San Manuel Amphitheater

I’ve been to this venue many times for Insomniac related events but I’m going to describe my experiences from my most recent trip (regarding to traffic, parking, etc), which was Beyond Wonderland 2016.
Holy cow. In my entire life, I have never experienced such a shitty parking/​traffic situation ever! Beyond Wonderland 2016 (Saturday) was a sold-​out event, so I mean this was kinda expected. My car mistakenly left from Fullerton around 5PM but we didn’t physically get into the venue until 8:30PM. Technically, we arrived at around 6:30PM. The reason was because of all the incoming traffic that people were exited off the 15 Freeway at Glen Park Highway. Both freeway exits were jammed. There was such a huge long line of cars trying to get into the venue and it just seemed that there was not enough helpers or security guards to efficiently help the process. It seemed understaffed. I didn’t experience this the last time I went town event out here in the San Manuel Amphitheater. We parked literally about a mile away from the front entrance, which is pretty dumb and has never happened before. Everyone was pretty pissed off because hey, time is money bruh.
When the event was over, just exiting out of the venue was another tragic experience. We had to walk a mile away from the front entrance to the car and then since everyone was trying to leave at the same time, no car was able to move. We sat in our car and didn’t officially move out of the venue 2 hours later. The event technically ended around 2AM and we didn’t get into our car until 2:30AM but we officially got out until 4:30AM for home. We got home home at 5:30AM officially.
Seriously, the parking and traffic situation needs tremendous improvement. I must say that it has improved from Beyond 2015 but still, time is valuable and these kinds of tickets are not cheap. So… we as headliners just want to make most of the costs that we pay for these tickets. I feel that I spent more time in the car trying to get in and trying to leave the event than actually dancing. This whole situation was a complete nightmare.
Fix it, Jesus. I pray thee.

Came to the venue twice for a rave and it was terrible. Getting home was seriously a nightmare, I hate it! Parking to get to the venue is a really far walk. The fact that driving or taking über was both a bad experience for me.
Beyond wonderland was the time I decided to drive. The venue itself was okay, it was mostly dirt. After the event ended at 2am we were stuck in the parking lot until 5:30am!!! So many cars yet only one way out.
The voyage was the second time I came back. We had über drop us off but when the event ended there was NOT ONE Über available!
Taxi’s we’re coming in but not picking anyone up because we had to form a line? THERE WAS NO LINE! The lady kept telling us to wait in the line when we were already waiting outside in the cold for 2 HOURS! but like I said, THERE WAS NO LINE! Everyone was cutting everyone, try to catch a cab when we were there first.
Everyone was rude and soooo unorganized. Finally, we got a ride from some random person «claiming» they work for über, clearly he did not but we were so desperate for a ride. I wasn’t too worried because I was with 4 other people.
This venue really needs to get their rides/​parking together because both times waiting to get home was ridiculous.
Don’t think I’ll ever come back to this venue unless they have it figured out, I’ll be sticking the NOS center!

Oh man I hate when an artist I want to see comes to this venue. Even back when it was Blockbuster Pavilion I didnt really care for it. Now I am biased as I don’t really like big festival venues. But add in massive amounts of heat, bad sound, and chaos with multiple stages close to each other and you have San Manuel Amphitheater.
I recently came for the It’s Not Dead Festival. It was a great show, but the sound was awful. The volume kept changing during the sets and even the songs. I dont know if they sound guy was drunk but it was not something to be proud of. I am not a stickler for sound but thsi was noticeably bad. The line to get into the venue was absolute chaos and the way the set up had 3 stages that seemed to mesh together 3 concerts at once.
Bathroom situations was a nightmare and was eventually closed off during the concert. Really? Who does that? I think this place could be better but as long as people shell out $ 50.00 a ticket and pay $ 12.00 a beer its not going to change. CHEERS!!!

I’ve been to many music venues in and outside of California. This venue treats attendees like the city treats the homeless.
Different security person keep changing the rules about what you can bring, where you can go in and out, if you can go in and out, re entry, no re entry. It’s all so confusing. It speaks loudly about the lack of consistency in policies and competence of the staff.
In Austin, Texas, I attended Austin City Limits. Staff was organized, attendees could bring folding chairs, flags, camel packs with beverage, no hassle.
In San Bernardino, California, I’ve been to this venue more times than I can remember and it’s like the opposite of Austin. Do not bring your chairs, camel packs, cigarettes, vape pens, then the entry/​exits and reentry policies change as the event is going on. Who’s running this place? With the name of San Manuel on it, I hope someone is aware that this reflects on the brand.
To earn 2.5 to 3 stars, all they have to do is be respectful, make sure it’s safe for attendees, make my event experience convenient, and be consistent with rules and policies. That’s just to get an average, middle of the road rating.

Once the concert starts it’s a decent venue with good sound and good sight lines. So what is the deal with the the low reviews… simple the security is horrible.
Arriving at 6:00 pm on a Friday night for a weekend of heavy music for this year’s Knotfest it took over two hours to get it as they meticulously inspected each car coming in.
As a long time SoCal resident I know for a fact that it us easier to cross the border then get into this place. TSA doesn’t search people as much as this place. So if you like getting molested before a good rock show by all means line up to get into this place.

It is extremely unorganized and VERY expensive. My brother wanted a Red Bull but they didn’t have any cold. We asked for a cup of ice and they wanted to charge $ 13.00!!! They said it is because the cups are reserved for cocktails. So stupid! The employees have no clue how to add or serve people in line. Everything is calculated on hand held calculators and you have to show your ID every single time. The food was super pricey too. My Sister had to pay $ 3 for a tiny cup of melted cheese because they forgot to put salt on her pretzel. The line for beer was ridiculous! We waited about 40 minutes to get a beer so I purchased two at one time. They ran this show like a small town concert for about 200 people but there were thousands and thousands of concert goers! I would suggest getting there like 3 hours before the start of your show and leave an hour before it ends. The parking attendents suck and have no idea how to direct traffic. I am never going back there.
Kid Rock sounded amazing and so did Forgeiner but it wasn’t worth the headache and price of libations.

This venue could be great– if they took time to train their staff for better parking direction– and if they were clear about ID expectations at the beer/​margarita booth. I was astounded that it took me 40 minutes just to inch up to the ordering counter after 18 people. Yes I counted. Having to show ID was a surprise and then a search every time. When I arrived at the counter with cash in one hand and my ID in the other, the server almost fell over!
Parking was stacked– we did VIP parking for $ 20, and still had to walk a good ¾ mile to get to the entrance. I was told that if anyone wanted handicapped parking they should arrive 4 hours before the show. It took us over an hour to exit the freeway (Glen Helen Parkway exit) and follow the car ahead of us — only one road in/​out. Be warned!
The venue itself was clean, the ladies room had a lot of stalls — and I noted an attendant cleaning. That’s good because it was a big crowd!
We sat on the lawn– and spread out beach towels, and short beach chairs. We brought in sealed bottled water, and binoculars. Once set up, it was very pleasant– the music sounded great. It cooled off, and it was nice to sit under the moon and stars and enjoy the show.
You bet we left a little before the encore. We wanted to get out before the rest of the 6,500 people in the lot. Good thing we had decent directional sense– by now it was dark — there were no lights … And we had to remember vaguely where we parked (by a truck, next to that pine tree). Seriously– thank God for automatic key fobs… I had to click a few times when we got to the general area. The VIP parking is on a golf course, off road, no signs. AND there were no parking attendants to give direction– so we were on our own, stumbling in the night.
I managed to drive off the course and weave through some trees — then found the road heading out.
OK– to wrap this up: go early and remember where you parked– have your ID handy to buy a $ 13 beer, set up your blankets and beach chairs– enjoy the show– then try to get out early! Now we know!

The drink/​food stands were SO unorganized! Most lines didn’t seem to move — they were crowds of people, not lines. I finally found a drink line in the corner that had actual lines to stand in. They served the Bud-​a-​rita drinks in a can (no cup, no ice) — horrible for $ 15. Then, the seat checkers made us pour our drinks into a cup, said no cans were allowed, yet when we got to our seats, we saw lots of people with cans, no consistency.
The parking lots are a joke. We parked in VIP ($ 20), and it took over 2 hours for us to get out of the parking lot! So, the lot turned into a tailgate party for hours — WTH — never again! I’ve gone to a lot of concerts in my life, and I’ve never experienced so much lack of organization at a venue!

HORRIBLE VENUE…
Getting to this venue was a nightmare. Took three hours what is normally supposed to be a fifty minute drive.
Parking is twenty dollars which is average for raves, but there aren’t any other parking lots available for cheaper either…
The place was small and muddy, and there were no seating areas even around the food trucks. They didnt allow my hand sanitizer in which is ridiculous because what are you going to hide in a lime green slime?! I refused to use the port a potties but thankfully they actually have a restroom by the entrance.
They also closed off the walkway near the end that went directly to the farther side of the parking lot and made us walk around, a good extra forty minutes when it could’ve been fifteen.
Had a terrible time and will not be returning for any future events at this venue

I braced myself for the worst after reading mixed reviews.
GETTING THERE: Getting off the exit was easy but the backup was pretty bad. Decided to try the $ 20 parking option.
PARKING: Getting into the lot was very slow since there was only one lane. Their parking staff is pretty sucky. They really need a system to make it efficient. They did have lots of lighting so it wasn’t hard to find the car. It is VERY bumpy driving on the grass. Just pretend like you are on Disneyland’s Indiana Jones ride.
BOX OFFICE: Went to the box office to buy tickets to avoid the crazy surcharges. Asked the guy to get us aisle seats. He said he could get us seats 2&3. We said that would be ok. We ended up getting seats 21&22 smack dab in the middle of the section. We realized this after they already scanned the tix at the entrance so it was too late to bitch the guy out.
MERCH AREA: This place has the most funky merch areas. The good thing is the ones on each entrance are orderly since it has barricades. The bad thing is it is hard to stand around there to see what merch options are since the security people kept telling people to move away. The merch near the general parking lot’s entrance is better since the lines are shorter.
GIRL’S BATHROOM: Lots of stalls so it went quick but there is only way in/​out so I am sure it is a clustermuck during other shows. I went to Van Halen and it was dude heavy so there was hardly a line for the girl’s restroom.
MISC: No cupholders in the seats. Lots of legroom for people to pass. Lots of people smoking cigarettes and pot. Security did nothing. ANNOYING.
GETTING OUT: Left during the final encore and got in the car in the VIP lot at 10:45 and ended up getting out of there at 11:20. The exit out was a sh*tshow. I am not sure why they don’t have it staffed. I saw cars almost hit each other trying to get out. This place rivals Verizon in Irvine for worst exit. I would rather drive down to Chula Vista to see a show than come back to this place. They should figure out a shuttle system at an offsite lot so the traffic wouldn’t be so horrible getting out. I can’t imagine what a mess it was in the general lot.

I’ve been here twice and I really like it. I sat in the Lodge and in the grass area. Remember to bring a sweater or jacket if your concert is at night. The grass area is nice its not muddy like some other places and you can bring blankets and chairs.
They have concession stands on either side of the amphitheater. Canned beer, craft beer (ShockTop), churros, shaved ice, funnel cake, tacos nachos… its so cool.
Sound is awesome but the parking is pretty bad. MAKE SURE YOU GET THERE EARLY FOR PARKING IF YOU USE ADA PARKING

I came here for Lost Highway and was pleasantly surprised. The liquor vendors were great, the venue was huge and you could get seats really close to the main stage that were affordable. I mean it’s all about priorities! I actually enjoyed this venue more than some of the venues closer to me.
My friend thankfully warned me that we’d be doing a lot of walking inside but I really had no idea just how much walking that meant. My calves are still sore after a full day at the concert but I was able to enjoy myself without counting calories at the concert. Fun times for sure!

My friends and I came here for the Blaze n Glory festival this past weekend and we had a blast!
None of us had ever been to the venue so we didn’t know what to expect but we were all delighted with the experience. There were two stages and both sounded great from wherever you were standing. The grounds were fairly clean except for the idiots who decided to just leave their trash lying around. The bathrooms were kind of far from where the concert was being held but they were so clean! Both days I was so amazed at how clean they kept the bathrooms considering there were so many people.
At the end of day two we needed a cab and thankfully they have a taxi pick up point that has a couple people helping guide traffic and grab you a taxi, otherwise we would’ve been stuck there for hours.
if there’s another event that I’m interested in I wouldn’t hesitate to go to it.

The venue was nowhere near as bad as I was led to believe, by other reviewers. I would have given it four stars, except for some annoying drawbacks.
Entering the lot and parking were fine, as I paid the $ 20 for VIP. It still was a long walk, but not anywhere near as bad as I’ve heard the free parking can be. There were parking attendants who guided us into the spots, so we didn’t experience the crazy too close parking that others have experienced.
Now for exiting after the concert: Thank goodness we entered in daylight, because the parking attendants were gone when it was time to exit. I found the paved road from memory, watching as others drove their cars off the edge by the grassy parking. I’m sure more than a couple people damaged their cars. The venue loses points for their lack of exit control. The good thing was that it only took 10 minutes to get out. Yay!
A boo was that the CHP blocked the road and forced us onto the 15 fwy, instead of the 215, taking us miles out of the way, at nearly midnight. Double boo on that!
Entering the venue could have been a lot more organized. There was a huge crowd and when I got to the front, a male staff told me to go get on the women’s line instead. He let several other women in, who were ahead of me, without searching them. I guess I’m just not young and hot enough for that. I kept begging, and another staff took pity and opened the side of the women’s line for me to cut in. They need a lot more female staff, for searches.
Now for the grassy seating: Despite rain the previous day, the grass was in good shape and I saw no mud. It was crowded but not ridiculous. It’s not the venue’s fault that some jerk decided to jump over me and kicked me hard, where I was laying on my blanket. Good thing my boyfriend was gone, or there would’ve been a confrontation. I saw very little security, btw.
Now for food: There was very little to choose from, and the lines were ridiculous. My boyfriend was on line for 30 min for an $ 8 fried potato. The line for Mexican was even longer. They need a lot more food trucks.
I think the part that irritated me the most was the bathroom situation. The festival was supposed to end after 11pm, but when I went to the porta potty before 9pm, there was no toilet paper anywhere, and the pottys were a mess from everyone squatting. I have no idea what anyone did, who had to do more than pee. Also, there were at least 8 – 10 people lined up for each potty. They could charge a few extra bucks for more pottys and toilet paper, for pity’s sake.
So, all things considered, everything was more difficult here, than when I attend a concert elsewhere. I would still return, but would be better prepared, with things like food and toilet paper.

Coming here is a mission all in it self so be prepared for that if your going to visit this venue.
The venue is located pretty much at the base of the Cajon Pass in between the 15 & 215 freeways. Because of this unusual location at the base of the mountain it can get quite windy here and the temperatures can be quite unpredictable super hot during the day and super cold at night so be prepared to battle the elements if they are going to be radical on your visit to the venue.
The parking situation here is insane it’s pretty much a two lane road that runs right next to the venue. They let you come in one way and make you exit another way. Because of this it’s a total nightmare to leave I’ve herd stories from friends saying it took 2 – 3 hours just to get out of here and I can believe it because we left early from the show to avoid this and we were stuck about 45min trying to exit.
The reason it takes soo long to exit is because the two lane road that leads out of here crosses over a few train tracks these are the same tracks that go up the Cajon Pass and almost always have slow moving freight trains on them.
Lets just say that the parking here wasn’t a well thought out plan when we arrived we parked over a mile away and had to walk super far to get here as the venue is up on top of a little hill.
However there could be some light at the end of the tunnel as it looks like they are doing construction to build a bridge that will definitely help the exiting process!
So my reasoning for visiting this venue was for Knotfest a metal music festival that spanned a whole weekend. They had numerous bands play on 3 stages some of the highlights included In This Moment, Anthrax, Danzig, and of corse Slipknot.
The venue had a decent set up with all of the smaller acts and Slipknot Museum stage left in a huge field area that was a bit outside the venue.
As soon as the evening approached they shifted stages and had all of the headliners play on the main stage of the venue. As soon as they started playing the huge grass area and relatively small seating area started filling in with tons of fans as there was over 50,000 people here to rage.
There was an awesome fire display at the top of the lawn area that consisted of a few flame pillars and a kinda game that had a mallet and a board if you hit the board right you would set the flame towers off I found this to be super cool and definitely took a whack at it to set the flames off.
As the night progressed we found ourselves getting a few beers as it was super dry out and why spend $ 5 on a water when I can get beer for around $ 13. Overall I was presently surprised with the beer selection I found a good deal of craft brews and imported beers that made buying expensive beer a little bit better and not feel like such a rip off.
Pretty much once the darkness was a pawn us is when all the lawn fires started there was numerous fires all across the lawn all of them started with random people finding trash and burning it. The smell of burnt plastic was rich in the air across the whole venue thankfully we didn’t have to endure the smell that much as most of the smoke went into the sky relatively quickly.
Wile we watched some of the bands play we ventured all over the grass area and pretty much every spot we stood in we had a decent view of the stage at every angle which I thought was super cool because that’s not the case at a lot of venues.
One thing about their lawn area I must address is they have random pieces of plywood across the lawn that are covering up different mud holes some of which are pretty deep and can provide a real walking hazard for those who aren’t looking where they are walking.
We stood next to one of these holes wile watching Danzig play during this time we watched at least a dozen people trip in this hole and get all muddy. Thankfully no one got hurt but this is really a hazard especially at night when it’s pretty dark on the lawn area even with all the fires it wasn’t light enough for you to really see this hole.
The venue overall sounded awesome for all the bands we saw play and this was a really fun event that was full of fire music and good times.
In the future I would be kinda iffy to return here as parking is a nightmare but the venue overall is pretty cool and has great scenery of the surrounding SoCali mountains and the sound was pretty good so the pluses outweigh the downside of the parking so if it’s worth it to see an awesome concert I’d definitely consider coming back here for a good time on the lawn area!

Let’s not forget it’s a concert. No venue is perfect. No concert doesn’t have drunks or assholes working at them.
Although anyone in a live nation shirt, is definitely not an ass, they’re all so nice!
And I don’t mind the walk. Just watch your steps.
Don’t get a pretzel! Nasty!
Same rules really apply. Although backpacks were allowed this time, so I’m assuming larger purses too. I saw people throwing away sunscreen. No lighters.
No opened pack of cigarettes. But if you have an open pack you can take the smokes out and put them in your pockets… Weird. Some places did take credit card this time, mostly the buildings up top that sell food. No stands took cards.
Definitely do not wear flip flops lol.
We took a cab Saturday night. The cab line is horrible. We were still in it, and our friend was almost home. Probably a good 30 minute drive.
Sunday night went to get in the cab line. It wasn’t as bad. But we were able to find an über guy who was waiting, and totally avoided the line.
Clearly the music is the best part.

I am reviewing the San Manuel Amphitheater and not my concert experience. I came here to watch Zac Brown Band and the performance was simply amazing! The venue, on the other hand…
Let’s start with the bad:
— It took forever to get off the freeway and onto a single lane road to get to the parking lot
— Parking is in a dirt lot where there are no clear lines on where to park. This lets people park inefficiently and too far/​too close to other cars
— There are no paved roads within the dirt parking lot to lead you on a safe path towards the amphitheater
— Your feet are completely covered in dust by the time you arrive to the concert
— You literally have to walk at least 2 miles from the parking lot to the concert
— There are huge rocks and pot holes everywhere inside the parking lot so it’s difficult to walk in sandals, let alone heels or cowboy boots.
The ugly:
— There are no parking attendants inside the parking lot to help guide traffic at the end of the concert.
— Because there are no clear lines for parking rows and no clear signage on how to exit the parking lot, cars start lining up anywhere and everywhere to exit.
— Everyone has road rage waiting around for so long.
— It will take you over 1 hour to exit the parking lot.
Though I absolutely loved seeing Zac Brown Band here, I will never return to this concert venue. Poorly planned, poorly built and definitely not maintained or updated.

This place should be closed down, repurposed as a landfill, and buried from memory.
We saw Zac Brown Band last night… One of the best music sets I’ve ever heard in 30 years of going to concerts.
Getting to the amphitheater from the 215 was a joke. It took 45 minutes from the Devore off ramp to pull in… Chiefly because the route includes a railroad crossing go with trains passing every few minutes. This SHUTS DOWN the road. Ridiculous.
Everything else about this place is terrible. The long and treacherous walk along an unlighted dirt path from the distant dirt lot parking lot resulted in several of the obscenely drunk visitors falling down, twisting ankles, and scraping knees. Hilarious, but there’s always the chance it could be me or someone I like…
We got through security quickly, and then it was a free for all of overcrowded conditions with really drunk idiots inside. I mean, vomiting in public drunk. The men’s restroom floor was flooded with a half inch of overflowed urinal and toilet water. Concessionaires couldn’t move any slower, and the half-​assed ice chest tap rigs were useless to keep beer cold considering the volume they’re pouring. $ 13 for a 24 oz. beer is just dumb, especially when it’s warm and requires a 30 minute wait. Getting carded was fun though.
The boobs checking tickets at the entrance to the seating were useless, too. Once it was verified I was at the right entrance, I was totally on my own to find my seat in the dark. The last time I was here was for Dave Mathews, and I sat on the lawn.
After the last song, we bolted for the truck. Miraculously, we got out of the lot and into the freeway in 10 minutes… Not bad, considering we were stranded in the parking lot for three hours after Dave Mathews.
Next time, if I want a rural experience, I’ll hot Red Rock or chase this band to some other state. Barring that, I’ll brave downtown LA or Citywalk and keep things decidedly more urban. Wading through urine gave me all the San Berdoo I’ll need for a long time.

This is probably the worst venue I’ve been to for any event… It’s pretty small, and there’s like nothing really going on here.
I came for Dada life’s Dada Land The Voyage, and I was expecting something pretty awesome. I mean the music was great, but a lot of the stuff that I thought was going to be there wasn’t in sight… Like the «waterpark» didn’t see any of that. Maybe it was in a different area? Who knows. The balloon landing didn’t happen either cause of the «wind» ?? Meh! Vendors were alright, just places you can get the typical hot dog, burger, fries, nachos etc. Nothing extravagant like garlic crab fries or anything. Blah. The drinks were pretty pricey, and it wasn’t even alcoholic. I got a drink and it was pure fruit punch for $ 14. WTF!!!
One thing I will give to them is that the parking situation was pretty efficient, we were able to walk to our car and just leave without any traffic. I thought that was pretty great, given that I wanted to just leave and gtfo!!!
Anyway, the venue itself sucked, and I would definitely think twice about coming back. But probably not going to.

I didnt realized this was the same location as the Linkin Park Concert that i attended couple years back !
Well, this was the location they had Escape to Wonderland– after almost 10 years i decided to come and check out the new rave scene– My friend got me a VIP ticket and so i decided .hey why not! Well… i can tell you this much —
Going to the boonies in the fall is dramatically cold even if you are on a «good one»!
I was freezing good thing i bought a nice fuzzy (most resembling a bunny) sweater, or I would of froze!

The positives :
–I heard in the past the location for parking is intense so they provided ravers a location at the Fontana speedway for parking to bypass the traffic, though it was 30 minute drive it was a def plus!
— I was expecting a Crazy line to get inside, like the staple center but getting inside was as easy as the VIP lines!
— Tons of bathroom location and room to walk around…
The bad– TRAFFIC TRAFFIC TRAFFIC!!!
Mountain climbing is not in lot of peoples description of «fun» unless that’s what they were planning on doing… but when your on a good One. i highly doubt this was a plan!
Music wasn’t loud enough even though it was an open space arena.
The décor was half ass and not quite as what i had experience in the past.
oh did i mentioned, COLD !?