Shoreline Amphitheatre — Attraction in Mountain View

Shoreline is great for large musical festivals--they certainly have the space for it--but pretty terrible for everything else.

1. Traffic is always bad--if you aren't getting there two hours early, then expect to wait in bumper-to-bumper traffic for over an hour before finally reaching a parking lot. There's usually plenty of parking. Getting out is also a nightmare--I wasted an hour going in a circle because of the way the traffic cones were set up. If they just let people follow the rules of the road, it would be way easier to exit, but instead they have an army of orange vested traffic people and cones directing visitors into endless circles before finally letting us out. I suspect they do that so VIP parking can get out first, but overall it's an inefficient and frustrating system. I live less than 15 minutes away from this venue, and I would still expect to get home faster from a concert in Oakland or San Francisco than I would from Shoreline. It's not worth it to uber or lyft, you'll get stuck in the same traffic. It may be worth it to park 1-2 miles away and just walk it in. A 30 minute walk is still faster than over an hour of traffic.

2. There is plenty of merch, food, and alcohol vendors here, so that's a bonus to this location. Lots of typical food like pretzels, nachos, fries, pizza, along with some specialty stands, like sushi or tacos. There's always going to be a line for absolutely everything, so I would recommend arriving early for merch. Prices are inflated, theme-park style--if you are an alcohol drinker, I recommend pregaming in the parking lot.

3. My biggest complaint related to food and drinks here is that you can't find coffee, tea, hot chocolate, or other hot beverages, which I think is utterly moronic for an outside amphitheater subject to weather. It get's COLD, especially on the lawn. The day-time is usually fine, but definitely dress with layers in mind. You can bring a small blanket in.

4. Bring your own snacks! Clear quart bags are allowed. Maybe not the family style chip bags, but you can certainly make a sandwich and bring it with you.

5. The venue does not allow you to bring chairs, but you can rent them.

6. Protip: if you arrive early enough, sometimes the venue gives out free tickets for other shows. My brother was one of the first 3k people through the door and got tickets that way.

7. The lawn section is the furthest from the stage. The venue provides screens so you can see the stage better, but sometimes they have weird video filters. Usually not on the headliner, but it's happened enough times for opening bands that it's worth mentioning. I don't know if the filters are at the discretion of the band or the venue staff, but it's pretty distracting to the show. I've attached a pic of the view from the lawn--this was before the headliner, so the venue wasn't as full as it got later on. You can see the rental chairs, too, and how far the stage is. Tickets were super cheap, though, which is a plus--$15-25 for...

Expectations were just not met with the venue. When ordering tickets, it was not clear the length of the concert (was over 5 hours), and websites indicated rows had about 30 seats to a section. Due to accessibility needs of some of our party, we needed the end of a row, which we appeared to get. We also paid for the premiere parking. Upon arrival, the street was coned off with not enough direction to clearly understand what line to be in and no easy way to change if the wrong one was chosen causing delays and frustration. Then, going in things were chaotic, but this is normal. When going to the seats, the signage was hidden and confusing which way to go, and then arriving at them we found the rows were 60 seats to a section and what appeared the en on the site, was the middle.

With no clear direction from the staff or signage, it was not clear what side was best for people to go from, which meant most entered the wrong side. The seats, not made for standard American sizes, so you may not fit, and if you do, you are probably touching a neighbor. The walking space between the rows is too narrow and you best grab your drink if you don't want it to drop or have someone's body rub over it if you have to go to the bathroom and you are not at the end.. the walk is made more complicated by this. Not in the bottoms level and want to see the person on stage, they ban binoculars, the screens they have are not big enough, so you are out of luck if they don't have the camera just right.

So, if you get tired of sitting or being in the sardine space you paid for (or want to be polite and not stand in front of people sitting), you have a place to stand or be for a bit right?? Wrong. No standing spots or places to the side, go out of the arena. But, then they filter the music and you can watch from monitors right.. wrong again. There are no screens up where you clearly hear the music, and down where there are screens (by the exit) they don't play the music on speakers.

Some positives, if you are a designated driver, you can get a free soda (just one it seems, not unlimited like website indicates), and it must be a soda, no juice, tea, or bottled water (no trying to be healthy). There were plenty of bathroom stalls, that even during breaks, the lines went fast, and by looking up at the tod of the stalks you can see what is vacant and occupied. The food and drink options were decent, and prices normal high prices. Because things are cashless onsite, remember to bring a card or cash app.

Leaving, well they open up doors you didn't enter through, and give no direction. While the lot is not huge if you got premier parking, it means those with handicap end up going the wrong way, and it may be in the dark, and after a long time in uncomfortable positions. Once you get to your car, leaving the venue is not too bad, again, needing better signage on how or where to exit...

Forget what I said last year in Vegas; THIS was the best place ever to see my final Warped Show (for starters, it wasn't 110 degrees at 10:00 AM).

The amphitheater itself was sort of a side stage - the bigger names (The Offspring, The Used, Atreyu, Bad Religon, Sum 41, etc.) played a much larger stage set up in the parking lot. Nevertheless I can see how it would be a pretty incredible place to catch more intimate acts. We caught The Dollyrots, Ozomatli, and Meg and Dia from the Shoreline Amphitheatre stage and it was pretty incredible (I'm pretty sure the Dollyrots are why Mr. Marshall built those amps). The lower seated section was surprisingly comfortable but a little lost on Warped acts. Most of us are crowding the stage or chilling out in the general admission grass/sunshine at the top end - two kinds of people, right?!? On the upside, I felt totally comfortable with taking my daughters and grand daughters - something I couldn't have said about some of the previous Warped Tours. My granddaughters met Meg and Dia (fun fact, Matty Best, drummer from Tonight Alive - who didn't play Warped this year - appears to be touring with them this year; tendonitis and all, he dropped a heavy stick for them).

Restrooms were surprisingly spacious, well maintained throughout the weekend, and never seemed to run out of paper towels and soap (big plus in my book). Women's room seemed to backlog. Spent more time than I expected standing watch outside a men's room stall with a broken lock on behalf of my punk sisters. Food and drinks were crazy expensive but that could have more to do with this being the last ever Warped dates than the venue. $20+ for a mixed drink. $9+ for a beer. $6+ for bottled water. I spent nearly $100 on what was essentially chicken nuggets and drinks for six people. Toward the end I have to admit that I felt less like a music fan and more like the transport and delivery system for a debit card. Nevertheless, permanent happy memories were made, hard to put a pricetag on that...

All in all (and Kevin Lyman, if you're reading this) I'd do this all over again tomorrow if given a chance. Also, if there are other acts I have an opportunity for my wife and I to catch at Shoreline, I'm there. Other than the Washington Gorge Amphitheater, it may be the prettiest place I've ever gone deaf and hoarse at the same time. Next time though... Ima bring...