Ironstone Amphitheatre

Ironstone Amphitheatre/Richter Entertainment/Ticketmaster

Sunday, June 18, 2017- Moody Blues Concert in substandard venue -Ironstone Amphitheatre in Murphys, CA. Before attending a concert here it is best that you make yourself familiar with the facilities so you know that you are paying big bucks for a substandard venue with very substandard amenities. paid $250.00 each + $28.75 each service charge for two tickets in ninth row center. I feel I was ripped off in every way possible. I truly would like my money refunded or to have my tickets replaced with those to a venue with modern amenities who care and are capable of putting on a quality show for their customers. This venue is the worst! No toilets!! The Porta-potties were kept clean by several attendants who wiped them down after they were used several times in succession. They had urinals in them. When sitting on the seat those urinals were at face level. When I used the porta-potty the urinal had just been used and still had urine in it. So, I paid $278.75 to use the toilet and have someones urine in my face. How gross!! They had a separate urinal area so why have urinals in the porta-potty? The accommodations, except for the beer and wine area, were merely food trucks which were incapable of delivering timely service to patrons. There was one for several types of food and another for ice cream. The food was worse than what you would get at any regular venue which is saying quite a lot. Since many people had to travel for several hours to the venue and the surrounding small towns had little to offer this was what many were stuck with for dinner. I stood in line for an ice cream for 20 minutes and it would have been a good hour before I was able to order based on the movement of the line while I was in it. The regular folding chairs were zip-tied together, making it so that to fit in my seat I had to sit on the edge of it the whole time. No one wants to be smothered by two sweaty overweight people on either side in 100 degree weather. It made me feel like the venue owner(s) dont care if people are comfortable enough to really enjoy the show as their only aim is to make as much money as possible on every square inch of real estate they have. They need to put in permanent seating like that at other venues. Although I might have been able to overlook the accommodations since I was there for the music, it was impossible to overlook the poor sound quality. Gross distortion was evident at the first note the band played and as they played the crowd became apathetic. This resulted in the band not being into having fun and putting on a great show. The mixing was poorly done drowning vocals under drums and flutes under organs and synthesizers. The Moody Blues have so many layers and intricacies to their sound and songs and that is what I came expecting to hear. Instead I got muddy sound with many of the layers missing or buried. The speaker system is not adequate to put out enough sound to make it loud enough to even warrant earplugs. It is obvious by the level of distortion that the speaker system cant handle many amps. Last but not least was the parking. We were parked as far away as one could be parked from the single exit in a dirt field. We knew if we did not leave before the concert was over we would be stuck in the lot for hours. So after Forever Afternoon, Tuesday on the Days of Future Passed without hearing Nights in White Satin we decided we had better leave. We had three hours worth of driving ahead and couldnt see adding an hour ++ in just getting out of the parking lot. The route out of parking lot is not marked at all and as such almost resulted in an accident. I saw the Moody Blues about 15 years ago in Duarte, CA at a real amphitheater. That was my best ever concert experience!! It's horrible to see your favorite group of all time become your worst concert experience especially knowing that due to the age of the band and my age, it may be the last time I will ever see them.