Everwise Amphitheater at White River State Park — Attraction in Indianapolis

Came here to see Ghost on 8/22. I paid extra for seats instead of the lawn because as previous experience here has taught me, this venue oversells shows so badly that you will be shoved behind the hill at the back of the lawn if you don’t arrive extra early. If you get stuck back there, you can’t see the stage AT ALL, you’re lucky if you can even see the tops of the screens, and the sound is reduced enough that you’ll have trouble hearing what is being said (comedy shows) or played (concerts). This happened to us at the 2022 John Mulaney show, and that was partly because of how long it took for them to seal up our phones at security.

Unfortunately, the extra money I paid for pavilion seats was a complete waste. The sound was absolutely atrocious. Like, literally unbearable. We couldn’t hear a single thing but bass—no singing, no guitar, no keyboard… not even the higher frequency drums. We abandoned our seats after the second song and joined a group of other people standing in front of the steps leading to the lawn. The sound was significantly better here, but still the worst sound I’ve ever heard from Ghost, and I’ve been to 9 of their shows before this one (including one in the front row).

Before long, a staff member approached to tell me we couldn’t stand there. My heart dropped to my stomach. I briefly explained to him that we bought pavilion seats in section 400, but the sound was so horrendous there that we had to leave and didn’t know where else to go. I pulled out my phone to show him my tickets, but he waved his hand and said, “That’s all you needed to say,” and then walked away. I feel so immensely grateful to this man for being so chill and letting us enjoy the rest of the concert there, especially because most of my previous experiences with this venue’s staff have been a total nightmare. I wish I had caught his name, because his actions alone made me consider bumping my rating of this venue up to 2 stars. No staff member bothered us for the rest of the show, which I greatly appreciate.

I will say that the staff in general has VASTLY improved since the Mulaney show last year. That experience definitely warrants a 0 out of 5 stars rating from me and my group. However, every interaction I had with staff last night was very friendly and helpful. The people in charge must have actually listened to the many complaints about staff that I’ve read about up until recently! I hope they keep up the great work, and I’m happy to amend my rating if I have more good experiences at this venue in the future.

If TCU is not actually responsible for the complete failure in sound production, and it’s actually the band’s team that made such questionable decisions, I’ll amend my rating in that case as well. But since Ghost has sounded fantastic every time I’ve seen them before this show, I...

It was a whole ordeal but the concert itself was great!

I came from out of state, having purchased $25 tickets during Live Nation's flash sale. All the pre-show info seemed to be helpful but it wasn't! There was a lot of info offering paid parking options but nothing explicitly stated this was the only way to park (unless you are familiar with the area, I am not). The maps included "Victory Field" as part of the park but I was unaware this was a baseball stadium! And that I should have looked to see if there was a game. There were no signs approaching the venue directing you to any kind of parking or telling you not to try and turn in the lot as it was VIP only! I ended up in the middle of downtown trying to get back to the venue and there was a ton of traffic and pedestrians.

After accepting that I would need to pay an additional $20 to park at the zoo and walk over I thought my experience would be up from there. The walk was easy enough (again, no signs). There was an entrance on this side of the park. Pre-show emails stated there would be water fill stations and misters due to the heat. After providing feedback after the show I was informed there were water "jugs" near all entrances for my convenience but I sure did not see any or see any signs! I knew from the email the filling station was by the bathroom so I was able to find the permanent ones - push button kind and water was warm. (Also, no ventilation in bathroom!) Did not see any misters although I was again informed they were "spread throughout".

There was little advertisement about beverage selection. I later saw someone with a NA beer which was exciting since I had to drive, but could not find where it was available.

The last complaint is that I noticed staff giving away pit tickets, I am guessing to try and fill the pit for appearances. I was walked by twice by one guy and then saw two other pairs of staff passing out more tickets and they also passed me buy. So I was paying attention to who they were giving tickets to and it seemed to be large groups. I felt this was very discriminatory however they were deciding.

The venue and staff were disappointing, especially considering I drove two hours from a different time zone (which I almost forgot). The crowd wasn't really my kind of crowd, no one seemed to want to acknowledge anyone out of their group. The bands were great though!

The walk back to parking was dark and next to a busy road (with a barrier). It...

This venue is a prime example of how an amazing venue can really be held back by the company running the events. The venue itself is beautiful and has tons of space. This seems to be the first year where they are booking some incredible talent as well since the remodel. I never went to the venue before they remodeled it. My biggest complaint is the Live Nation culture that this venue has. They don’t allow many of the things that make an outdoor venue experience more enjoyable. For example, they do not allow for any inflatable items in the venue at all, not even in lawn, including chillbo’s, inflatable couches, even beach balls. Additionally, they do not allow any flow props, even in areas with plenty of space including, poi, hoops, staffs, levi wands, juggling balls. There are even restrictions on camping chairs in lawn, they all have to be low profile stadium seats, I don’t even know a single person who owns a chair like this. I will say that they do provide some low profile chairs at the venue but they do run out if you don’t get one early. I have also noticed that this venue has more employees working shows than many festivals I’ve been to with 5x the attendance. It’s kind of weird to have nearly as many employees as attendees during the opening sets. A single beer or seltzer will run you $20 if you are a decent person and tip. Their bag policy is that if you bring a bag it has to be see through, very annoying because if you are not a regular concert attendee you likely will not have a bag like that around. I understand that Indianapolis is a high crime city in some ways but I think they really go overboard on the rules and it leaves a bad taste in my mouth when I see great artists being booked...