Empower FCU Amphitheater at Lakeview — Attraction in Town of Geddes

When I learned that James Taylor was doing a show at the Lakeview Amphitheater in Syracuse, I knew that I had to be there. His music has always spoken to me, and considering his age (76), I understood there might not be too many more opportunities to see him live. I was a bit hesitant about returning to the Amp. I hadn’t gone to a show there since Ringo Starr’s concert in June 2016, and remembered what a hassle it was to get in and out of the venue. But my desire to see JT perform overrode any hesitation I had about the venue.

First the good news! I sprung for a seat in the amphitheater and had a ticket for section 104, row N (aisle seat). The seat is tagged PV (partial view), but with a large screen directly in front of the section and a nice side view of the stage, I didn’t really lose much in terms of the view. Acoustically, this venue is excellent. JT’s band was incredible and the sound translated well to the audience. The vocal mix was pretty good, although the band did overtake JT on a couple of the more rowdy numbers. His voice isn’t quite as strong as it once was and more attention should be paid to the mixing. But that could be the responsibility of his techs, not the venue’s so I will let that slide. Bottom line, I thoroughly enjoyed the show once I got to my seat.

Now the bad news. Remembering my experience in 2016, I left home at 5:30 for an 8 p.m. show. I wanted to make sure I could park as close to the entrance as possible. The Amp is five miles from my house and it takes 10 minutes or so to get there depending on the traffic. Getting into the parking lot was pretty easy and I was parked by 6 p.m. Then I waited! People around me were tailgating – or trying to tailgate – as the rain began to fall. By 6:30 it was pouring rain and didn’t appear to be letting up much, so I started out on my trek first through security and then the ticket entrance. Fortunately, I had an umbrella in my truck, which came in quite handy! I took nearly an hour to get through the security tent, then walk who knows how far to the ticket tent. JT’s audience skews toward an older crowd, myself included, and many of us aren’t quite spry enough to stand on line for long periods of time. But it is what it is. Stupidly, I decided to grab a piece of pizza before I sat down, which added another 15 minutes to my standing time. Then I walked another five minutes or so to my seat.

I got to my seat at 8 p.m. and enjoyed every minute of the show, which ended just before 11 p.m. Then I joined the masses for the trek to the parking lot, which took about 15 minutes. Cleverly, I had taken a photo of the nearest parking lot location sign so I had a general idea of where I had parked, but it is confusing when there are dozens of vehicles already in motion towards the exit. I was lucky in that I was parked near a big, white van, which was still there when I got to my spot. Thank you big, white van!!! Once in my truck, I waited patiently about 15 minutes for traffic to ease up a little so I could join the scrum! Once I got into the line of vehicles it only took about five minutes to get to the actual exit and I was home by 11:30.

I woke up this morning aching a bit, but the experience of seeing JT live overrode the pain! Will I attend another show at this venue? I guess it depends on who is headlining. If I do go again, I will definitely remember NOT to bring a bag so I can go through the “No Bags” security check line! I will remember to wear comfortable shoes for walking and not to bother getting anything to eat at the venue prior to the show.

I don’t know what they can do to improve the ingress and egress situation. The parking exit pattern is better than it was in 2016, but I don’t think there’s anything that can be done to ease the pain of walking for miles and miles to get in and out of the venue. One suggestion would be to add more parking lot marker signs. I saw a whole lot of people wandering around aimlessly trying to find their vehicles and the addition of some more frequently placed...

UPDATE:

It's gotten much better. Still two bootlenecks getting in for security and then tickets, but they seem to move faster now. Getting out of the parking lot goes much faster with the addition of the new exit offramp to 690. Sat in seats a few times now, much better view than from the lawn.

From a pure concert perspective, this is a great venue. This was my first time on the lawn, and it sounded great. The house system covers the lawn very well, as good sounding as the artists main PA if not better! The video screens, while they seem under sized for the space, looked good with only a few dead pixels. But the sync was spot on, and the camera work was good too. Vendors of course were ridiculously over charging for everything, but that's to be expected in this day and age.

The show was delayed for severe weather, so we stayed in the parking lot for about an hour before they'd let us in. But we were well informed, and that was handled as best it could. At the end of the night, we made a quick exit after the encore and were on 690 twenty minutes after the last song ended.

That's the good stuff.

The not so good? Getting in the place is a horrorshow. Long, disorganized lines for security, which is a bit of a joke to begin with, had everyone good and frustrated before they even got in the place. And because the doors opened late, I don't think anyone actually saw the opener. I know we didn't, nor did anyone I know who also went. "Security" check complete, we then got to stand in ANOTHER line to show tickets. That is, if the person in front of you could figure out how to keep their phone on and not rotated while scanning (pro tip - leave your finger on the screen, it won't move). Why those stations can't be combined I don't know. Why there is only one route in I also don't get. But honestly, that's the worst thing about the venue. Sort that out and...

This was absolutely the best day of our life!! I am so thankful that we got to come here and experience that outlaw music festival. Seeing everybody seeing Bob Dylan, seeing Willie Nelson, everybody, the red clay strays, hands down, are the absolute best. I'm so thankful that we got to see all these awesome. Great people. I am so thankful we got to see legends. Absolutely, love this place. Perfect for concerts. Absolutely awesome. The seating is great. The lawn is great. Everything is great and you know what else is even better and I couldn't wait to say this part. I've been to a few concerts at a few places. This place is actually extremely cheap for drinks and food. Compared to other places, I have been to I couldn't even believe how cheap it was. Absolutely, awesome, to get a no waiting, no. Waiting at all, everybody was let in so fast. Everybody was professional security was absolutely awesome. Plenty of bathrooms all around the place, you barely have to walk to get to anything that you need. It's pretty big and there's a lot of things to do. There's a lot of vendors. There's a lot of food and drinks, but they have it set up in a way where oh no matter what section you're in or area. Everything you need is right there. Somewhere. It was just absolutely awesome.The outlaw music festival it's gotta be one of the best things that's ever happened to us since the Tom petty 40th anniversary tour!! Very easy to get here, very easy directions, very easy parking. I do recommend getting the premier parking. It's an add on when you come to this place.For an event, but the best part about it is if you get premier parking to come here for an add-on, you're extremely close to walk in. So you could go there hours early and wait right by the gate in your car.This was just the best.This place is awesome.The whole thing was awesome...(rock on...