Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Reviews 5

BO

Bob H

Tribute to Woodstock? Really? Beautifully manicured, tightly controlled, and nauseatingly commercial "big-box" entertainment. This is MSG with green grass and hills, and $30-$60 T-shirts, "Hendrix Burgers", the "Hungry Hippie" food stand, $13 beers, and zero soul or respect for the problems, thoughts, and feeling of the era they reap profit from. But then, this was brought to you by billionare Alan Gerry (think: Cablevision corp), and $15 million in taxpayer funding. So this was my second visit - James Taylor, last night - had lawn seats (first was to visit the "woodstock" museum, which was disturbingly sterile but nothing like the "concert") . Seems the proprietor is cash hungry and had no problem overselling seats. We got there at gate opening, and ended up in a spot that was over a ridge from the stage. You could see the roof of the stage, and sometimes, occasionally, a bit of a very nice LED screen that had a very nice picture of ... probably... James Taylor. Perhaps if we were 40 feet closer we would have had different impressions. Sound quality was hollow, Im sure the band was spectacular, maybe Ill catch a replay on Cablevision... whats the chance of that? The show and set list - well to his credit Mr Taylor had a laugh on that - he noted that it was "surprisingly a list of my biggest hits", with a sardonic tone. He sounded like he really did want to be there and give his best to the audience. Reason I was there is James has been able to channel dimensions of emotion and stellar musicianship for... near half a century, and Ill always stop to listen for something I missed in "Belfast to Boston" or cuts from One Man Dog, or "only a Dream in Rio" ... well none of these made the cut. I cant see a reason to return to Bethel Woods - other complaints about the good seats being controlled by scalpers seem to be true - I did try to avoid the cheap seats, really did want to see James, but I gagged on the prices I was seeing - skywards of 300$. Other Thoughts: They didnt charge for the ketchup - it was Heinz, but they ran out at the stand. If anything, the "preferred" parking is one awesome parking lot. Kudos to Alan on that one. They didnt charge for the soap for cleanup at the port-o-sans, but they ran out of that too. ... maybe there is a slight echo of Woodstock. If only theyd airlifted in some Heinz.

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JI

Jill Myruski

Bad experience with a hot headed security person, if it continues I will not be returning. I have been here many times over the past 8 years with family and friends. We always had a great time. Until last week at the Santana Concert. There were young security people patrolling the isle in the the lawn area. I was standing/dancing on the side of the isle with my husband directly in front of me and there were other people lined up in front of him and behind me as well. The security people kept coming up behind me during the concert and tapping on my shoulder rather hard, telling me to keep the path clear. I was not in the path; I was on the side of it and apparently where I was standing was OK because they did not tell me to move nor did they tell any of us standing on the side to move. Each time I just nodded and they continued down the hill. They came by taped on my shoulder three different times. I was standing in the same place (on the side) the whole time. So I was physically interrupted while I was enjoying the concert 3 times for apparently nothing! I felt harassed so I stepped out onto the path to see what was going on and an older security man came flying up the isle and got directly in my face and yelled "do you have a problem!". He screamed that twice in my face! I did not say a word because I did not want to provoke him, he was very hostile! They should not have people like that working there. First I was encroached upon with the shoulder tapping; then I was verbally attacked! Mind you this is a Santana concert, most of the attendees were in their 60s including me, ridiculous!

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SO

Sonya Stauder

Recently attended the Brantley Gilbert concert here and I have to say, I was very disappointed. The performance was outstanding, and the venue is so beautiful. But, parking is very far away. Not too big of an issue until you get to the ticket gate and they tell you that you cant bring in your hand bag. At 7 months pregnant I was very upset to have to walk back to my vehicle and back up again. There is one sign on one side of the parking lot indicating this rule, and we walked on the opposite side of course. I would suggest adding more signs to the parking lot, or even lockers outside of the gates so people dont have to go through the same experience. And then to top it off for some reason they sold me a water bottle without the top? Im sure there is some reason behind this but inconvenient none the less. There needs to be more security in the lawn section. I was annoyed at the amount of weed I had to smell all night. After the concert I was disgusted by the sea of beer cans on the lawn to be kicked around. It was unbelievable. More trash/recycling cans could possibly help this or security monitoring the issue. Leaving is a nightmare. Lots of shouting between cars and aggressive driving, not to mention an extremely long wait. It is a truly beautiful venue and the concert was fantastic but these issues made it hard to enjoy the experience.

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JA

Jay

Couple ways to look at this place - good and bad. Our first time here, we saw Zac Brown. The place is beautiful, and the sound system is like nothing Ive ever heard - up close/foreground no matter what angle youre at. The venue is on the historic Woodstock Festival site, and the bad news is that even after 48 years the sites traffic management has not improved. At. All. Yes, its out in the country - I get it. But so is every major citys outdoor venues. Unlike the rest of the world, this place has done nothing to build up the surrounding infrastructure. Nor have they done anything to improve traffic management. You have to guess which way gets you out. Turns out thats actually uphill in lot b, not from the way you came in. They empty the upper lots first and work their way down instead of metering the outflow. State and local cops are rude. God forbid a first-timer has a question. The show was great. The pavilion fantastic. The grounds, restrooms and concessions all first-rate. But for the hour to get in and the two to get out . . . they could be turning turds into gold nuggets for free, and it wouldnt get me to go back

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PH

Phyliss Walter

I was there on the 7/21 Lawn seats To see perfomers Rod Stuwart & Cyndi Lauper i parked in lot B all the way down at the bottom im 73 years old i cant walk up hills to the brick road to the lawn i asked one of the parking attendence if i could have one of the golf carts take me she said i have to be handicapped which im not i have weak ankles but not enough to get a handicapp sign in my windshield then i made it to the top in pain to only carry my own chair which to my disappointment was low to the ground like a beach chair my friends had regular lawn chairs once i sat in it i couldnt get up w/ out the help of my friends and to tired to bring the chair back then after cyndi sang her 2nd song black clouds and heavy rain wtch is not Bethel woods fault but im not sitting in the rain so back down to the parking lot looking for my car walking in mud all alone twilight all i need now is to run into a bear, i cant see why you cant have a tram to pick up guest from the parking lots i will never go to the Bethelwoods again and i live in Bethel to much walking and the lawn should have a canopy

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