Shoreline Amphitheatre

So lame that before show they,“can’t” show the the Warriors game during Finals. Been here before with games playing. Be aware if you have a show on a big game night. I’m sure there’s shenanigans here.

On May 26, we had tickets to the The Cure, and gave ourselves plenty of time to get there early to see the warmup act and meet with our friends.
At 5:40, traffic on 85 N was moving at 70mph. Until it stopped at the very beginning of the 85 Shoreline ramp. Every 5 minutes, we moved forwards one car space. The ½ mile slog to the Shoreline exit took an excruciating 90 minutes. We could see that in comparison, 101N and 101S were moving well. It took another 30 minutes before we were parked, and then a long walk though the fields, a wait in the security line, and fighting through the thick crowds to find our friends in the middle of the lawn.
This traffic mess points to gross incompetence on the part of Shoreline. Why was no-​one directing traffic at the Shoreline off-​ramp intersection? We missed all of the warmup act and half of the Cure show. The lawn was much fuller and rowdier than I have ever seen it. Drunk teenagers were throwing up into their blankets. Security was far too thin. If a fight broke out, it would be every man for himself, tribe vs tribe. It felt dirty, crowded, and dangerous.
The Cure was outstanding. 5 stars for their talent, energy, and showmanship.
1 star for Shoreline. I have enjoyed it in the past, but will never go there again.

Let’s put some things out of the way and into perspective upfront: yes, the traffic is bad (especially for getting out of here), and yes, the crowd can be intrusive, careless, indifferent, rude, which mainly depends on who you see and how often you’re coming here. I can see plenty of low rating reviews from folks who came only once and their experience was far from ideal, and I can appreciate their frustration.
The thing with Shoreline Amphitheatre is that it’s been designed and built over 30 years ago. Life was totally different back then in Silicon Valley. The surrounding infrastructure has changed drastically since then.
Now, depending on a concert, your experiences will undoubtedly differ. It is important to head out real early: give it ample time, as in several hours before the start time to arrive, make a day out of it, plan thoroughly. Don’t expect to steer in just before the concert. Know what to expect. This is a very specific outdoor venue, but it has such a rich history, that alone warrants the four stars I’m giving it! -:)
Bands, music festivals, tour and concerts, from Jerry Garcia’s Grateful Dead to Dave Matthews Band, from Anger Management tour to Lollapalooza and Ozzfest, the Shoreline Amphitheatre has seen it all. The Amphitheatre design resembles the Grateful Dead’s «steal your face» logo. In the summer of ’86 for its inaugural show, Grateful Dead was supposed to perform for the venue opening, however Jerry Garcia’s coma prevented that from happening. One of the most popular Shoreline Amphitheatre tickets was the Lilith Fair when returned in 2010.
Shoreline Amphitheatre was built in ’85 as part of the Shoreline Park project, when over 600 acres of old landfills, wrecking yards and hog farms were transformed into the Shoreline Park.
The entire Shoreline regional recreation area is quite unique, in that it stands on 20 million cubic yards of refuse — the lowlands were raised to a usable height with landfill, accepting garbage from San Francisco from 1965 until the early ‘80s.
When Shoreline Amphitheatre first opened back thirty years ago, there were methane vapor issues from the soil beneath the Amphitheatre, which were subsequently remedied to make it into a safe outdoor venue it is today.
There are 6,500 reserved seats plus 15,000 in general admission on the lawn. Did you know it could accommodate up to 30K crowd when the parking lot is utilized for festival stages?
Cheers!

Horrible! Marcos at the Margarita stand saw my id saw my wristband and denied me alcohol because he said I look young! Yes I know I look young, my patients tell me that, run my record I’m of age and this is stupid, he thought I wasn’t going to do this, but seriously. If I show u my id my debit card matching it seriously, I’m fucking g 25. Horrible customer service!

0 star on customer service! Because I have to select a star it’s 1 but seriously this is 0 customer service.

This has to be the worst venue in the entire Bay Area. The parking and traffic is on the level of a third world country. I went to see The Cure here and it took HOURS to get into the place. It completely destroyed the experience. Would love to have parked 2 miles away and walked, but the streets were already full and any nearby offices (Google) have security guards making sure you’re not in their lot. It’s pretty clear the venue can’t handle the people or the traffic. The food is meh, at best and over-​priced, plus you are jammed in there like sardines.
If you’re planning on going, I recommend you park several miles away — not just two or three because that street parking is already full — and ride your bike in.
The place is a dump.

I’m not going to complain about the crowd, because it all depends on who you see here.
That aside, I saw The Cure — older, slightly middle –aged, a little more mature, and can handle/​control their alcohol.
OK, the bad… traffic. just ugly. Getting there was a nightmare. It took a little over 90 minutes from San Francisco/​St. Francis Woods. The traffic was primarily around the venue and Google campus. One lane, two lanes, one lane again. Won’t come back.
Reserved seating in the 100s section is great. You get an awesome view and the sound is spectacular.

Went to go see The Cure play and spent TWO hours stuck in traffic. I AM NOT KIDDING. I felt tempted to just park off the side of the street and walk to the venue. The traffic situation was TERRIBLE. IT WAS TERRIBLE. I seriously don’t plan on coming back because of it. If you don’t believe me then, PLEASE arrive at least 2 – 3 hours early so you don’t become upset and miss part of the show (you will probably end up arriving on time). The venue seemed nice. I saw two TV screens from the lawn area. Best wishes to the fans of the bands you like!

I went to The Cure show at Shoreline. I also saw them here in 2000, when the crowd was full of beautiful ppl and I had a magical experience! It opened my mind.
This time the sound was amazing! Robert Smith’s singing was absolutely EPIC!!!
But the crowd on the lawn was stand-​off-​ish, few ppl were dancing or singing along, numerous ppl were drinking to the point of drunk and talking loudly — as if The Cure wasn’t in front of them, making amazing music! They could have been anywhere else. Fans were also heavier on the pot smoking than I remember from 2000.
*The Cure was magical — I fell in love again and again and again throughout the show…(and it should be noted that I was completely sober.)*
I ran late to this show and was shocked to see fans still trying to get into parking at 8:30pm. There was also an ambulance and a stretcher out, but I didn’t stop to find out what happened.
Being a local, I had no intention of using Event Parking. You can park at Costco or McDonald’s or any street around there and WALK IN. Believe it or not, Rengstorff and Shoreline are not the only 101 exits that will allow you to park and walk to the venue. I don’t know why hundreds of Cure fans, many with smart phones, couldn’t think creatively and look at a map to see where they could park. REALLY. IN THIS DAY AND AGE. Your phone can tell you where to go!
Nor do I understand what could possibly compel people forgo packing their own food or buying it at the nearby In ‘n’ Out, McDonald’s, or Costco, to instead spend big bucks on shitty Amphitheater food and $ 14 on a single beer!?! If you are willing to pay $ 14 for 1 beer there must be something wrong with you or u r rich! Maybe I’m just creative, poor, and healthy — I made real food, instead eating crap — I really expect Cure fans to be more open, more creative, less SHEEPLE, and know how to read a map to find parking so you can see the most amazing band in the world! (The Cure is creative and I expect its fans to be too.)
Plus, fans left tons of trash on the lawn! I left none — zero! Helpless adults who can’t take their garbage w/​them = small wonder Shoreline Amphitheater charges an arm and a leg for all those beer cups their workers have to pick up after the show!
I agree that Shoreline NEEDS to make a laxative for it’s traffic constipation! Post the # of parking spaces on the website, so that fans know what they are up against! I did Not appreciate the fact that they allowed fans to drive out through the Baylands, towards San Antonio/​101 after the concert — I nearly got run over, even with 2 bright head-​lamps on, front and back of me. There are still late night bicyclists and runners on that service road/​trail! Fans were driving TOO FAST and NO traffic control personnel were present. The car that nearly swerved into me seemed drunk.
An event staff person I talked to a week before the show didn’t know how many people the Amphitheater holds — Shoreline should better educate its staff!
I give 5 stars b/​c the amphitheater has an excellent sound system and I absolutely love the outdoor, under a tent, vibe! I appreciate that they allow food from the outside, but no glass or cans.

Went here for the 1^st time to see The Cure the other night. It looks like a cool spot depending on where you are sitting.
It’s disappointing that there is only 1 screen if you’re sitting on the lawn, which is where I was. I was only able to see the middle and back of the stage.
Really wished they had more screens. Where I was sitting, stage right, you can barely see what’s on the screen. You can watch on a screen in the outside bar areas, but then what’s the point?
A little annoyed about a $ 14.50 tall can of Modelo. I was expecting high prices, but not that high. The stand who was selling them were actually fundraising for the Willow Glen High School Cheerleading Team, so a % of the profits went to them. I felt better about buying the beer.
The other bad thing is the exits to get out of the place, there’s not a lot considering how many people are there for a sold out show.
If I came back, I would definitely buy a seat or come super early if I was on the lawn.

The parking situation makes no show worth seeing. It took 90 minutes to drive 2 miles to get to E Lot, aka the dirt lot. Show ended an hour ago and we are still parked here waiting our turn to exit. Booooooooooooooo.

I don’t have much to say about the venue because we weren’t there long enough to experience it. Our concert was scheduled to start at 7:00, with the Cure going on at 8:30. We aimed to arrive a bit before 7. The final 1.5 miles to the parking area took us over two and half maddening hours. People have been complaining about parking at this place for so long that it appears to be an unfixable problem. So if you can’t leave work early, don’t bother coming at all. Otherwise, for the rest of your life, hearing a song by your favorite band will only trigger nightmares of traffic. What a shame.

I was arriving close to 2 hours before the start time and accidentally got on the 101 heading West and they had no traffic control — the freeway exit only allowed about 6 cars while N Shoreline Blvd took 2 minutes to cycle. There were about 400 cars stuck trying to get thru.
After that it wasn’t too bad. I’m disabled so was able to get excellent parking for free near the entrance.
I found the tshirt/​memorabilia line on the left near the top had very short lines, but about half as much variety. The food lines varied in wait time, but prices were astronomical. $ 17.50 for a beer (tall boy can only unless you want Coors) — got a Stella. $ 11.50 pizza, $ 8 garlic fries. No burgers and the philly cheese steak had a 20-​minute wait time just before the show started and for those that came up, they weren’t calling those out that I could see.
The LiveNation staff was more strict than TSA — sometimes taking your soda bottle cap, making you pour an 8oz can of red bull into a 40oz plastic cup. I had very close seats and they have you show your tickets to 2 – 3 people to get to your seats. The Cure was excellent and the opening act was fun.
The crowd was great, although a lot of smoking, to be expected I imagine. I didn’t want to get stuck in traffic again, so got out a bit early — they were heading towards an epic 3 hour set. The police had much better traffic control management on the way out.

Wow. This was the most disastrous concert experience ever! It’s true what other people have said — the drive in and then the parking /​walk-​in took way too much time and they obviously don’t have the infrastructure to support 22k people piling into the area. We got there after the main act started but the funny thing is that people were still flooding into the already packed lawn up until the show almost ended…
The Lawn can and should be considered obstructed view, there was no seeing the stage for us. I was expecting to be in the ‘nosebleeds’ but thought maybe there would be a screen for viewing. There was 1 screen but it was to stage left on the lawn — so not viewable by us! The sound was good for an outdoor gig — I’ll give em that much.
I wouldn’t come back here again. I’d actually prefer to travel out of state to see my favorite band rather than deal with the nightmare that is Shoreline.
Lesson learned: Arrive 2 – 3 hours early, and leave before the encore.

Great venue to watch a good concert. Been to countless events here and I have many more I’m planning to attend this summer.
I usually go to 2 – 4 country concerts per year for the country megaticket and I’ve only been disappointed once when the crowd control was just all over the place.
The skybar located on the top of the lawn is great. Was cash only last time I checked, but may have changed since then.
Beer prices went up. $ 16 for a 24oz of blue moon. $ 14.50 for a tall can of modelo. This is even more than SAP Center! The pizza I had here was awful. Worse than frozen. I do not recommend eating here.

The two stars are for the actual amphitheater. It is very nice once inside on a nice day. Everything else SUCKS. Parking and traffic sucks sucks sucks sucks. It really sucks. Did I mention the parking and traffic SUCKS? It’s the worst of any venue I’ve been to and I was reminded yesterday after missing the first 6 songs of the Cure concert because we were stuck in traffic not moving on Shoreline for over an hour. Then we had about a 5 mile hike from the parking lot to the concert. I’m exaggerating but not by much. My Fitbit logged a workout it was so far. Seriously terrible. Then we left early to avoid the 2 hour wait getting OUT and of course missed our favorite songs we were actually there for. SO disappointing.
The sweet little ladies working the snack bar are very nice but they’re in no hurry and the food selection stinks. Burned looking pretzels made my heart sad when I got to the front of the line. My giant Coors light and bag of M&Ms were about as good as it gets there.
MY TIP: Go early. VERY early. Bring snacks for the car ride and for the concert. LOTS of snacks. And a six pack for when you’re not moving. Just kidding officers. ;)

I was so exited to check this place out but…
Logistic: 0 stars.
The roads to access shoreline were so packed that we missed half of the show. We arrived at shoreline exit on HWY 101 at 7pm. It took us 2.5 hours to reach the theater. I don’t expect tickets to be refunded, of course.
Infrastructure: 0 star.
General admission will have you seat in steep ground. When the concert is over, there are only 2 exit to allow many people (15 000?) exiting. It’s steep, people push, you fall, you get stepped over therefore:
Safety: 0 star. How can this place still be allowed to host such large events? No staff, no security/​red cross nothing.
Prices: 0 star, 45 $ for 3 beers. Yes, 45 $.
Visibility from general admission: 0 stars.
Unless you want to hear the music live, don’t bother coming over. The screen is useless, vision is blocked in many places.
Never again, no matter how great the band is!

Come on people, get your act together. You charge outrageous prices but can’t figure out to handle traffic? We waited an hour for our über driver until we were told that you weren’t letting über drivers in and No signs at the entrance saying where über picks up… don’t know if we’ll go back.

I just spent over an hour and a half in traffic from the OFFRAMP for this venue, not the whole trip, just the offramp. I know Google is next to it, that they let out at the same time, and all that jazz, but this is insane. There is an absolute need for event traffic control to span out to the freeway on sold out events. On any event! I left San Bruno at 5:30pm, hoping to get to the concert at 7pm. It is now 8:20pm, the main event comes on at 8:30pm, and I am STILL in traffic. How long has this venue been around? How has this issue not been resolved? Not happy.

I’ve been coming to the Shoreline for years now and it’s become such a familiar place that it almost feels like coming home. This past summer, I attended 3 concerts here – both in the lawn and in the regular seating area.
About the lawn: You’ll be mingling with lots of folks here and it does get a little bit cold at night. Bring out the blankets, snacks and and whatever drinks to get your alcohol on. And yes, the smell of weed will be pungent throughout. Relax folks. That’s the point. They have the two big screens which broadcast the concert– makes it nice since the performers will be some distance away from you. But the sound is still great. If you come on a good night and the weather is great, you can witness some of the most beautiful clouds.
Regular seating: It’s not the most comfortable but it does the job. Most seats get you a pretty good view. If you’re lucky enough to have front row, then lucky you!
Bathroom situation: I hate going to the top of the lawn and using the porta potties. Let’s just say that there have been way too many times where I’ve seen teenagers come out in pairs. But I won’t go there. The other option is going to the regular flushing bathrooms and they’re pretty efficient. The lines move pretty quickly and they are fairly clean.

Went to see a great sold out show last night– and had a blast. The only issue is that the parking situation in horrendous. The staff will not direct you in finding any sort of decent parking and we were willing to pay. To be honest, I’m not sure they even know where to direct you. We ended up in some dust bowl of a lot 20 minutes away. We were early– but if I were you, I would look into this before arrival– you could miss out on your concert.
Side note: Guy Fieri’s hamburger stand. DELICIOUS! A MUST.
****also: bring hand sanitizer– the venue is dirty with alcohol — cigarettes and food.