Shoreline Amphitheatre

Shoreline Amphitheatre
"Shoreline"

Shoreline Amphitheatre as seen from ground level
Address One Amphitheatre Parkway
Location Mountain View, California
Coordinates 37°25′36″N 122°04′51″W / 37.426778°N 122.080733°W / 37.426778; -122.080733Coordinates: 37°25′36″N 122°04′51″W / 37.426778°N 122.080733°W / 37.426778; -122.080733
Owner City of Mountain View
Operator Live Nation
Type Outdoor amphitheatre
Seating type reserved, lawn
Capacity 22,500
Opened 1986
Website
www.livenation.com
Aerial photograph of Shoreline Amphitheatre, with the parking lots and the neighboring golf course.

Shoreline Amphitheatre is an outdoor amphitheater located in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The venue has a capacity of 22,500, with 6,500 reserved seats and 16,000 general admission on the lawn. When the parking lot is utilized for festival stages, the total capacity of the venue can reach 30,000.

History

The amphitheatre was built in 1985-1986 by the city of Mountain View, in cooperation with local promoter Bill Graham, as part of the Shoreline Park project. Graham designed the amphitheatre to resemble The Grateful Dead's "steal your face" logo. Each row of fixed seating at the amphitheatre has a pitch of three feet, providing ample legroom and space for dancing.

The premiere season was during the summer of 1986, it was planned to open with a concert by The Grateful Dead, who had to cancel as a result of Jerry Garcia's coma. They first performed at Shoreline Amphitheater on October 2, 1987 and played a total of 39 concerts. Shows from October 3, 1987 and June 16, 1990 were recorded and later released as a live album, entitled View from the Vault, Volume Three.

The Bee Gees held a "One for America" concert in the amphitheater on September 2, 1989 during the United States leg of their 1989 One for All tour

Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe performed on September 9, 1989, the show was recorded and released as a live album, entitled An Evening of Yes Music Plus.

The Dave Matthews Band performed during their Crash Tour on July 6, 1997, the show was recorded and released as a live album, entitled Live Trax Vol. 17.

The amphitheatre has played host to many music festivals, including All That! Music and More Festival, Anger Management Tour, Area Festival, BeachFest, Bridge School Benefit, Country Throwdown Tour, Crüe Fest, Crüe Fest 2, Download Festival, Family Values Tour, FoolFest, Furthur Festival, Gathering of the Tribes Festival, H.O.R.D.E. Festival, Harmony By the Bay Festival, Honda Civic Tour, Identity Festival, I Love This City Festival, KITS Live 105's BFD, KOME X-Fest, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Mayhem Festival, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution, Rock the Bells Festival, Sprite Liquid Mix Tour, Uproar Festival and Vans Warped Tour.

Built on a landfill

In its opening year, a fan attending a Steve Winwood concert flicked a cigarette lighter and ignited methane that had been leaking from a landfill underneath the theatre. Several small fires were reported that season. After those incidents, the city of Mountain View commissioned methane testing studies to define the locus of methane vapors emanating from the soil within the amphitheater.[1] These tests were used in developing a design for improved methane monitoring and more efficient methane extraction to assure the amphitheater became safe as an outdoor venue. Ultimately, the lawn was removed, a gas barrier and better methane removal equipment was installed, and then the lawn was re-installed.

See also

References

  1. Methane testing in the vicinity of landfill environs, EMI prepared for the City of Mountain View, Ca., 1986-87

External links

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