Wednesday, July 15, 2009

The Toyota Pavillion at Montage Mountain

Last night, I took the wife to see her favorite band in the world, Nickelback, at Montage. The concert was one of the best I've seen. We had back stage passes and the missus got to meet the band. Unfortunately, that is the end of the good part of the story.

The show was over right at 11:00pm and after a leisurely 15 minute walk to the car it was apparent that it would be a bit before we would be on our way. I had no idea how much of a bit it would be!! We pulled out of the parking lot onto paved road exactly one hour and 48 minutes later. As if that wouldn't have been bad enough, one of the jakasses that works in the parking lots up there was driving a small utility vehicle when he stopped beside the car behind us to answer a question from the driver. Apparently, the driver had the temerity to ask what the hold up was. Said jackass the responded with this gem "Buddy, it's a concert, there's 17,000 people here, deal with it". The driver asked how it could possibly take over an hour to get out of the lot. Jackass responded "Buddy, you want me to make this a fuckin problem for ya? I can, no fuckin problem". That quieted the driver and Mr. Jackass then pulled up beside us and could go no further as he was blocked by a vehicle trying to get out of a cross lane in front of us. What does Mr. Jack ass do, you ask? He tells that driver to back the fuck up 'cause he wants to get down the hill.

Well, those of you who know me that I have only one thing in common with Popeye. There's all I can stands and can stands no more. I was perfectly willing to suffer in silence to that point but alas I couldn't help myself. I said out the window "No shit sherlock, so does everybody here and if this wasn't such a cluster fuck, nobody would have a problem". Oddly, he didn't offer to cause a problem for me and was on his way as soon as the other guy could get out of his way.

The reason I told you this with all the expletives included is to make the following comparison even more dramatic. You see, I took my wife to see Nickelback in the spring at the Izod Center at the Meadowlands. The crowd was similar in size to yesterday's. It was a nice leisurely 15 minute walk to the car after that show as well. The similarity ends there though. From the time I started the car, to the time we were on the freeway, was 8 minutes. Traffic on the freeway was flowing at normal highway speeds!!

Suffice to say, I won't be attending any more concerts at Montrash, and recommend you all avoid them at all costs as well unless you want to put up with the crap and jackasses.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Couldn't agree more. 2 hours in the parking lot also. Next time I'm going to Darien Lake.....

Tony Thomas said...

Well put and these leaving the parking lot fiascoes are exactly why I never will attend a concert there.

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Anonymous said...

I agree. I too was there with my girlfriend. I purchased VIP parking tickets at $40 a piece ($80 total). Only when we finally got down the hill by the parking we found they had no more VIP parking?! We began to walk up the hill because it would've made too much sense for somebody to tell the 200 people walking that the busses were for us. When we made it halfway up we found another long line waiting for the bus. I pulled a police officer aside and asked why I couldn't use my parking pass. He replied that normally it's not an issue...however, if we got our car up to him he would let us through. So we walked back down only to find out that the pass that would've gotten us through was not the one's I paid $80 for through live nation. Time to wait again. By the time we made it into the venue Hinder was on their final song. Nickelback was great as always, however, I will never attend Montage again.

I just got off the phone with Live Nation. If anyone else had this problem call them. They are refunding the money.

Anonymous said...

The trick is to get there early. If not, the parking is going to be an issue like most place. The concert venue is fine and one of the best venues to see and really enjoy a concert.

Anonymous said...

Hahahaha that is definitely my boss saying "Buddy" in this article. I love reading the issues with the parking lot. I work in it, and I agree it is total crap and doesn't move. Everyone also needs to realize that there are only two lanes down the mountain for 7,000 cars leaving all at once. When the parking lot fills up gradually before the concert. It is a cluster fuck when everyone is trying to leave. The sheriffs on the road have control of the traffic, not the employees with the light-sticks in the lot actually. I usually just stand there and laugh when my ear is getting chewed off for something I can't fix. Leave early if you don't want to get stuck in it because like I said. TWO LANES for thousands of cars all at once. Of course you're going to be stuck there for an hour.

Anonymous said...

To the guy who paid $80 for VIP Parking thru LiveNation: How come the police officer didn't accept those tickets? What type of parking ticket was he looking for?

Anonymous said...

That's why I prefer to go to Bethel Woods. Might be a little farther for me, but I still get home earlier. And it's a much nicer, more attractive, better organized and better operated venue. PS, I wish someone could have proofread the original post. It was hard to understand, but I sure agree with it. Never been to Penn's Peak, but I hear that it's very nice too.