CMAC — Attraction in Town of Hopewell

I hardly write reviews. When I do it is usually because of the amazing service I received at the place of service. This one is different.

I purchased VIP tickets ($222 tickets each) for a concert that occurred yesterday. It was pouring. My girlfriend and I parked into the premium parking lot confused because there was a sign that said parking was $20 but no one was there to collect any money. Once we pulled in and decided to park and leave our car someone came up to us and asked if we had paid yet. We said no and handed him 20 bucks. Then we asked him where we should head.

He had no idea. Walkie talkie in hand he did not think of asking anyone on the walkie what to do. He then told us to go to the security guard and ask him. We walked through ankle deep water soaking my sneakers to this guard.

We (as well as another group of people) wanted to know where we should head. He told us we had to take a hike through the woods to get to the other side of the concert hall to check in. My girlfriend asked him if he was sure that was the only way to get there and if it was safe to do so especially after it rained so hard with the flooding and he said yes.

Off we go with our new found friends through the woods for a small hike. There were no signs in the woods of where to go and there was strong flowing water in the woods. Mind you my girlfriend was walking through this bare feet. When we encountered our second "River" on our hike we've decided this wasn't safe to cross.

This was when we had enough. My girlfriend yelled "Help!" to a pair of workers driving a caddie. She told them what it was like to walk through the woods and they told us to continue despite the obvious danger. She persisted about the problem and they said fine. They let us walk into the venue for a little bit and allowed us towards the check in. We warned them that it was a dangerous path for people to walk through the woods just to get to check in. Then one of the workers had the audacity to tell us "If someone told you to jump off a bridge would you do it?"

We were infuriated. After asking several workers what up do and where to go we were instructed to go through the woods. Should we have not listened and miss the show? Was that his advice? They could have easily asked each other over the walkies what we could have done. They could have escorted us through the venue which we were not allowed to walk through or told us to drive to the other parking lot which would have cost us $10 instead of $20.

As we were finally walking in to the concert we still saw people walking through the woods. It seems like after telling workers it was not safe they were STILL sending people through there.

Lucky for us the show was amazing.

TLDR: CMAC security is completely incompetent and have no idea how to communicate. The amazing show did not make up for how poorly we were treated.

DO NOT GO HERE FOR ANY SHOW. FIND A DIFFERENT PLACE WITH MORE...

The staff there is always friendly and helpful, I've never had a complaint in that area. The venue is mediocre at best. The food selection at the stands is pretty slim and nothing to write home about (they do something with volunteers for local sports teams where all the parents and friends volunteer but it's more like an upscaled Little League food stand, great cause but have a section for that). The Key Bank Vip tent is great for a place to sit. But eating food left out on a tray that everyone has been picking at isn't the most appetizing to me. The bar at the headliner lounge is disgusting regardless of the staff being fantastic. They used open cans of soda for mixers and they weren't even refrigerated or covered. They back you into a corner with liquor options since it's all constellation brands. Iron smoke isn't my favorite or something I ever order and it'd be nice to have some options. I also got extremely dizzy and nauseous after the show and couldn't help but wonder if it had something to do with open mixers in 80 plus heat.

Then there's the seating, We were in the lower part (row DD on the aisle) of the Mid5 section and our entire show was partially obstructed by the people at the luxury tables. We constantly had these two people's heads and upper bodies in our view and it got kind of obnoxious. Especially when their friends stopped by and blocked the view even more. There's a semi noticable class system with these luxury tables. I heard people in the top row closet to the luxury tables have to ask a table to quiet down because they were disturbing their concert experience. And the staff just lets these people hang out and socialize. Those need to be sunk down a foot and a half or more or just moved so they're segregated. Then those people can act how they want amongst themselves.

Hopefully they can find some money to make some improvements so this is a decent venue someday. I think we're just going out of the area for concerts...

My wife and I attended the Tedeschi Trucks Band's concert back in 2018, and had great seats in the middle section, adjacent to an outer aisle. There were two disturbances that required the security staff to become involved. The first happened directly behind us. It involved a couple who somehow managed to wander in and sat in seats that wasn't theirs. When the legitimate ticket holders arrived, a skirmish between the two guys ensued. The second incident happened directly in front of us, and involved a fight between people who were standing and those whose view they blocked. Someone threw something at the people standing and security eventually arrived. My wife and I ended up watching the majority of the show outside the seating area, even though we paid close to $200 for reserved seats. We couldn't see, because RUDE people danced in front of us for 5 songs straight, as if they if they had purchased general admission tickets. NEWSFLASH: People buy expensive reserved seats because they're UNABLE to stand for the entire show, and just want to see the artist perform UNOBSCURED on stage...NOT on a jumbo TV screen hanging from the ceiling of the venue. CMAC attendants are everywhere, but refuse to address these issues. That's why these incidents occur. People who stand for the entire concert, in a reserved seated area, should be politely asked to sit down. Those who purposely try to sneak into the seating area to sit in seats that are not theirs, should be escorted out by security staff. It's just not worth the aggravation, when you factor in the ridiculous beer and food prices, the long lines, and the...