Huntington Bank Pavilion at Northerly Island

Reviews 3

GE

George Givens

I do not recommend this venue to anyone who is disabled or mobility-impaired. Although they advertise it as being handicapped accessible, I would say that if you cant walk the excessive distance from the parking garage to the ticket line, FORGET IT. I attended the Bad Company/Joe Walsh concert last summer. The bands were awesome, but the experience at the Huntington Bank Pavilion was horrible due to insensitivity to people who are mobility-impaired, or poor or greedy logistics. I did not know if the concert was inside or outside at the time, and tried with no success to find a phone number where a human answered instead of a robot so I could ask two simple questions. 1) is the concert inside or outside, and 2). how far is the parking garage from the entrance to the venue? The robots assured me that everyone was busy taking care of other customers (for an entire week of calls at all hours of the day and evening?! I think there was no one taking care of other customers, only robots so as to increase the profits of the promoters) The robots eventually repeated the line about how everyone was so busy and I could remain on the line or if I wanted to leave a message someone would return my call. I waited for another option but wa just cut off. Since it seemed no one wold ever answer the phone, I left a message and my phone number, because the robot said if I did that, someone would return my call. I did, they didnt. As a result, I didnt bring a jacket, making the concert unpleasantly cold given the wind off of Lake Michigan and despite the great musicians. The parking garage was too far away from the concert for me to walk, this was the other question I was hoping to ask if anyone ever answered the phone numbers I called for over a week before the concert date. How far is the parking garage from the entrance to the concert? If I had known, I could have brought my own motorized scooter. Instead, for people who are mobility-impaired (I have severe RA but even we disabled people like music) the distance between the parking garage and the entrance to the pavilion is too great to be accessible for many people who are getting up there in years, like those who are about as old as the band members (Im younger than most of the classic rock musicians but people can get RA as juveniles ) Instead, of being able to used my own scooter, I left it at home because I didnt know I would need it, so for $30, there are people driving carts part of the way to the place where tickets are taken, then they unceremoniously dump off one group, leave them to walk the rest of the way, and go back to pick up the next hapless group who arent marathon runners and have to pay the extortionate fee or collapse, just trying to get to the concert. Luckily, I had the cash with me, but be forewarned. If you want to see Don Henley, expect the entire experience to be much more expensive and exhausting than the cost of the concert ticket and the $20 cost for parking. Id like to see him but Ive seen the Eagles in venues that are a lot more friendly to fans of the age that grew up during the Eagles hey-day. This is a venue that doesnt seem to know what age group its for. 20-somethings have less interest in performers from the 70s but more physical stamina to deal with the cold wind off the lake and excessive walking distance from the parking garage. 20-somethings also tend to have less money to spend on excessively-priced cart rides, and hoodies at the concert so they can enjoy the music without being distracted by how cold they are. Ironic, greed or poor planning? I learned my lesson last year. This year, Ill stay home and listen to Don Henleys music in warmth and comfort, save a lot of money and skip the frustration.

MI

Mikaila Denny

My experience here was AWFUL. Went to the Backstreet Boys concert Friday, Aug 2. Their performance was absolutely amazing! As was Jesse McCartney & Pauly Ds performances. The entertainers themselves & the shows they put on were awesome and there was nothing wrong with them at all! But about 3/4 of the way through the Backstreet Boys show, the Backstreet Boys finished a song and then all the lights in the pavilion came on and they started turning everything off, including the guys mics! I was very upset with this and the BSB were as well because they didnt get to finish their show and we didnt get to see what we PAID FOR. The BSB asked to play one more song since there was no notice to them shutting down the show, so they turned the guys mics back on and then turned them off again when they decided to make them quit. This is so UNPROFESSIONAL and absolutely RIDICULOUS. Then many of the fans were waiting out back to see if the BSB would come out and the security staff was HORRIBLE to everyone. They were rude and sexist. We were called bitches and that we were little bitches bitching about the poor concert. This is not fair WHATSOEVER. All of us PAID for those tickets and to see the ENTIRE SHOW and we got jipped about 1/4 of a show and were BELITTLED BY YOUR SECURITY STAFF. A lot of people drove from places other than Chicago to see this concert. My mother and I drove 3 hours from Davenport, IA to get to the concert and didnt even get what we paid for! Also the concessions were absolutely ridiculously overpriced. $11.00 for a beer, $15 for a vodka lemonade. There was not one squirt of vodka in there. $4.50 for water? What kind of crap is that?!! I would not recommend seeing any show at this place EVER. The concert was awesome until they UNPROFESSIONALLY shut it down. I will NEVER EVER go back to this place for a show. I hope no one ever does! WORST PLACE EVER. Never have I ever been to a concert where it was shut down! I WANT MY MONEY BACK FOR THE TICKETS. I DIDNT GET THE WHOLE SHOW I PAID FOR, YOUR COMPANY SHOULD NOT GET ALL OF THE MONEY I PAID FOR IT.

JE

Jessica J

This place is AWFUL!! I was there when it was the Charter One Pavilion and didnt like it, well this was worse!! I was at the Backstreet Boys concert on 8/2/13 and didnt arrive at the parking garage until about 8:15 p.m. in hopes of missing the opening acts that I didnt care to see and as I was walking to the venue the traffic people sent me and about 20 other people to an empty trolley that was supposed to take us to the venue, but they had no idea they ended at 8:00 p.m., but luckily one came by and nicely took us. Getting into the Venue was fine and I do like the idea of being able to bring your own bottle of water. I didnt purchase any food or drinks so have no opinion on that, but the restroom situation is a disgusting trailer style port a potty. They flush, but at the end of the day, its a portable toilet. Some of the paths on the out skirts of the venue are rocks and when wet puddles. The sound was just ok and the seats that we were sitting in were small and the entire set of bleacher style chairs that we were in rocked pretty bad when we were all dancing. As far as cutting the show off before it ended was ridiculous!! I get that there has to be a curfew, but when the concert doesnt start until later than posted that is not the artists fault. People pay good money to see the talent and it should never be cut off before the end. There have been concerts at other places that have gone well after 11:00 in the city where there are actual residents around and First Merit is on the lake, so Im not sure who the noise would be disturbing. I really hope that the Backstreet Boys come back to a different venue and give us the full show. I doubt that I will ever visit this venue again,and if more and more artists are unhappy I doubt they will be back either.

Other organizations