What Is It Like to See a Concert at Target Center?
The downtown Minneapolis arena where you can park, ride the skyway, and reach your seat without stepping outside in January, set one block from the First Avenue club that built Prince's legend.
What to Know Before You Go
- 1The main gate is up on the skyway level, not the street.
First-timers walk up to the 1st Avenue doors expecting the main entrance and end up backtracking. Follow signs to the Main Skyway entrance.
- 2Floor tickets use a different door.
If you have a GA floor or reserved floor ticket, you enter through the street-level Life Time Lobby on 1st Avenue, not the skyway gate. Plan your arrival around that door if you want a good rail spot.
- 3Park the ABC ramps to stay warm, but know the trade.
Ramps A, B, and C sit across the street and connect by skyway, so you never go outside. They also empty slowly after a show. A ramp two or three blocks out gets you onto the road faster.
- 4Book parking ahead on SpotHero.
Target Center points fans to SpotHero, where rates can run up to 50 percent off the drive-up price. Downtown has roughly 38 ramps and lots, so you have options.
- 5Bags must be tiny: 5 by 9 inches, and there is no bag check.
This is stricter than most arenas. Anything bigger gets turned away at the door with no storage, so it has to go back to your vehicle.
- 6Everything inside is cashless, even the box office.
Concessions, merch, and tickets take cards and mobile pay. The box office itself takes cards only, not Apple or Google Pay and not cash.
- 7There is no re-entry.
Once you leave the building you cannot get back in for any reason. Combined with the bag rule, plan what you carry before you walk in.
- 8Eat local at the stands.
Skip generic arena food for the totchos (tater-tot nachos) or a Lord Fletcher's walleye sandwich, and hit the beer garden for Surly, Summit, or Lift Bridge.
- 9Avoid Section 228 for concerts.
It is angled for basketball and sits off to the side for an end-stage show. If you are stuck there, only rows A through H are worth keeping.
- 10Take the light rail in winter.
Both the Blue and Green lines stop at Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue, a short walk, and the arena's skyway link means you can stay indoors most of the way.
At a Glance
- Capacity
- 18,978
- Venue Type
- Arena
- Year Opened
- 1990
- Seating
- Reserved + GA Floor
- Cashless
- Yes
- Cell Service
- Workable in the bowl, variable on upper concourse
- Climate
- Indoor, climate controlled
- Parking
- ABC ramps + downtown ramps ($9-25)
- Transit
- METRO Blue/Green Line, Warehouse District/Hennepin Ave
What It's Actually Like
The Walk In Is the Whole Point in Winter
The thing that sets a Target Center show apart from a generic arena night is the approach. Because the ABC ramps and several downtown hotels connect to the arena by skyway, you can go from your car seat to your concert seat without ever opening your coat. For a January show in Minneapolis, that is not a small thing. The main gate is actually on the skyway level, which is the detail that trips up everyone on their first visit, because they walk up to the 1st Avenue street doors and find the wrong entrance.
The Sound Depends on Your Act and Your Seat
Be honest with yourself about where you are sitting and what you came to hear. The lower bowl and the front of the 200 level sound clean and full. Fans came out of a 2Cellos show raving about the audio, and walked out of a blink-182 show frustrated that the guitars and vocals came through thin. The recurring complaint is the back of the upper deck, where quieter, more dynamic songs pick up an echo and a slightly hollow quality. A bass-forward pop or hip-hop show holds up fine up high. An acoustic or vocal-driven set is where the echo shows itself.
“Sound quality can be wonky in the upper levels, mainly noticed on quieter songs, with some echoing.”
It Feels Like a Real Downtown Arena
The crowd here skews local and music-literate, which fits a city that takes its own music history seriously. Energy pools on the floor and in the lower bowl. On a half-full night for a softer draw, the upper deck can feel a little removed, because the building is genuinely large and empty seats up top are visible. Staff and security get mostly good marks from concert-goers, with multiple reviewers describing courteous staff and a comfortable room across separate shows.
You Are Standing Inside Prince's Minneapolis
Target Center sits one block from First Avenue, the club where Purple Rain was filmed and where Prince built his myth, and Prince himself played the arena. For local fans, the arena and the surrounding Warehouse District read as one continuous piece of music geography rather than an isolated sports box. You can see a stadium-scale show and then walk to the club that started it all. If you want the small-room companion to this arena, the First Avenue guide covers the venue down the street.
Section-by-Section Guide
Floor / GA
For shows with a general-admission floor, tickets sell as GA Floor or, when there is a barricaded pit up front, GA Pit. GA floor has no seats and no marked standing spots, so position is first-come once doors open. The operational catch that matters most: floor-ticket holders do not use the skyway main gate. You are routed through the street-level Life Time Lobby on 1st Avenue, the floor-only entrance. If a rail spot matters to you, get to that specific door early rather than the skyway. For reserved-seat floor shows, the floor sits within roughly 40 rows of the stage with a straight-on view, and fans report it is easy to find your way around the floor once you are inside.
Lower Bowl (100 Level)
The 100 level is the safest buy for a concert. Sightlines are angled but generally clear, and the center sections look straight down the room toward the stage. Sections 103 through 107 get singled out by fans and seating guides as the balance pick: close enough for proximity, high and centered enough for a full view of the stage and any video wall. If you want front-and-center without paying for the floor, the early lettered rows of 104 to 106 are the target, because they look straight down the room and clear the floor crowd's heads. Be careful with the 100-level ends. The sections beside the stage (the 116 to 126 range and the 106 to 110 corners) can have a sharp side angle, and for some shows the deepest behind-stage 100s are removed or curtained off entirely. Lower-bowl center rows run roughly 1 to 4 and then A onward, so the early lettered rows are the genuine close seats. One value move for an end-stage show: a corner 100 like 109, 110, 112, or 113 often costs less than dead-center and still gives a solid angle.
Upper Bowl (200 Level)
Do not write off the 200 level, but be strategic about exactly where you land. The value play is the front of the 200s, specifically sections 209 to 213 on one side and 229 to 233 on the other, in row A and a few rows back. Those seats sit only about 10 feet above the last row of the lower bowl, so you get a 200-level price with close to a lower-bowl view. The trade-off up high is sound, since the back rows of the upper deck catch that echo on quieter songs, a pattern fans report across multiple shows. A centered 200 like 219 to 223 facing the stage beats a closer-but-angled corner 200 for an end-stage concert. The deep corner 200s nearest the stage are the upper-deck version of the same side-angle problem the 100s have. Row A of a centered low-210s or low-230s section is the single best-value seat in the building.
The section to actively avoid for a concert is 228. It is angled for the basketball court, so at an end-stage show it sits off to one side with a compromised look at the stage. If you somehow end up there, rows A through H are the only ones worth keeping, both for the least-bad angle and for quick access to the upper concourse. The general rule up top: prioritize being low and toward center over being high anywhere.
Club / Premium / Suites
The 2017 renovation added and upgraded the premium spaces, suites, and club lounges. For a concert, premium is worth it mainly if you value indoor club access, shorter concourse lines, and easy in-and-out comfort, rather than a dramatically better stage view. A front-of-100s reserved seat usually beats a club seat for pure sightline, so do not pay the premium expecting to be closer to the stage. Where premium earns its price is the night you do not want to fight the concourse: faster bars, your own restrooms, and a seat you can leave and return to without a scrum. Premium guests can add valet to their tickets, which pairs well with the no-coat-outside skyway logic on a cold night.
Accessibility Seating
Accessible and companion seating is available on multiple levels, and the skyway path from the ABC ramps gives a step-free route from car to concourse, which is one of the better accessible approaches among arenas. Elevators reach the upper concourse for 200-level accessible seats. The one caveat fans raise is post-show elevator congestion, so if you are using the elevators, budget extra time leaving rather than joining the immediate rush out.
Getting There
Driving + Parking
The signature option is the ABC ramps. Ramps A, B, and C, run by the city, sit directly across the street and connect to Target Center by skyway, so you park and walk to your seat without going outside [Official: targetcenter.com Parking, 2026]. Event pricing in the ABC ramps runs roughly $9 to $25 depending on the event, with Ramp C posting event rates around $25 [Official: targetcenter.com / Stadium Parking Guides, 2025-2026]. Ramps A and B both have skyway access to the arena, and Mayo Clinic Square ramp is another skyway-connected option [Official: targetcenter.com, 2026].
Downtown Minneapolis has roughly 38 ramps and lots within walking or short-transit distance, so the money move is to book a slightly farther ramp through SpotHero in advance, where rates can run up to 50 percent off drive-up, then walk or skyway in [Official: targetcenter.com recommends SpotHero; Fan-reported: 2025-2026]. The post-show reality is the real decision point. The ABC ramps empty slowly because everyone leaves at once through the same few exits, so you are trading an easy walk in for a slow crawl out. A cheaper ramp two or three blocks away often gets you onto the road faster after the show [Fan-reported: Reddit and parking guides, 2024-2025]. A modern Midwest comparison: the convenience-versus-egress math here is similar to the attached-ramp trade at Chicago's United Center.
Transit
Both the METRO Blue Line and Green Line light rail serve the Warehouse District/Hennepin Avenue station, a short walk from the arena, and Target Field Station (the northern terminus and transfer hub for both lines) is also close [Official: metrotransit.org, 2026]. Since the arena's main gate is on skyway level and the building is skyway-connected through downtown, the cold-weather plan is to ride the train, enter the skyway, and walk in indoors. After the show, expect a crowded platform as a full arena empties toward the same station, and you may wait through a train cycle or two right after the encore [Fan-reported: Metro Transit and Reddit, 2024-2025].
Rideshare
Designated rideshare zones run along 1st Avenue North and 6th Street near the entrances [Fan-reported: local transport guides, 2024-2025]. Surge is the usual post-show story downtown, with both wait times and prices climbing the moment a show ends [Fan-reported: 2024-2025]. The workaround downtown regulars use is to walk a few blocks away from the immediate arena zone, deeper into downtown or toward the North Loop, before requesting. That drops you out of the densest pickup scrum and often out of the worst surge.
Food, Drink, and Merch
Worth Getting
The food program is a genuine bright spot since Chef Fhima and Levy Restaurants took it over, leaning on local and BIPOC chefs and local sourcing [Official: targetcenter.com concessions, 2025-2026]. Look for the local-restaurant stands: Parlour (the burger that has a real reputation in town), SotaRol (sushi and Asian rice bowls), and Lord Fletcher's (a walleye fish sandwich, a Minnesota staple) [Official: targetcenter.com / Itinerant Fan, 2025-2026]. The signature arena-twist item is the totchos, tater-tot nachos, which fans single out as the move over generic nachos [Fan-reported: Itinerant Fan and Tripadvisor, 2024-2025].
Skip It
Plain bottled water and standard nachos. Water runs about $7, so it is one of the worse values in the building [Fan-reported: Tripadvisor, 2024-2025]. If you are going to spend on concessions, spend it on the local stands, not the generic ones.
The Strategy
The main concourse has both a bar and a beer garden pouring regional craft, with Surly, Summit, and Lift Bridge among the Minnesota breweries on tap, a real step up from generic domestic taps [Official: targetcenter.com / Itinerant Fan, 2025-2026]. Beer runs roughly $9 to $14 [Repeated consensus: Tripadvisor reviews, 2024-2025]. Everything is cashless, so the bar takes cards and mobile pay but no cash [Official: targetcenter.com, 2026]. Have your card or phone ready before you hit a crowded concourse where signal can dip.
Merch
Merch booths sit on the main concourse near the entrances and, like everything else, are cashless [Official: targetcenter.com, 2026]. Lines are worst right at doors and right after the show, so the quieter window is mid-set if you are willing to miss a few songs [Fan-reported: 2024-2025]. Tour-specific items and prices vary by artist; there is no notable venue-branded concert merch line worth a separate trip.
Venue History
Target Center opened in October 1990 at 600 1st Avenue North in the downtown Warehouse District, built at an original cost of around $104 million. Target Corporation, the Minneapolis-based retailer, held naming rights from day one, making it one of the earliest corporate-named arenas in the country. It was built for the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves and later became home to the WNBA's Minnesota Lynx, who won multiple championships in the building. The arena is city-owned and operated by ASM Global.
The defining recent change is the renovation that reopened in October 2017 after a phased project at a cost of roughly $140 million. It added about 10,300 square feet of glass to the exterior, the prominent 1st Avenue glass facade, expanded and brightened the concourses with daylight, installed all-new upholstered seats across the roughly 18,978-seat bowl, added premium and suite spaces, hung a new center scoreboard billed as the largest in the Upper Midwest, and upgraded the sound system. Because of that audio upgrade, fan complaints about sound from before 2017 should be read with caution. The upper-deck echo is the part that persisted, which points at the room's geometry rather than the gear.
Culturally, Target Center sits inside Prince's Minneapolis. It is a block from First Avenue, the club where Purple Rain was filmed, and Prince played the arena himself. For local fans, the arena and the Warehouse District around it read as one continuous music neighborhood, which is part of why the crowd here feels so local and so dialed in.
Frequently Asked Questions
Target Center Links
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This guide is based on fan reports, public records, and community discussion. It is not sponsored by or affiliated with Target Center.