August 11, 2009 at 11:00pm by Matt Meltzer
It is Summer, in case a few of you hadn’t noticed. And in the rest of the country one of the many things associated with Summer is Outdoor Concert Season. Lots of cool outdoor venues host all sorts of acts all summer, while the Top 40 station throws its Summer Jam and the Alt-Rock Station hosts its StationNameFest. Good times all around. These tours typically wait until the Fall to come visit us in South Florida, as nobody is clamoring to do a 2 hour set in 92% humidity. Especially since whiskey and heroin also tend to dehydrate you.
ALWAYS NICE TO SPEND MORE TIME IN YOUR CAR THAN AT THE SHOW
But when the big rock and roll outdoor concert tours eventually do make their way to South Florida, few if any ever make it past Exit 98 on the Turnpike. Which for the unfamiliar is somewhere up in Central Palm Beach County. After work on a weekday, this can be a 90 minute drive from Miami, more if you live in South Dade. In other words, a giant freaking schlep for anyone living in biggest city in the state.
I mean, I’ve been to the Coral Sky/Mars Music/Sound Advice/Cruzan amphitheater. It’s not bad. Once you’re there. But the single, two-lane road that leads from the Turnpike into the parking lot has been known to cause a backup or two. Like a backup so bad that you often miss the beginning of the act you paid more than you should have to see. Not a bad venue, but not terribly user friendly. Even if you live in Broward, getting there is a pain.
PERHAPS OUR OVERZEALOUS PERSECUTION OF THE DOORS SCARED THEM AWAY
So why, I ask, does every big outdoor concert tour insist on playing only in West Palm? They hear about what happened to Jim Morrison and decide the city wasn’t for them? They still think we carjack everyone? Is their Spanish really THAT bad? I mean, it’s MIAMI, folks. One of the larger cities in America. And we have a perfectly nice amphitheater sitting right on the Bay in Bayfront Park. Never mind that it doesn’t seat that many people and the sound system would probably only work for a James Taylor acoustic set. You can’t beat a concert with that view. And it has both ample parking and freeway access. Is it really that hard?
COW PASTURE VS. BISCAYNE BAY. HMMMMM…..
Or maybe, just maybe, someone would get the bright idea to renovate the place and make it more attractive to big summer tours. I can’t imagine a promoter opting to have their concert in the middle of a field in Palm Beach County when a comparable venue was in a bayside downtown of a major city. Of course, our venue isn’t comparable now, but it seems like one of those renovations that wouldn’t cost billions of dollars and could probably be profitable.
If the City doesn’t have the money, fine. I bet there’s a private enterprise that would be more than happy to take over Bayfront Park and make it a first-class venue. We have the natural surroundings. Let’s take advantage of them so that we can stop missing concerts because we’re in traffic, and start getting home before 1 a.m.
 | Matt Meltzer is a featured columnist at Miami Beach 411. Matt’s column appears Tuesdays. See more articles by Matt Meltzer > |
