RiverBender Blog: The Summer's First Show at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater
You know you’re in the heat of the summer when you find yourself at one of the many great shows in the Riverbend and St. Louis metro regions.
Our area offers some incredible music and theater opportunities year-round, but these shows take on a new ferocity during the summer months. Whether you’re at the Alton Muny Band shows, Rockin’ With Robert concerts, the St. Louis Muny outdoor theater, or chilling at a local summer festival like Brighton’s Betsey Ann Picnic, you’re bound to enjoy some 10/10 performances.
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This past week, I found myself en route to the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater for one of their first shows of the summer. We The Kings, Simple Plan, and headliner Avril Lavigne were performing, and my friends and I were absolutely pumped to enjoy some early 2000s bangers.
It had been a while since I’d attended a show at the amphitheater, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. My friends and I loaded the car with blankets and water bottles, then began our trek to St. Louis, where we quickly ran into a backlog of traffic.
Hundreds of cars were streaming into the amphitheater parking lot. We inched along at a snail’s pace, rocking out to “Sk8er Boi” and trying our best not to rear-end anyone.
As the driver and holder-of-the-tickets, I had the responsibility of making sure we could actually experience this concert. The pressure was on as I navigated to a parking space, mentally preparing myself for later that night when the show would end and we’d have to navigate the hellish experience that is the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater parking lot.
It always makes me nervous to get into a venue. I worry my tickets won’t scan or I’ll be turned away for some unrealistic reason. Of course, none of this happened. We made it through security, scanned our tickets, and were off to find a space.
The show was sold out, and we — as I always am — were fashionably late, so we were hard-pressed to find a spot in the overcrowded lawn. Fortunately, we found a small square of grass, laid out our blankets, and settled in for the show, which totally ruled. My friends and I jammed the night away.
And then, all too soon, it was time to leave, and we were faced with a new challenge that is almost more overwhelming than getting into the venue: getting out of it. As Avril began her encore, my friends and I exchanged glances and silently agreed we would forego the last two songs.
This was our tradeoff: Skip the encore for the opportunity to exit the parking lot before the masses. In the past, I have spent over an hour in that parking lot, traffic at a complete standstill. Maybe I can have patience on a weekend, but it was a Thursday night and I had places to be the next morning. So into the parking lot we charged, Avril’s vocals still echoing behind us as she finished her show.
We weren’t the only ones who decided to leave early. Hundreds of people flooded the parking lot at once, and my friends began the frantic search for the car, running between the rows and trying to remember where we parked. It was a race against the clock, and we were going to win.
Fortunately, we located and loaded into the car, and I swung out of the parking space at record speed. Unfortunately, so did everyone else. We zoomed ahead and then lurched to a stop, trapped behind a line of cars.
My friends urged me not to let anyone inch ahead of us, while I, forever afraid of making anyone angry, let car after car zipper in. And so we were stuck in this limbo for many minutes.
Obviously, we did not end up trapped in the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater parking lot, though there were moments when it felt like we would never leave it. We did eventually exit onto the highway and make our way home, where I collapsed into bed at 1 a.m. on Friday morning, already exhausted for the next day.
But it was totally worth it. I’ll be back at the Hollywood Casino Amphitheater in the next few weeks for another concert, and then at the St. Louis Muny for a few shows this summer (their lineup is fantastic this year), not to mention the countless free festivals and concerts in the Alton region over the next few months.
Live performances are where it’s at, and I can’t wait to enjoy all that the summer has to offer. What am I missing? What shows should I check out? Let me know in the comments. I’m forever looking for new things to try, and I’m ready for a fun summer of shows, concerts and good times.
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