Let me start by saying if your going to visit the Symphony Hall in downtown Phoenix make sure you take care of your parking arrangements early. There is virtually no free parking downtown and we arrived almost an hour an half early for our show. Here is a very valuable tip: Go to the Herberger Center....buy a 3 dollar parking pass and park in the Arizona Center Parking Garage. Now the trick here is there must be an event going on at the Herberger for you to get the pass....but that shouldn't be a problem because there is always something going on there. Also this tip is only good if your willing to WALK....now don't get me wrong the Herberger.....Collier.....and Symphony Hall are all close together. Not to mention the Phoenix Convention Center....US Airways Arena.....and Chase Field are also within walking distance as well. Now since there are a ton of Senior Citizens that come to events at the theatre's especially.....if your traveling with them.....just drop them off....get the parking pass and then you can walk to the venue and meet them.
Now that that issue is covered back to the Symphony Hall itself. This is an awesome venue with easy access to your seats and plenty of wide open space for you to move around....mingle....enjoy a cocktail....and of course see a wonderful performance by the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra. The wife and I had tickets to see Patti Austin perform songs by Ella Fitzgerald....Duke Ellington.....Frank Sinatra.....Judy Garland.....and George Gershwin. We had pretty good seats considering we are "SEAT FILLER" members which by the way is an awesome program. The tickets for this concert were 59 bucks a piece.....our SEAT FILLER program is only 40 bucks for two people for an ENTIRE YEAR. So with that being said we definitely got our money's worth
Now I have seen both Wynton Marsalis and Tony Bennett in concert but I have never seen Patti Austin or a symphony orchestra for that matter in person. I have to say Patti Austin did deliver as advertised but the Phoenix Symphony Orchestra was AWESOME. I highly recommend if you get a chance to hear the wonderful voice of 62 YEAR OLD Patty Austin....please do so. As for the Symphony Orchestra.....it is must HEAR entertainment to the MAX people.....go and listen for yourself if you don't believe me. Eat, Drink, and be Merry my Friends!!!!