The Rady Shell at Jacobs Park — Local services in San Diego

Looking for an honest review?? Here goes ... The Shell is a great concert venue ... one of the better indoor or outdoor auditoriums I have ever experienced. The acoustics were quite fine ... I was sitting 8th row to the right. The shell itself is visually stunning, and is a great compliment to the other beauty of Embarcadero Park. The designers put a lot of thought into the design of the site. The sloping audience section with permanent bathrooms underneath and food behind works well. Crowd ingress and egress works as well as it could in such a tight space. I was worried that there would be no picnic space, but it's actually there, too, though way in the back (...think nosebleed section) and on astroturf. Looking forward to trying it out. There are upsides and downsides to most seating locations. On the audience-left, the sea breeze on many nights will be a bit brisk. But on the right side (protected from wind by the Shell), there is clanking of food trolleys, which is totally unacceptable during any kind of music play. The best spots may be 5th row center, 10th row right and maybe the picnic areas. There is a no-food policy, which means no home-cooked picnics - a huge and unwelcome departure from the 50 year history of the Pops. The good news is that the food vendors have tasty and creative stuff ... that's highly priced, but not offensively so. For a picnic, I'll be trying out the far-back astroturf with their $18 pizza :). All in all, figuring in price, parking, traffic and overall experience, it's a nice time, but with important tradeoffs. One good choice ... ride the Trolley instead of bringing the car. I'm worried that the Pops has now priced me out of this market, and I'll keep an eye out for something cheaper and more intimate elsewhere. Still, congratulations to the Shell for creating a very high quantity and thoughtful gem for San Diego.

Update Oct'22. Demoted from 5 stars to 3 stars. I won't be back. So much has gone wrong here. The security guards were overbearing ... I get through the TSA and Federal Courthouse faster and with less trouble than this place. Who do they think they're protecting from what?? No food allowed in ... We had to eat our Rubios tacos outside with the swirling out of control children. The music was well executed, but I have been going to the Pops for 50 years. This isn't the Pops anymore. More like the Hollywood Bowl. High on pretense and high prices, low on soul. I'll wait until the Pops comes back ... I won't be back to this way overdone,...

Update: Gained a star for a total of 5 stars. Having now visited several times, I now better understand the parking and shuttle situation, and I must say the food court is quite good. Restrooms are clean and always sufficient open toilets (even at the ladies room!!!), friendly and helpful volunteers are plentiful.

Also, hands down, it's the most beautiful venue to catch a show outdoors. As the sun sets, you'll have boats drifting by in the bay, reflections in the buildings at Embarcadero, and The Shell lighting itself. It's a pretty special place.

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While I think this building is an eyesore in our beautiful skyline as viewed from Coronado, being at the Venue in person helps with that. A bit confusing for the parking situation. You can get prepaid parking for the Hilton garage, but they're still either a 7-10 minute walk or a shuttle to take you to the venue from there. Once at the venue of course there is a line to get in and security check, that was fairly smooth. I didn't use the concessions at all so no comments there. Seating marking was also a bit interesting as the number portion of the seats are in small print on the top lip of the chair back (viewed from above). Seating is tight and I unfortunately sat next to someone who kept going in and out for more food. Eventually they put their kids next to me who talked during the entire show. I don't blame the venue for this but the seating was a bit tight for those circumstances. Sound quality was good and looking directly into the amphitheater as the sun's setting really was beautiful, and the lighting inside the shell was also a great show. I'm not sure what was up with people trying to exit after the show but the exit in the back didn't open for a long time and a bunch of people were crowding there, meanwhile the side exits had people flowing through. Again you have to walk back to wherever you've parked. Overall, it was a good experience because I always love...

Don’t expect good sound if you’re in the back!! Very low sound and no depth in the back. We just saw Lord Huron here. First off this review is for the venue and not the band itself they sounded great. However it’s our first show at this venue. Entering was nice and easy and the venue was clean. Lord Huron sounded great but if you’re in the back section don’t expect to hear much sound wise, no musical depth or bass in the back, you can barely hear it. We paid good money to hear our favorite acts and was very disappointed in the sound level for our paid seats. The back is so far away from the stage you lose a lot of sound so you would think they would use speakers for the back section. They have speakers all around the venue all the way to the back so you think they would have those on for the unlucky souls in the back but nope those weren’t even turned on. No luck hearing the music if you’re in the back. If someone’s talking next to you their voices are louder than the music. It was like hearing the music coming from your phone speaker. Pretty disappointed.Then if you try to stand on the side against the wall for better sound experience they clear you out and say this is an emergency lane.. but you can watch and hear more of the show if you grab a bench outside the venue along the waterfront they have them all along the water and it’s free.. And then lawn seating is closer to the stage but you’re pushed to the side at an awkward angle… weird setup. Seating is assigned if you are in the section with a seat and they put stickers on the chairs for your letter but half had fallen off…pretty cheap imo. Maybe put permanent letters on them so guests can find their seats easier? All in all if you expect to hear sound from the back of the venue expect to be severely disappointed. Only worth going to the show if you’re in the middle section or closer to hear your favorite acts live. Don’t know if we will be back after the sound disaster we...