Hollywood Casino Amphitheater — Attraction in Maryland Heights

This was my first and only time that I've been there so far. I have a cousin whom lives near St Louis, MO, and joined us for the concert. She explained that it was an "outdoor" venue, which for a Janet Jackson concert on 06/21/24, I was a bit skeptical about the conditions of sitting at an outdoor seat. But, we really lucked out, nicely in fact! We had good enough seats, that we were under a roof, with a few large ceiling type fans. But, even before leaving my house, I had noticed that the weather was actually kind of nice. And St Louis, is just a little bit over 2 hours North, from where I live. I had never been to this place before, and I definitely didn't consider in the time that it would take, from about a quarter (or maybe a bit more) of a mile to the exit for the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater. Time wise, we would had been on-time, as Nelly opened for Janet, and I totally admit, I was looking forward to seeing him too! BUT, the traffic was worse than a rush hour. Nelly took stage at 7pm, and we were in the parking lot, I rolled my window down, and at least heard a couple numbers that he performed. But, by the time that we finally got parked, and then walked over a quarter mile to the entry gates (Mom is disabled, and her legs and ankles makes it difficult for her to walk far. At least, after got through the main gates, there was a shuttle to help handicap people, get to the seating area. But, arriving there too much longer that I (and many others) thought we would. Getting parked took way longer than we expected, and then the voyage from your vehicle to the main gate, and then waiting with Mom for a shuttle. At the time that we finally got to the seating area, Nelly had already left the stage, and all that was left of him, was his crew removing all of his own equipment. But, we were there for almost all of Janet's performance. And, I LOVED IT, ALL! But admittedly, I kind of cheated, somebody else had recorded the whole concert, and has it on YouTube. I didn't ruin anything, but my cousin had to leave a little early, because her husband had to be in early the next morning. And mom is usually ready to leave before the end of a concert, just to avoid the heavier traffic. And, skimming through the recorded concert, I knew Janet would perform about half of the song "SCReAM" with Michael on the screens! And that was awesome! She had sung one of his numbers earlier in the show, "Heal the World", which was fantastic, especially given what we're facing as a (possibility) this election year! But, I wish that she would had sung one of her newer singles that I really like, that was released in 2018 or 2019, called "Made for Now". I would had also loved to hear another or couple more of Michael's songs. I can hear her singing "Beat It" and/or even "Thriller"! I had read somewhere before, that some (if not all of his siblings, were some of the backup dancing zombies). Of course, her rendition of the song, would had been different that his, in many ways. But, at the same time, she WOULD had ROCKED it! It was a concert of her "Together Again" Tour. After the "Scream" number, we started out on the journey back to the vehicle. And as we got closer to the gate, I heard her sing the great song, "Together Again". I love the song because it can apply to a person that you love, or a loved one that has moved on already. And she was so appreciative of all of us there to see her! At least twice, that I heard, she just was overjoyed with emotion and said, "God, I love you all so much!" Truly genuine and (as all STARS and celebs should do) LOVES and LIVES for ALL her fans. And even though we left out about 6 minutes before the show was over, several others were leaving too. So getting out of there, took a little while too. I really wanted to see the Hollywood Casino itself, but there wasn't a shuttle, Mom had an hard enough time with all the walking, and it was late by then. Maybe another or next time! The Casino has on the website as a recommendation, to arrive to the venue about 45 to 30 minutes early. But, the traffic...

I give Hollywood Casino 1 Star for their "less than attentive" attitude towards Handicap accessible parking and services. I was a season lawn pass holder this past year. Each time we went to a concert there were no Handicap spaces available to park in, nor were the "parking attendants" reasonable when we asked if we could drive up and down the first few rows to see if there were any spaces open. Sometimes we had to drive down to where they "wanted" us to park and then make our way back up to the front only to find that there were sometimes open spaces for Handicap parking! We also found that there were many, and when I say many, I mean many vehicles parked in the Handicap spaces that had no placards or plates! This angered me to the point that I finally was able to find a manager to speak to about this. She explained that the "venue" would not allow her to paint the Handicap symbol on the spaces unless they put up the bollard signs as well. As far as the illegal parkers she stated that her attendants need to do a better job. I asked why I could not park in the Handicap space in the employee lot because they were open or in the VIP lot. She said she had to keep the VIP lot open to season ticket holders. Hogwash!!! I've been to almost all the concerts this past year and that lot is never full. As far as the employee lot? No answer. Tell me why do employees need to park up close to the venue? It is just like when you work at any retailer, the employees get the back of the parking lot! So if you are an employee of Hollywood Casino, you get PRIME parking!? There was another time that we went to the front for Handicap parking only to find there was a "camper" parked sideways along the side of the lot, that took up about 8 spaces! Now tell me who were they? I was told that if I had to park far away, to call the ticket office for a golf cart attendant to be sent to me for a ride. Are you kidding me? We've seen them driving around "empty", no passengers! I took that opportunity 1 time and that was all it took. While we stood there and waited at least 10-15 mins for a ride, while the concert began!

I then tried to purchase snacks and drinks at the concession stand, where they handed me my 2 drinks, 2 pretzels and 2 cheese cups like I was supposed to pick them up and go. I laughed at them. "Yes, I'll carry these 6 things in one hand, while I use my cane in the other". I asked if I could have a popcorn bag, anything to put the pretzels and cheese in and was told no, you have to buy the popcorn for us to give you the bag. I grew angrier by the minute. I said to her, Are you kidding me, you have absolutely nothing to help me carry these items? A soda box ? something? She finally said, wait a minute. Disappeared for about 5-10 mins and returned with a soda box so that I was able to carry my items while using my cane. I apologized to the people behind me and they stood there in shock as well, to see their total disregard for accessibility.

The next time I returned to Hollywood, they had an area next to the stand with empty boxes to carry your food. I didn't buy anything, but I wonder, how do they think the Handicap are going to carry their items to that area to get a box?

As far as the parking goes. Hollywood, you need a major OVERHAUL. You need to rethink your employee parking lot and VIP parking. Spend the extra money to put in the Handicap bollards, signs and paint the spaces and have the attendants, that do absolutely nothing by swinging their flag, and move them to the handicap area to enforce the parking rules. Create more spaces for us and start having your employee park in the rear of the parking lots!

It's such a shame because I love going to the concerts. The only place to enjoy music while sitting under the stars only to be spoiled by the experience of getting...

I hesitate to even leave this review. This amphitheater has been here since 1991, and the same issues they had then, they still have today. It's clear at this point that they either don't care because they know they have a captive audience that will continue to see shows there; or, they just have no ability to actually solve any of the issues.

Honestly, after all these years, I've just resigned myself to the fact that there will always be a problem here. And, no, it's not just the nature of the beast. I never have these issues at Enterprise, The Muny, The Fox, or The Stiefel. All these other venues somehow manage to get it right, why can't the amphitheater?

Yes, prices are high, but truthfully, I don't even care so much about that. THAT actually just is the nature of the beast. It's not a secret that concert venues and amusement parks charge crazy prices for concessions, lawn chairs, water, etc. Nobody is forced to go to a concert, or to buy anything at the venue. They charge what they charge because they know people will pay for it. I'm not going to fault them for that.

What I will fault them for is the completely disorganized security processes, poor line management, parking lot nightmares, inconsistent lawn chair rental and pickup policies, rude security employees, and a shuttle system that is a complete and total cluster; not just an inconvenience, but a genuine safety issue.

The shuttle exit system after the Rod Stewart concert was ridiculous and dangerous. Multiple people were getting sick from the heat, trying to get out of line, deciding to just walk back to the casino, and having no idea what to do as we were all just pushed onto a small yard area, against a wall with NO direction from security. People, with no idea what to do, were yelling at each other and nearly getting into fights. It was literally the kind of set up you see on a Dateline investigation. It's just a mystery to me why a PERMANANENT venue would not install some sort of line management system. Having a short, rude, security woman finally decide, after nearly an hour of total chaos, that she needed to walk through the crowd yelling at people to "MAKE TWO LINES" while she got bossy with her flashlight is NOT a good solution. Madame, if you had done YOUR job in the beginning, instead of standing around watching the mess unfold, then this wouldn't be a problem! The real, almost comical insult was, after the complete security failure, amphitheater employees came by and tried to sell the tired, agitated people in line water. It didn't go well.

Maybe, someday, this venue will hire a competent manager; though after 30 plus years, I'm not holding my breath. On a positive note, I did, after my two hour wait for the shuttle, win $9.00 when I was finally taken back to the casino. So, I guess...