The Greek Theatre

★★★★★

I’ve seen a half-dozen concerts at the Greek Theatre over the past 20 or so years, most recently last week. Every time the sound balance has been perfect, no matter what type of act is playing. Vocals, orchestras, electric guitars, all sound perfectly clear. Even the “obstructed view” seats way off to the side are still pretty good.

Nighttime view of an outdoor amphitheatre, seen from way off to the side. The stage has that kind of triangular proscenium associated with older Greek theaters, and a small orchestra is lit up purple. A large video screen flanks the far side. You can assume there's one on the near side too, but it's edge on and invisible. The audience seating is full, and stretches up the hillside opposite the stage. In the distance you can see tall pine trees silhouetted against the sky.

The scenery is beautiful. It’s outdoors, surrounded by the hills and trees of Griffith Park above Los Angeles. Depending on the season, it might already be dark by the time an event starts, or it might still be light, slowly darkening through twilight into the evening. I’ve been there when it’s cold enough to need jackets, and when it’s warm enough to wear shorts. At least twice I’ve watched the moon rise over the hills during the concert.

Now that they’re using the Ticketmaster app for scanning tickets, you need network access just to get in. T-Mobile has absolutely zero coverage. Fortunately the venue offers free Wi-Fi.

Parking is Terrible

For last week’s concert I thought I could allow 20-30 minutes like we used to, but even with that allowance we were 15-20 minutes late for the concert.

There’s basically one road into the hills, and they do stack parking on the lawn uphill from the venue. I can only imagine what the people who own the expensive houses along the same road think of the traffic on concert nights.

This time, the line of cars was backed up all the way out of the hills and several blocks into the nearby suburbs. Once we crossed into the hills, we saw people walking along the road. Whether they’d taken rideshares, taxis or buses and stopped early, or parked somewhere (where?) in town, I don’t know. I just know that they got there faster, walking uphill, than we did in the car…and once they reached the theater, they didn’t have to pass it, park and get back.

There are shuttles. There at least used to be shuttles that picked up at nearby restaurants, and you could get a combo reservation. But as far as I can tell, the shuttles have to use the same road the rest of us do, unless they go all the way around and come in from the back…which probably would be faster, now that I think of it.

More info at The Greek Theatre.