to know this venue. First impression was that the hall looked different and dated. It is a long, narrow hall and the elevation of the chairs didn’t look steep enough to allow good view from every raw. Since we came half an hour early I had time to try and see the stage view from different spots in the theater. The view of the stage was fine from each angle I tried at any raw.
The acoustic in the theater during the show was okay. They also probably have a new and good sound system. I am not sure how a concert sounds here, but it was just fine for the show we came to see.
The chairs are not the most modern but are comfortable. Also I like that they have many many volunteer docents enthusiastically directing people to their place and answering questions.
The restrooms were clean but outdated. Also there was no soap.
The refreshments stand is outside the building. Very uncomfortable in a cold night. No wine for me in the intermission. They also don’t give the option to pre-​order food and beverages for the intermission. It’s a shame because it saves time and adds to a success of an evening.
Parking cost $ 10 at the lot next to the center. I thought its a bit high, but at least entering and exiting the parking lot was easy and fast.

Watched the Mandarin «Love Changes Everything» charity concert event last night at this theater.
The theater is equipped with line array speakers above the stage.
The line array speakers are sufficient enough to provide audible audio throught the auditorium.
For some reason, the Flint Center also have around 4 to 6 of home theater speakers (link to picture enclosed below), positioned in VIP Row A. These small speakers are within ~1 meter hearing distance to the unfortunate viewers (ie: seats 33 and 35 in our case).
These home theater can make worsen someone’s hearing condition, especially if the sound engineers are not careful with their volume mixing during performance.
I think the Flint Center management need to get rid of these home theater speakers in its entirety, before someone files a lawsuit that they become deaf due to the high decibel level that comes out of these speakers.
I’m not just the only one that’s volume and ear sensitive myself. The other viewers right next us were also covering their ears mostly during the performance.
Here’s a proof the home theater speakers in existence:
In conclusion, this is a total waste of $ 100 per person on the VIP tickets on this theater to us. On the positive side, my contribution is to possibly help solve this problem, by suggesting to have these mediocre and potentially defeaning speakers be removed.

UPDATE: I got a response from the Flint Center and an apology about the ticket. They are rectifying the problem. How cool is that? All it took was an email to the manager. I don’t think these kinds of responses happen often with businesses. Thanks Rhonda!
I would still be cautious next time, and confirm parking, and arrive one hour early.
I gave them two more stars for their effort!
Earlier post:
Parking situation was ridiculous getting into a performance for the Flint Center. We arrived at the campus 30 minutes early, and they had closed out one of the entrances to redirect traffic. Cars were backed up all the way up to the 85 exits, and we just sat and sat to get into the college driveway. We barely made it on time.
We paid $ 10 cash for event parking, and instructed to go into one of the lots. When we got out, everyone in our parking row got $ 45 parking tickets for Staff Parking violation. There is a sign in the lot that says staff parking is only until 7PM. We were there at 8PM. Go figure.
Terrible parking experience… and honestly, I don’t plan on going back only because I don’t know if there are enough spaces available. It was difficult to get the single spot that we did.
If anyone wants to go to Flint Center, be sure to arrive at least 45 minutes early or more in case you have to scrounge for non-​staff parking (competing with students).

Arghs. This theater is a bit small for me for the performance that we had. This place just brings bad memories. Sorry.

Recently had the extreme pleasure to come to Flint Center to see the amazing, endearing & incredible genius — Stephen Hawking & this was a fantastic venue
Large auditorium with similarly large stage. This is a presenter’s nirvana
Sound carries well & there is ample area for a big screen to display movie-​size slides, video or closeup shots of the speaker
Views were only slightly occluded but given the ginormous video screen going on in the background, we were fine
Parking garage right on site but why pay to park when there’s a strip mall directly across the street where you can find a quick bite to eat & park for FREE

We got to see the Peninsula Symphony Orchestra here last night, and had mixed feelings about the Flint Center.
It’s great that they have parking for everyone! Less great that you have to pay for it, even if it’s only $ 5 for the night. I think I’m just spoiled by the omnipresent free parking at Stanford events. We didn’t have a problem getting out after the performance, though, which some people seem to have.
The entrance to the theatre weirdly faces away from the parking structure, so that all you see of the complex is the plain, concrete side of the building.
They do have a refreshments stand, with wine and beer, which is so great and for me, so unexpected at a college event space!
But the part I don’t think I’ll be able to forget is how abominably hot it was for the entire performance. I couldn’t put my program on my lap because it would stick to my bare legs. I didn’t want my fiancé to hold my hand because both of our palms got sweaty immediately. I’m someone who is cold, everywhere, all the time, and I was wearing a very small dress… And all I could think about was how nice frostbite sounded.
I would say I’d remember that for the next time I come, but I don’t know how much less clothing I could wear! Maybe I’d bring some ice packs…

I love working here. Incredible house audio, manual linesets, and customize-​able lighting. We’ve brought in our videowall here as an animated background and IMAG projection screen for a couple of shows along with moving intelligent lights (spots and washes). The Flint Center has a large stage and ample room on stage right and left for the actors/​performers/​dancers/​speakers to standby before and after their scene. They also have a crawlspace on the bottom to run cabling to the front of house or audience seating area. Definitely helped with our IMAG cable running. You can check out some of my work at the Flint Center at
Love the staff. Mike Kelly, the venue manager, is always very helpful to get the show up and running. Michael on the main audio board and John on the lighting console help make the event as smooth as possible. The venue uses IATSE union staff which is usually managed by Conrad. Look forward to working here in the future.

I scored some complimentary tickets to the Taylor Eigisti & Julian Lage show from Unilocal.
This was my first time seeing Taylor and Julian and also my first time going to the Flint Center.
Parking was decently good at the Flint Center. We arrived about 30 mins to show time and traffic wasn’t too bad to get into the parking garage. Parking was $ 5.
The Flint Center itself was just fine. The acoustics inside were surprisingly good and the seating was comfortable with plenty of leg space. The auditorium was big and despite sitting in the way back, we heard the music just fine.
The show itself was entertaining and overall we had a good time.
Thanks Unilocal for the free tickets!

Décor and parking be damned, the sound here is excellent!
If you’ve ever been to a venue that has bad acoustics, it can make your concert-​going experience quite miserable. Especially if you shell out top dollar for tickets and can’t hear what you paid for. Flint Center’s sound is pretty amazing. Both Courtney M (my lovely date) and I noticed this on Saturday night at the Peninsula Symphony show here.
Thanks to Unilocal,a group of Elites received tickets to the Taylor Eigisti show, featuring Julian Lage. It’s gotta be a cold day in hell for me to pass up the opportunity to attend a symphony concert. Little known fact: I played piano for 10+ years growing up. Not that I am in any way to the level of guest performer Taylor Eigsti (that guy is amazeballs!), but just had to throw it in there :)
Courtney and I sat near the back, as we arrived right as the show was starting. I thought for sure that we’d be in for a night of straining our eyes and our ears. Not the case at all! The quality of the sound was right on, not too loud, not too soft and each individual instrument could be heard, but it wasn’t like one stood out amongst the others. Besides the guest pianist or guitarist, of course. Seats were perfectly comfortable, too. Wasn’t really worried about it because the first hour of the concert practically flew by.
Parking for the night was $ 5, which I didn’t think to be unreasonable at all, especially since our tickets were complimentary. And hey, how are they going to maintain the lots, keep them secure as well as make any necessary updates to the campus (including the performance center) if they don’t charge a fee? We left a little early and had no problems getting out of the lot, either.
Overall, it was a perfect Saturday night. Neither Courtney or I had ever been to the Flint Center, but I’d be tickled pink to attend another show here given the opportunity.

I came here last night to see the San Francisco Symphony and had a good time. All the greeters, seaters and ticketers were efficient and very friendly and helpful.
The venue itself is clean, very large and very spacious. I sat at the top (Level 2, Row C) and had a clear view of the stage and heard the music very nicely. However, if I came here for a play or some other type of event, I’d probably recommend sitting a lot closer.
There is an outdoor bar with hard liquor, wine, beer, water and some snacks (cash only). My only big complaint, however, would be that you cannot bring your drinks inside the theater – even bottled water.

Thank you Unilocal for the complimentary tickets! I took my sister to see the Peninsula Symphony’s The 3 B’s with Jon Nakamatsu. This pianist was AMAZING. He made playing such complicated pieces look so easy, he is such a natural.
So let me get started from the beginning. I had never been to DeAnza college before, let alone knew i would be going there for this concert. I wasnt sure which entrance to go into to find parking, so i just randomly found a concert hall which, of course, was the wrong one. so continuing to drive around, i finally find the signs for flint center. parking is $ 5, and of course i never carry cash, so I looked around the area for parking. everywhere says «IMMEDIATE TOW». I ended up just having my sister pay for both our cars to park in the lot :(
We found the concert hall, and at this point we were running extremely late from our parking adventures, but we picked up our tickets at will call and just as we were about to step into the hall, my sister’s phone starts ringing, then 10 seconds later the orchestra starts playing. So we head upstairs to the balcony seats, which are actually quite nice! the acoustics were incredible, the sound felt so wholesome; you could really hear each instrument on its own, and how well it blended with the orchestra. I was quite impressed with this concert hall especially for it being in a college!