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| - This place holds a special place in my heart. The Mesa Amphitheater is literally 1 mile from my childhood home. I'd ride my bike daily through the parking lot to get to the Mesa Library...ahhh memories!
I saw a few bands there as a teenager and more recently, Death Cab for Cutie this summer. It's somewhat of a hidden oasis because as we all know, that area of Mesa has seen its share of better days. Yet, the inside of the Amp. remains virtually the same and very well maintained.
You can purchase tickets at the box office, free from all Ticketmaster charges. If you live in the east part of the valley, it's much better to just drive over there and pick them up instead of paying the outrageous fees.
The entire venue is covered in lush tiered lawn, making it surprisingly cooler even in the summer months. Note, it's by no means *cool* temperature wise but it definitely drops a few degrees by being so grassy. I like outdoor venues. I'd take an outdoor venue any day over a hellish sound reverberation indoor venue. You can see from anywhere in the place and the sound is good. Because of its bowl shape, it also provides plenty of shade in the late afternoon when you're waiting for the band to come on.
I enjoy the fact that you can easily park for cheap ($5) and get out relatively easily, or park in the neighborhood across Center St., get out even easier, and pay nothing.
The only problem I had was with the security being retarded about the camera I tried to bring in. Although it's a digital SLR and fairly large, the brawny nasty security lady snidely remarked "If the camera was as big as that bag, that there was NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO WAAAAAAAAAAAY I'm letting that in!" A simple, "Sorry, there's no large cameras allowed" would have been appreciated.
Don't try to bring in blankets either, for some reason an outdoor venue with grass thinks blankets are a sin.
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