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Dear Jimmy,

Tonight was my 36th time attending one of your shows. I've been from Riverbend to Mountaiviewto see you in the past 23 summers. I've endured excruciating heat and major down pours as well as perfect nights and I've never complained.

I spent $90 to attend tonight's show between a ticket and parking and I was so excited to see you. But when I entered the venue I was shocked when we were directed. To sit in an area that can only be described as a swamp. $90 to sit in a pile of mud that is slowly sinking into Lake Michigan.

I know you are not responsible for the venue but I thought you should know that I left during the 3rd song after I complained to anyone who would listen. This concert should have been cancelled. This venue should be shutdown and you should stand with your fans in demanding that Livenation refunds all of the tickets.

Yep, there were a lot of reasons I sat this one out.

Sad sad sad. Nobody can really make this right, but somebody needs to do something to reimburse you.

Deplorable.

I'm sorry you had a bad experience...we were in the reserved section and honestly it was one of the best Jimmy concerts I've ever attended.

It was one of the best concerts I ever attended too, but, then again, I had a good seat and this person did not.
I've never met him/her, but I totally stand behind him/her on those sentiments.

Sorry to hear about your bad experience.

Personally I think with all the rain, and if I am correct it looks like "fresh sod" that isn't meant to be trampled immediately they pushed to do this show!

I have been to Alpine in the rain and watched lawn people (we were on the beer deck) slide down the hill. It was nothing more than a mud fest!! Entertaining let me just say.

There are many kinks to work out this year..... one of the reasons we decided to stay home this year.

nvrmnd17 wrote:Dear Jimmy,

Tonight was my 36th time attending one of your shows. I've been from Riverbend to Mountaiviewto see you in the past 23 summers. I've endured excruciating heat and major down pours as well as perfect nights and I've never complained.

I spent $90 to attend tonight's show between a ticket and parking and I was so excited to see you. But when I entered the venue I was shocked when we were directed. To sit in an area that can only be described as a swamp. $90 to sit in a pile of mud that is slowly sinking into Lake Michigan.

I know you are not responsible for the venue but I thought you should know that I left during the 3rd song after I complained to anyone who would listen. This concert should have been cancelled. This venue should be shutdown and you should stand with your fans in demanding that Livenation refunds all of the tickets.

Wow. I'm really sorry. There's no excuse for that.

I couldn't agree more. This was my 23rd show. Jimmy Buffett Day is like a national holiday in our house. I have never. EVER. left a Buffett show before it was over until last night. While we stayed beyond the third song (I was waiting to see if I made the jumbotron during CILCIA...I did ), I would have been out of there immediately. I'm a good sport. I roll with the punches and am easy going. This was uncalled for. I know it's not his fault. What's he supposed to do? Cancel the show? On paper the concept sounds incredible. I know it's out of his hands. I can't imagine the injuries people sustained during last night's show. The mud was so deep. Two of the people in our group lost their shoes and mine went into the trash immediately after arriving home last night (after waiting for almost an hour just to get out of the parking lot I paid $50 to get into). You couldn't dance out there. Once you got your footing straight, you just stood still. Whatever the surface that was put down near the lawn entrance was a massive hazard as well. It was so slippery.

I'm not a complainer, but this was so awful.

I will say that aside from the mud, it was a good day. While we did leave well before the concert was over, we went down to the beach, washed our feet off, had a taco from the taco stand and watched not one, but two sets of fireworks. That was pretty cool. AND I made it to the jumbotron!!!!! And...Kaner was there with the cup. Pretty sweet!

Oh...and one more thing since I'm complaining. I'm not sure I'm a fan of the 12 ft. slope of the lawn at whatever it's called theater on Northerly Island. I couldn't even see the stage at all. I normally watch most of the show on the jumbotron anyhow, but it would be nice to actually see Buffett on stage. That didn't happen at all.

Usually when the lawn is that muddy, most venues will provide chairs for free.

If they want to use this venue for large shows, they might want to look into the artificial turf ala Riverbend. Sorry to hear it was so bad.

txaggirl91 wrote:Usually when the lawn is that muddy, most venues will provide chairs for free.

I can't even describe it...it wasn't like "bad weather" lawn. It was 6 inches of mud that you sank down into with every step. Lawn chairs wouldn't have stood a chance.

I don't know..maybe I'm just an over 40 victim of fate and it's time I start buying pavilion seats instead of fun, new flip flops for the show.

The Tribune gave a good review for Jimmy, a poor review for the venue.

Review: Jimmy Buffett delivers, but Northerly Island doesn't

Thanks, Chip.

This was very nice: Tan (of course) and muscular, the extremely healthy-looking 66-year-old Buffett sang in a strong, lightly drawling voice...

Complaints about last night's show have been coming in steadily on both the venue's FB page and the official Jimmy Buffett and the reefers FB page. Based on the complaints is seems that a sizable number of people with lawn tickets walked out of the show after only just a few songs due to the conditions. Some of the problem issues included the condition of the lawn, lack of bathroom facilities for those on the lawn, VIP parking not allowed to leave first while other lots emptied after the show, the short length of the show (24 songs), no encores, concession stands running of beer well before the show was over, sound system sounded poor, and of course the pre-show parking prices

Not a good trip to Chicago for Jimmy and The Coral Reefers

BlondeStranger72 wrote:

txaggirl91 wrote:Usually when the lawn is that muddy, most venues will provide chairs for free.

I can't even describe it...it wasn't like "bad weather" lawn. It was 6 inches of mud that you sank down into with every step. Lawn chairs wouldn't have stood a chance.

I don't know..maybe I'm just an over 40 victim of fate and it's time I start buying pavilion seats instead of fun, new flip flops for the show.

Yes, let's be clear, this wasn't anything like bad weather lawn. This was a disgusting, dangerous swamp. I've been in bad weather conditions at Alpine and Tinley Park and it was nothing like this. They were not prepared for this show and it shouldn't have been allowed to go on. I'm surprised the City of Chicago even allowed them to open under these conditions. There was a steady stream of people leaving with me at this point.

I left during Pencil Thin Mustache and I was only there long because I waited for a supervisor from the venue to appear so I could lodge my complaint.

Still mad as hell 15 hours later.

To add to what NVRMND17 posted........

This venue could become a premier concert destination but if this is the finished product, it is a massive failure. While my wife and I had reserved seats about 14 rows back from the stage, the amenities of the venue are sorely lacking. We have been to several concerts with the old configuration, and while it was much smaller, it was a liveable situation. The small, temporary, chair-seating on the floor of the reserved area remains from the old set-up and was the reason we decided to sit in the bleachers after the first experience at the old venue for later shows we attended. For $157, the present reserved seating arrangements are totally inadequate. Reports and photos from the lawn section echo other problems from it being "a swamp" to horrible site lines and an inability to see the stage. See Chicago Tribune review below. Follow the link from the Tribune story to the scathing reviews on Yelp!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertain ... 2530.story

It is apparent that communication between Live Nation and the City of Chicago and/or the Chicago Park District was poor to non-existent. We were hassled by Monterrey Security over the use of erecting pop-up canopies. We were finally forced to take ours down about 530pm after we were told, upon setting it up on arrival, that they created a "safety issue". On the Facebook Page for the venue, there was no restriction on the use of pop-ups. Their FB page also stated no use of charcoal for grilling but that was not enforced. Oversized vehicles were to be restricted to the 31st Street parking lot, yet a number of motorhomes were in the South Lot and there was a fee listed for oversized vehicles in the South Lot on the FB page! Is it true that there was no shuttle from the 31st St lot to 18th Street as was advertised? The parking fee situation and last-miunte changes were also infuriating.

Chicago has become a city of second-class, outdoor concert venues. Without building an permanent theater similar to Tinley Park or old Poplar Creek, Northerly Island will be an also-ran that will, hopefully, self-destruct under the weight of Live Nation's greed and indifference. The City of Chicago should take a page from the City of Milwaukee's playbook and co-partner with a concerned and honest concert promoter to build a facility on the lake like The Marcus Theater on the Summerfest grounds. If you think I am being hard on the city, the park district and Live Nation, please read the link below written by Jim DeRogatis and published on May 30. The whole deal stinks more than last night's muddy, repulsive lawn.

http://www.wbez.org/blogs/jim-derogatis ... erly-islan

So what is a Chicago area concertgoer to do if he wants to see Jimmy and take advantage of the pre-concert tailgating? Alpine Valley is the obvious choice. What to do with the present facilites in the Chicago area? The sound at Tinley is always a problem and tailgating is pretty much shut down but the venue is a true theater and the amenities and the true inclined lawn make it attractive in its own way. (Whoa, I never thought I would defend Tinley but never say never....) Toyota Park, although they evidently p*** off Jimmy with the sound problems a couple of years ago, was super-friendly and accommodating tailgaters and the sound was fine (except for an occasional low flying 737 trying to gain altitude climbing away from Midway). The lack of a lawn and the flat seating on the floor of the soccer stadium makes the stands to the side of the field a more preferable choice unless you are in the first few rows on the floor or seven feet tall. As they used to say on the NFL commercial, "You make the call." I will NOT be going back to Northerly Island unless the venue arrangement drastically change.

Parrothappy (not so happy this morning)

Wow, that is nuts! They should have turned away lawn folks at the door and given refunds on the spot. They should still issue refunds for anybody who had to endure that. Terrible. I would not be surprised to see Buffett force the venue or the promoter to issue refunds. That is no way for paying fans to be treated. I know it's not Buffett's fault, but he certainly has the power to make sure the promoter and the venue make amends to his fans.