3 stars for the ampitheater itself. I came to the comedy festival yesterday with some friends and we had good seats (tight, but good) and the sound system and visual were on point.
1 star for everything else sucking. My radar was up when the exit to the theater was backed up for miles on the freeway. I'd never been before so we did a quick workaround and got off on 83rd street. Approaching the venue, I realized that the entrance is not to far from the freeway, and you have to make a right turn so all of the cars were waiting in one line when approached from different directions, you could have turned into any of the 4-5 open entrance lanes. I found it interesting that there were tons of security in the parking lot NOT directing traffic. So you had no idea where parking was available in their labyrinth of a lot but we eventually found a spot.
Line to get in - unorganized but not unbearable. We arrived about 30 minutes after the gates opened and saw a huge line so like human beings we got in the end of the line and moved along. When we got closer we were told that we could join any of the lines that were much shorter right in front of the entrance. Bags were checked and we were in after a few minutes.
For seating 20,000 people, the areas around the stage are WAY too small and cramped in my opinion. Every line for concessions was melding into another line and it was difficult to navigate around everyone. Also - very expensive. I was starving so I splurged on a Mike's hard and loaded nachos = $20. Yeah...
The show was great. Weather was perfect. Security was on hand and quickly dealt with hecklers. Getting out of the parking lot was a NIGHTMARE - again no direction by anyone. Took us about 30 minutes and that's because we took a back way out that not a lot of people were keen on. I'm sure people were there for a lot longer.
With this knowledge, I'd definitely come back to see someone I HAD to see live, but I wouldn't be running back.