Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island — Attraction in Chicago

Read Cameron Henkel review and that is basically my reasoning for 1 star. The fact that they started the concert and one of the main acts when 90% of the crowd was outside is ridiculous. I came for CaveTown and Mother Mother but honestly mainly CaveTown. I probably wouldn't have bought the tickets if he wasn't coming to this show. I had been looking forward to this concert for MONTHS and I almost wanted to cry when I heard him start singing when I was still 30 minutes out from the bag check. However, I did cry after being so overwhelmed by one of the most rude staff members I had to interact with. He wasn't even sympathetic at all now looking back at it. No calming words, face, etc. I had my service dog with me and he told me to "find him" then while I'm about to get my bag checked he in a jerky tone asked why I "didn't come find him" even though he disappeared into a messy crowd when I was still in line.... Sir, how was I supposed to know where to find you? It's a mess over here and you just walked away. I was already really anxious bc of the crowd and was already upset that the show had started and I knew my favorite song of CaveTowns was coming up and I wanted to see it live so bad so i was trying to get through security as fast as everyone else. After this man belittled me for not finding him he stops me to write down stuff about my Service Dog. I tried to explain that "I am trying to get in on time to actually see my favorite song-" and he cuts me off mid sentence to say "I'm just trying to do my job" and something about "we have to do this for every service dog." Uh ok???? First off he didn't need to cut me off and second his tone was uncalled for. I broke down crying because unfortunately when I'm overwhelmed that's just what happens and he had absolutely no sympathy. Just kept taking forever to write whatever the hell he had to write down. (The guy who checked my bag was so sweet tho I could tell he felt bad). He could've walked with me to take down my info so I could get there on time but for whatever reason there was this whole array of questions that I've never had to answer. I'm used to the "is that a service dog" and "what tasks does he provide" but he literally made me wait there while he wrote all this down, then also asked for my dogs name, breed, etc and took so long to write it all down and let other people get their bags checked in front of me so I ended up missing the 1 song I wanted to hear after already being so upset I missed half the set of CaveTown. Someone needs to tell that guy to be a bit nicer/understanding, I have a service dog for a reason so being an a-hole to me deff didn't help. I get the guy was trying to "do his job" and that's not what I'm upset about, it's just the way he handled the situation on top of everything else that just made this experience absolutely horrible. This whole venue was ridiculously unorganized and the staff was no help what so ever. That man needs some sympathy lessons too, especially when interacting with a disabled person (my disabilitys are not visual mainly mental thus the unfortunate breakdown). I agree with Sabrina Ashlynn that we should be compensated bc of the disorganization and missing half the show.

When I was leaving the concert a worker I hadn't seen before made a comment saying "oh you're the service dog I was looking for." I didn't respond and kept walking, but uh why was he looking for us? Curious tbh but I was trying to beat the crowd out. I don't understand why it had to be such a big deal to the point of sending someone to track us down after already being admitted...

Also, multiple saff saw me walking in with my SD so I don't understand why I was asked at the last possible second for all the info. Probably would've made the line going a lot faster so people could actually be getting in to see the show they were missing instead of making me wait at the bag check causing me to clog the line asking me all these questions and having a guy write each of the answers down on the back of a random, unprofessional, scratch...

If an artist you like is coming here and want to see them, I recommend you don’t. Wait until they tour elsewhere. We bought VIP parking but it was still confusing, the worker who would lead us to the parking walked away when we got there. We ended up having to loop back. The evacuation due to severe weather was disorganized. There was only one worker at the front of the line leaving everyone in the back clueless. They gave fliers for social media to give alerts but were not updating well. The paper they gave out is outdated, saying to go on twitter, changed a year ago to X. That is how old the evacuation plan is, if not older. They told us to follow the crowd to not get lost. We ended up the wrong way with workers continuing to lead us incorrectly. Workers came up from behind us, passing us to the shelter. There is no shelter put in place at the venue? If something randomly pops up then we are all screwed.Eventually they lead us to a hot garage where everyone was overheating and confused. I saw so many people with braces and casts on their feet and with disabilities. Forcing them to walk miles away. The police were more help in directing when they have no opinion in the plan as far as I am aware. Who knows if they were told that thousands of people had to walk miles away to shelter. I feel bad for the workers as it is clearly the people who are in charge who are at fault for this disaster of an event. It is not because of the size of the venue, I have been to smaller and larger venues who have done way better in management, it is possible. They just don’t care here. Once everyone got out of the garage, the line to get in wrapped around to soilder feild. We were told that doors would open at 6:30 but they didn't open until 15 minutes later. But it did’t start moving until even later. Not to mention the lines were confusing. Workers were trying to get all the people who payed extra to get in early into the venue. Good luck when the line is miles long full of thousands of people who can’t hear over all the chaos. We were all left hungry, thirsty, over-exhausted, dying of heat, confused, and needing to use the bathroom. I saw someone vomit while in line. Talking with others online who got into the venue said people were actually passing out and couldn’t get water from the fountains due to the lines. Instead having to pay $7 in order to not pass out. I felt like my throat was killing me and I didn’t do anything yet. I think I would have thrown up or passed out if I we didn’t bring water. We chose to leave as it was not even worth it to stay. We stayed in line until the opening act finished. A hour after they said doors would open. Still asking for those who paid extra to follow them in. When the line was still miles long with tons of people. Only a little away from solider field’s garage. The line had hardly moved after A HOUR of when they said gates would open, with one act done. The island closes at 11 PM, I learned from others that the sprinklers set off after that time. People missed majority of the concert. I wanted to see and hear them live. If I only wanted to hear them quietly like we did waiting in line, then I would have kept listening on my phone like I had been. As an outdoor venue who gets a ton of artists to come and preform there, you should have a plan on what to do in emergencies and how to help the people who getting sick, injured, disabled, lost, etc. The fact you had none of that speaks volumes about this venue and the lack of care. Other venues have shown examples of how bad weather can get and how dangerous it is when there is no plan. I’ve been this venue to see others and was excited to see the MotherMother x Cavetown tour here too. With the others it had unorganized lines. It is a shame that a pretty venue like Hunting Bank Pavilion is under the poor management that it currently has. With the lack and disregard for safety of the safety that was present tonight. The mismanagement and confusion. Never go to Hunting...

The staff here were incredibly unprofessional. I frequently attend concerts in the Chicago area and have never had issues like I had with the venue... and I will be spreading the word and giving pushback to any artists that choose to perform here. I will never attend a show here again and will be discussing a chargeback with my bank for the locker and bag I was made to purchase for no reason other than a power hungry worker who wanted to share her misery.

This venue has rules about size of bags. Well my fanny pack fit into the outline bag template that they have to dictate what bags are small enough to enter. The lady pulled the straps of my fanny pack out to the sides and said that because the STRAPS of the fanny pack exceed the square outline of the template that my fanny pack was too big. I have a 22 inch waist.. so it's not like the straps were THAT long, but idk why we are even counting the straps?? Are We measuring purse straps too bc if so not a single bag would have been allowed in. So this worker would not let us through without getting a locker for the fanny pack which cost $$ and I had to purchase a clear bag $10 to put mine and my friends things in (debit cards, Ids, phones, etc.). So we do all of this and return to the line only to have the same worker allow people into the festival with clearly bigger fanny packs and bags than mine (and theirs were also not see through). I pointed this out to that lady as she was allowing someone in with a bag twice as big as mine and she did not care. I feel that the workers were given the ability to abuse their authority knowing there's nothing we could do about it if we wanted to get into the venue to see the show that we paid to go to. It's gross and there is a clear lack of oversight by management to ensure that rules are enforced the same way for each and every person at the event.

Also, I don't want to hear fanny packs aren't allowed when there is literally a template of a fanny pack to show how big it can be. I saw so many people be allowed to enter with a fanny pack.

Eta: I have the link for the exact fanny pack I had tried to bring in yesterday and even the dimensions listed by the seller of the fanny pack confirms it is within the 6x9 size limit set by the venue.

I also want to add that my friend had a fanny pack smaller than mine but was told his was too big too.

I will reach out to the artists team to share my experiences with this venue in hopes that they will perform at one of the other venues in the area instead of this...