Mercedes-Benz Amphitheater — Attraction in Tuscaloosa

This is a very clean, organized venue. It was easy to pick up purchased tickets at will call and there was only a quick glancing into bags and scanning of tickets to get in. It was very fast and nonthreatening unlike the rigmarole at Oak Mountain Amphitheater in Birmingham. (Oak Mountain is like dealing with the KGB as they want to be sure you have to buy everything from them. They even turn off cold water in restrooms. I have a solemn vow never to go back. Let them sell that.)

The concert we attended was Nelson/Haggard. It started with Willie Nelson's daughter, Paula. I could easily have missed her performance. I thought she could not sing and her voice was whiny and grating. I found it boring.

Merle sang "Big City" first and I thought his time had passed as the modulation was bad, but he quickly loosened his voice and brought a good performance.

Willie, on the other hand, seems to have lost nothing. His voice and liaisons are inimitable, his guitar sweet and melodic and he plays like a god. The tone of his voice and guitar are remarkable.

The people who attended, while a wonderful, real American bunch had a number in it who were not taught manners and consideration. There were constantly people blocking our view and screaming to the exclusion of the entertainers we paid a lot of money to see. If you want better views, pay for them. Do not block those of us who paid to see the entertainers, not you.

This is where the arena fails. They should ban picture taking during the event and keep the aisles cleared. It just distracts from the event. I wonder if these people came to enjoy the event or to be able to say they had been. I mean, be in the now, people.

While I am far from a teetotaler, they should consider limiting alcohol, although I may be going too far there as that represents a lot of money to them. Heck, I enjoy a good drink myself, although not at concerts where I have paid premium prices to be able to fully appreciate the entertainers. I think this is just a matter of showing consideration, too. If you cannot hold your liquor, please do not drink. None of us wants to see drunks.

Also, I think management should ban all smoking once you enter the gates. They were good in limiting the areas, but you still have to walk through the vapors. It just distracts from...

I was at the Evanescence concert here on 9/11/2025 and for the most part everything was great but this one older gentleman with event staffing was beyond rude & borderline harassing a couple people. He was an older man wearing a blue event staff shirt & he was wearing a white face mask & plastic gloves. He was "patrolling" the middle front of the stage & I was on the right side end & there was a couple next to me & he was harassing that couple for no reason. From what I saw it started when the young guy from the couple placed his jacket on the garden grass area beside the stage, the event stage man who was on the right side where we were, not the same older man who was rude, told the young guy he couldn't put his jacket there so the young guy said okay & moved it. Then the older man walked down there & told the young guy that he had to "hold your jacket. I already told you once" the young guy said you haven't told me anything but I'll hold it. Then the rest of the night the older man kept walking down to the right side where the couple was & pushing the barrier farther back, even farther back then the rest of the barriers then when he walked off one of the other event staff would move it back to where it was originally. Then during an intermission the older man was still harassing this same couple & he said some bs about calling the cops on "you people" get a life dude, you're not even a real security guard & literally no one is doing anything wrong. We were all trying to enjoy a concert & this guy was running around pretending to be the police. The venue itself is nice, everything was clean. Parking was horrible, it was unorganized & there were no signs letting you know where parking spaces were available like there normally is at other venues I've seen but that's not a huge problem. Concessions stand prices are insane tho. Prices are higher than at any venue I've seen in Birmingham or Huntsville. The sound quality of all the bands was top notch tho & all the views were unobstructed except for when that older man kept marching down there to harass people. He's way too...

I attended the Old Skool Summerfest with Salt N Pepper, Doug E Fresh, Bell Biv Devo, Avant, and Rob Base at the Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and had a pretty good time with my family and friends. The venue appears to have a similar set-up to Oak Mountain Amphitheatre in Pelham, AL. It has a full size but intimate feel much like Oak Mountain (though I'm sure that it is quite a bit smaller). In addition, the venue has ample food vendors, drink/beer stations, and restrooms on each side. The general appearance of the facility still has a brand new and barely broken in feeling. If I'm not mistaken, it was opened last summer in Tuscaloosa and it still looks pretty new.

The only complaint that I have is the vendor stations were not clear about whether they accepted cash or credit cards (some had signs that indicated cash only and other did not say anything which generally meant it accepted cash or credit). After two concession runs, I was out of cash on my person and only could use my credit card. As a result of this, I spent about 20 minutes in a line waiting to get a beverage and was informed that they only accepted cash at this particular station when I pulled out my credit card.....Wow......I did not receive an apology and was informed that I had to go stand in another line for another 20 minutes despite the line's lack of a CASH ONLY sign that other stations had. However, I recovered from the inconvenience and would advise anyone attending an event here to carry plenty of cash because of the lack of correct signage regarding payment options.

Overall, I enjoyed my concert experience at Tuscaloosa Amphitheater and I know what to expect the next time I attend...