Buffett!
So after multiple years of trying to get tickets to see Jimmy Buffett through Ticketmaster, I broke down and bought a set off eBay this year. So yesterday, me and Cin were off to see Jimmy at the Nissan Pavillion in Virginia. There's two parts to this.
First there was the concert. Jimmy Buffett was, as he always has been whenever I've seen him (this was my fourth concert), awesome. He did all the songs you'd expect him to do plus a couple that I have never heard him do live which totally rocked (such as Last Mango in Paris, easily the number three Buffett song of all time). The crowd was really into the show (duh) and you can tell that Jimmy still loves what he does. It was Cindy's first Buffett concert and she really enjoyed the show too. So the show itself gets a 9/10 (points off due to the lack of Migration being played).
Nissan Pavillion is a different story. We left Columbia at 5.20pm. We got into a parking space at 8.35pm. The should have been a 50 minute trip if there was no traffic and we did the speed limits the whole way. Part of this was normal evening traffic (parking lot like) on the Capitol Beltway. But once we got onto I-66 it cleared up and we did great. Then we got close. There are two ways into Nissan off I-66; both involve going a small way on a local highway and then turning onto Wellington Road. This is a one lane in each direction road and we moved about 1 foot every minute. We were stuck on this road for over an hour (for three miles!) and we enjoyed (!!) the first two songs on Wellington Road. Who designs a pavillion that big (over 25,000 people) and has a one-lane road as the only access point? There is one description for such a person - an incompetant engineer, plain and simple.
Once we turned into the Pavillion we drove over 3/4 of a mile to our parking "spot" - so called because it was just a place on a field. We speedwalked that 3/4 mile to the entrance and finally went in right when Jimmy was finishing his fourth song (we missed Changes in Latitudes... - damn). I gave up on the non-moving beer line and we made our way up the stairs to the lawn. We then enjoyed the concert and even got some beers, which made us both much happier. :) We did get in line at a beer stand and right when we got close were informed that they were running out of beer and we'd have to go elsewhere - good planning there, Nissan Pavillion.
The rest of the concert went great. We had a good time. Until we tried to leave. We sat in our car, without moving from the spot, for over two hours. Yes, two hours. This is largely a symptom of the crappy road access to the pavillion, but still very annoying. Again, whoever designed this place and the VDOT support to it ought to be fired as they are not even qualified to design an on-ramp much less road support to a major concert venue. We finally got home at 1.30am. Yes, 1.30am after the concert ended at 11.00pm. Overall score for Nissan Pavillion - 1/10 (they get one point for having reasonably priced beer that was very cold and delicious).
What did I learn?
(1) Jimmy still does an awesome concert.
(2) Whoever designed the roads in/out of Nissan Pavillion is not a competant engineer.
(3) Next time we see Buffett, we will not be going to Nissan. Since he no longer does Merriweather Post Pavillion, we will most likely fly to another city to see him. Probably Vegas. I would rather spend $200 on flights to do that then to be subjected to the traffic and parking situtation at Nissan again.
(4) Barring that, we will both take off work the day of the concert and get there around 1.00pm next time. This will provide a front parking spot and easy access out of there after the concert.
First there was the concert. Jimmy Buffett was, as he always has been whenever I've seen him (this was my fourth concert), awesome. He did all the songs you'd expect him to do plus a couple that I have never heard him do live which totally rocked (such as Last Mango in Paris, easily the number three Buffett song of all time). The crowd was really into the show (duh) and you can tell that Jimmy still loves what he does. It was Cindy's first Buffett concert and she really enjoyed the show too. So the show itself gets a 9/10 (points off due to the lack of Migration being played).
Nissan Pavillion is a different story. We left Columbia at 5.20pm. We got into a parking space at 8.35pm. The should have been a 50 minute trip if there was no traffic and we did the speed limits the whole way. Part of this was normal evening traffic (parking lot like) on the Capitol Beltway. But once we got onto I-66 it cleared up and we did great. Then we got close. There are two ways into Nissan off I-66; both involve going a small way on a local highway and then turning onto Wellington Road. This is a one lane in each direction road and we moved about 1 foot every minute. We were stuck on this road for over an hour (for three miles!) and we enjoyed (!!) the first two songs on Wellington Road. Who designs a pavillion that big (over 25,000 people) and has a one-lane road as the only access point? There is one description for such a person - an incompetant engineer, plain and simple.
Once we turned into the Pavillion we drove over 3/4 of a mile to our parking "spot" - so called because it was just a place on a field. We speedwalked that 3/4 mile to the entrance and finally went in right when Jimmy was finishing his fourth song (we missed Changes in Latitudes... - damn). I gave up on the non-moving beer line and we made our way up the stairs to the lawn. We then enjoyed the concert and even got some beers, which made us both much happier. :) We did get in line at a beer stand and right when we got close were informed that they were running out of beer and we'd have to go elsewhere - good planning there, Nissan Pavillion.
The rest of the concert went great. We had a good time. Until we tried to leave. We sat in our car, without moving from the spot, for over two hours. Yes, two hours. This is largely a symptom of the crappy road access to the pavillion, but still very annoying. Again, whoever designed this place and the VDOT support to it ought to be fired as they are not even qualified to design an on-ramp much less road support to a major concert venue. We finally got home at 1.30am. Yes, 1.30am after the concert ended at 11.00pm. Overall score for Nissan Pavillion - 1/10 (they get one point for having reasonably priced beer that was very cold and delicious).
What did I learn?
(1) Jimmy still does an awesome concert.
(2) Whoever designed the roads in/out of Nissan Pavillion is not a competant engineer.
(3) Next time we see Buffett, we will not be going to Nissan. Since he no longer does Merriweather Post Pavillion, we will most likely fly to another city to see him. Probably Vegas. I would rather spend $200 on flights to do that then to be subjected to the traffic and parking situtation at Nissan again.
(4) Barring that, we will both take off work the day of the concert and get there around 1.00pm next time. This will provide a front parking spot and easy access out of there after the concert.
posted by jeffsix at 3:54 PM
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