Beaver Dam Amphitheater — Attraction in Beaver Dam

May 3, 2025 - Gene Simmons. My fiancee purchased tickets for us as a Valentine's Day gift. I have been a KISS fan for nearly 50 years. Boy was I excited. We get there 3 hours early to stand in line and secure ourselves a good spot up front on the rail. Wow! There are only 15 people in front of us! Awesome! We will pay our dues, stand in line in the rain and have our spot. Fast forward to about 5:10......the "Blue Shirt" workers start directing fans just showing up to the venue to start a SECOND LINE starting right up front at the locked gate and extending in the opposite direction. So after standing in line for several hours we're watching people line up ahead of us at the gate. I stopped one of the Blue Shirts and said, "What genius thinks this is fair?!" In her most reassuring voice she replied, "Oh you don't understand. It won't matter because when you get in there you will see it's wide open."

HUH!?!?!?!

I asked her, " Have you ever BEEN to a concert!?! Yes! It DOES matter because if all those people who just got here and you lined up right at the gate, get in before me, THEY get the spot I have stood here for hours to get!"

How in the Hell is this fair!?!?!?!!

I understand this is your 11th year putting on events...WOOOHOOO and Congratu-frigging-lations! I have been buying tickets and attending concerts all over this country for 45 years. HUNDREDS OF CONCERTS. I have NEVER seen a more ignorant, moronic, deceptive and unfair treatment of ticket holders in my entire life. Beaver Dam You Have Got To Be Joking! This is the best you can organize!?!? This is what 11 years of experience has taught you!?!? People organizing Little League Soccer events know better than this!! WE DID NOT GET OUR SPOT ON THE RAIL AND WERE STANDING BEHIND PEOPLE ON THE RAIL WHO SHOWED UP MINUTES BEFORE THE GATE OPENED, HOURS AFTER WE HAD STOOD AND ENDURED THE WEATHER. WE WATCHED THEM ON THE RAIL BECAUSE THEY WERE ESCORTED THROUGH THE GATE IN FRONT OF US. While you have a nice facility your piss-poor, INSANE 'logic' about treating people in line will ensure I never spend my money at your Mickey-Mouse ran facility again. Inexperienced soccer mom's know better. You better be thankful it was mostly old folks because a young crowd would have tore that joint apart being shit on like we were. Word like this gets around and people will NOT spend their money at a place with absolutely NO CLUE HOW TO ORGANIZE.

VERY, VERY...

We heard conflicting reviews about this venue going in. Some were saying their security was so slow they missed the opening band while they were being checked and others were saying that they barely had any security at all. Our experience was neither of these.

Security was plentiful and efficient. We got in quickly. The staff was all super friendly and extremely helpful. And the food and drink prices (including alcohol) were all insanely reasonable. They even did half-off sandwiches after the show. We were starving and got 2 hotdogs for 2 dollars, which means they were only 2 dollars each to begin with, and they were some "dam" good hotdogs too.

The acoustics of the venue were superb. We had lawn tickets and all the bands sounded amazing. I was so excited to hear Fastball's "The Way" and my wife was stoked to hear "If You Could Only See" by Tonic.

Now for the reason I'm only giving 4 stars instead of 5. There are two and they aren't too egregious.

First off is their bag policy. It was all over the place. I saw some people with giant clear totes being let in no problem. But others with normal sized clear purses being turned away at the door. I'd be interested in the reasoning behind that. The biggest purse they allowed in was hardly big enough to hold a cell phone. Clear bags are clear bags. As long as you can see through them there shouldn't be any reason to not let them through. My wife doesn't own any clear bags that small so I had to pack all her stuff in my cargo shorts pockets. (Darn women's clothes and their lack of pockets)

Secondly was the smoking/vaping sections. They only had 3 and they were all hell and gone away from where we were sitting. Now I understand they don't want people in the lawn section smoking and leaving their butts all over the ground but vaping does not harm anyone and shouldn't be disallowed anywhere in the venue. But if you are going to disallow vaping in the main parts of the venue, AT LEAST designate more areas that people can get to without having to practically leave the venue or trudge all the way uphill to get to them. One smoking section was perfectly placed for lawn to get to but they had it fenced off where lawn people couldn't even reach it.

Besides that, overall, we had a "dam good time" as they liked to say a lot. We would definitely go back if they get bands we like...

I attended the Fastball, Tonic, Sugar Ray, and Gin Blossoms concert on 9/2/23.

This was my first time at the Amphitheater, and I was pleasantly surprised. Had drove down from an hour away. They had stated on their fb page that their concessions were lower priced. And they are I was very surprised that a bottled water was $2 that is the cheapest ive ever seen at a concert. Sandwiches were priced good as well. A hamburger was $4, porkchop $5 , and a ribeye $6 a hot dog was $2 they also had other foods available as well. Alcohol was decently priced as well some of the cheapest prices I've seen at a concert.

The seating is good. I was located on the lower lawn. They had colored wrist bands to show what area you were to be in. The lower lawn was closer to the stage than what I thought it would be based on the picture of the seating chart on the ticketing website the venue uses. You can also bring in a camping chair, which was also surprising because a lot of venues do not allow that. They are a clear bag venue, which isn't a big deal at all. I have a stadium approved bag. I got off of amazon that I use for every venue I go to that is clear bag.

The venue is not smoke-free but does have designated smoking areas. The bathrooms are clean, and there are plenty of trash cans available for trash. I did see before the concert began 2 young ladies going around with a trash bag on the lawn collecting trash from people. The entire place was very clean, which was nice to see and basically looks brand new. Parking is easy and plenty of it is available. It was easy in and easy out they had people directing traffic.

Definitely will be back, especially with the prices of concessions alone. And ticket prices were...