Did Morton Amphitheater fix parking issues in second concert? What we learned
Opening night at Morton Amphitheater was about as perfect as you could get. The calm and sunny weather paired with the sounds of Kesha are all you could ask for at the new outdoor venue in Riverside.
Until the show ended.
Reports from fans on social media stated that they were stuck waiting to exit the parking lot after the show ended for over 90 minutes, with one concert-goer saying they were stuck in the same spot for 30 minutes with no movement.
With an even bigger show looming, led by Australian house music group Rüfüs Du Sol, the amphitheater announced changes to the parking lot that, according to them, would make entering and exiting easier. Additional signage added throughout the parking lots and new directions on where people need to turn to enter the venue were a part of these changes.
Did they make it easier to enter and exit Morton Amphitheater? Are people still in line waiting to leave at this very moment? Here’s what The Star experienced and learned from concert-goers at the sold-out show Wednesday, June 10.
The benefits of leaving early
Attendees knew of the issues the crowd faced after Kesha’s show, and took that into their planning. Some planned to leave early to beat the traffic.
It worked for Kansas City-area native Jordan Myhre, who parked inside the reserved parking lot with friends. His group left right as the encore section began, and he said it was a very efficient and easy exit.
But more signage about where to go to exit the venue is needed, he said.
Other early departures were KC residents Matthew Barmann and Dania Isidro, who parked in the gold reserved section, which is one of the amphitheater’s premium parking experiences. They left before the last song and said it took about five minutes to leave the lot.
Traffic attendants and police were directing traffic on where to go, and police also blocked off certain parts of the road to help with the exit process.
“I was afraid it would be a lot worse based on what I head from people that went to the Kesha concert, but it seemed like they had made it more of a priority this time,” Barmann said.
However, he said going in was more confusing, noting that there is no consistent naming for the levels of parking. Attendants wrote “P+” on his windshield, but received different information from different attendants as they were directing him where he needed to go.
It also only took five minutes for Alexis Staab and Ashley Casella to leave. They were parked in the general parking lot, which is a longer walk to get to after the show. The combination of attendants and police officers directing traffic seemed to have worked.
Signs in the parking lot include arrows pointing to where the lettered lots are located, and the amphitheater recommends taking a photo so you can quickly locate your car after the show, but Staab said she’d like to see even more in the area. She said so many people were still walking around setting off their car alarms and honking their horns to find their car.
Isabella Stankevitch and her husband had similar luck in leaving in a timely manner, and they left after the encore.
“I was anxious about leaving, but pleasantly surprised when leaving the concert to getting home was 25 minutes total,” Stankevitch said. “It seems like the improvements they made from the Kesha concert were helpful.”
‘The attendants were doing a job’
It wasn’t so easy for every concert-goer June 10.
Nick Clark, who was the designated driver for his friend group, said it took exactly 49 minutes to get out of the parking lot.
He showed up early for the show, and he feels the early birds should have a better way to get out and not be punished for showing up early or on time to fully enjoy the venue.
“The attendants were doing a job,” Clark said. “Honestly a s--- show no matter how you shake it. Doing the best with what they can.”
It only took Abby McGill and Gabriel Cumbie around 15 minutes to leave from their spot in the general parking section, but not without some hiccups. While attendants directed them to the main road, they couldn’t get on the highway ramp closest to the venue since officers had it blocked off.
McGill noted that more attendants were there postshow compared to preshow, and she also liked that they were several exit paths. She would like to see better directions shared on how visitors can get to their correct exit.
Better lighting in the parking lots is something she’d like to see added, as it was difficult to see people walking around the lots at night looking for their cars while she was on her way out.
In case you were wondering, it took The Star 24 minutes to leave from when the house lights came on to getting on Horizons Parkway. We were directed to the staff parking lot in Gate 5, and might’ve beat some of the traffic if I didn’t stop to say hello to my third-grade teacher.
The staff parking entrance/exit also had hundreds waiting for rideshare options. But the amphitheater’s dedicated rideshare queue is located on the opposite side of the venue, near general parking lot D by Northwest 39th and Northwest Helena streets.
