I came here a few nights ago for the Carnivores Tour.
1st, I thought that it was super cool that I got to ride the light rail for the first time & it was free! (I love freebies!) Apparently, if you have a ticket to an event at the US Airways center, you can ride the Metro Valley Light Rail for free that day, starting 4 hours prior to show time, until the end of the day. Just be prepared to show your physical ticket if asked. Concert parking is always nerve-wracking and expensive, so I was very appreciative of this stress-free option. Keep in mind, if the event runs past 11pm, the furthest east you'll be able to travel is 44th & Washington.
Large venue with an excellent sound system. Jared's (30 STM) acoustic set and Linkin Park's everything sounded amazing! Large pit area; nice for moshing. The stage is a little weird. I'm used to the stage extending a little further out towards the audience, but it was pretty far back.
I was looking forward to trying G'rill Dogs vegan options after reading a Yelp friend's review, but they were closed the whole night. :( There were some Mexican food options which served salsa and guac as vegan options, however, I opted for a stadium pretzel which was so hard and stale that you could stone one to death if thrown. They may want to ban those from the auditorium. I ended up throwing it, & therefore my $5 away. $6 bottled water, which did not go to waste.
I don't know if I lucked up or not, but I didn't have to walk far to find a restroom.It wasn't as huge as you'd think for that size venue, but there was no line so I didn't have to wait.
Security was in full effect and I felt safe waiting at the light rail station after midnight.
Also, when I was purchasing the tickets for this event, on the 1st day of sale, my ticket window guy was awesome! He snagged the area/section that I wanted and set me up with an account so that if my tickets were lost or stolen I'd be able to get a re-print. Sweet!