Five Horizons: The 5h Venue Guide

The 5h Venue Guide
Some of us are just gonna get on the bus or get in the car and drive to see the PJ show in our hometown, while others are more ambitious and are going to see multiple shows. Whether you're going to use your Ten Club tickets as an excuse to take a vacation to Seattle or NYC, or going to hit as many shows as you can, here are the opinions of us, and other fans (the ones in quotation marks), on the venues on the tour, in order - please feel free to send us your thoughts on the ones that are blank.
Note: These are capsule descriptions of the venues. For more extensive detail, check the listing for each date in the main Going Mobile Calendar.

Grizzly Stadium: It's a football stadium. A new football stadium -- apparently PJ will be one of the first shows there. But, still, a general admission show at a football stadium. However, it's the tour opener, which says it all.
Delta Center: No clues. A basketball arena, however.
Fiddler's Green: Yet another one in a series of "sheds", or outdoor ampitheatres, where there's reserved seating undercover, and general admission lawn seating waaaaaay in the back (much like Shoreline Ampitheatre, but usually more covered).
Rushmore Plaza Civic Center: "It's used for b-ball games, and all seats will be GA. This is the first major 'alternative' concert they have held."
Alpine Valley: Yet another shed; however, PJ seem to like this venue; their 1992 Lolla appearance here was one of the best on that tour. "Great outdoor venue. Set up by a ski slope."
United Center: A basketball arena; "Admittedly a huge basketball arena, not the best place to see a concert. But, almost guarenteed it will be a highlight. Think about it...all Chicago shows are something special, especially Soldier Field, Eddie loves coming home again. They are all HUGE basketball fans, especially the Bulls, so no doubt this will give them a special thrill. Dennis Rodman will no doubt be at this show, putting a little prayer in the back of my mind for a live rendition of 'Black, Red Yellow'. This will be a fabulous show....."
Target Center: Another b-ball arena.
Riverport Ampitheatre: PJ were banned from this venue, due to Eddie's scaffold climbing antics at the 92 Lollapalooza show there. This is an especially nice venue; it's another shed, but they do have a controlled, limited "mosh pit" area down front. Jean's favorite venue: "Riverport also has the longest "NO" list i've ever seen (list of things NOT allowed). this is where the guns & roses riot occurred that totally trashed the place so they are FUSSY. it is very similar to Marcus Ampitheatre (in Milwaukee)."
Sandstone Ampitheatre: "This one actually isn't covered. It's all open-air, and the sightlines are really good from just about anywhere in the place. The sound isn't the best though, unless you're close, and they never seem very willing to turn it up."
Reunion Arena: "Reunion Arena is used for almost everything in Dallas other than football. I've seen the Pumpkins there and REM there. The acoustics in the building are about as good as any Basketball arena....not good. But for a large scale concert bigger than Starplex and smaller than Texas Stadium, this is the perfect place in Dallas."
Tingley Coliseum: "Robert Plant described Tingley as an 'old cow palace.' Yes, it is. Okay lines of sight, dreadful sound (old with a facelift) but in case the place catches fire from the sounds inside, lots of safety-minded exits and stairwells to escape through--but--most important--lousy "facilities"--don't drink and rock--you'll have no place to pee that doesn't take a 1/2 an hour to get through, especially if you're female; decent floor and nice box seats, in terms of view). "
Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum: ?
San Diego Sports Arena: Locals seem to be less than thrilled; we've heard it referred to as the "Sports Aroma" before.
The Forum: LA natives agree: the Forum sucks.
Arco Arena: And apparently Sacto natives feel the same about the "Echo Arena".
Rose Garden: This is a little brand-new jewel of a basketball arena, built by Paul Allen for the Portland Trailblazers. This is an excellent venue to see a concert, and there isn't a bad seat in the place.
Memorial Stadium: Everyone planning to travel to Seattle to see PJ -- you will be very disappointed by this venue, especially if you were at the Key Arena show in 1996. (Key Arena is very similar to the Rose Garden.) It's a 1940's high school football stadium, narrow, uncomfortable, echoey, bad sightlines.
Deer Creek Music Center: " The venue is your standard ampitheatre with a lawn. However, the lawn is basically a huge mound of dirt with preety poor sight lines for an ampitheatre. In my experience, lawn seating really isn't worth the time or the money... They do have a few screens which help. Acoustics are o.k."
Breslin Student Events Center: "The Breslin Center in East Lansing has got to be one of the WORST venues for a concert i have ever been to. If you plan on hearing anything, don't go. Try to get tickets for Toronto, Indy, Chicago...somewhere outside. In the Breslin at a Pumpkins show, all we heard was voice and drums. Everything else was completely drowned out....why the hell would they have it here anyway???"
Molson Centre: "The Molson Centre is a hockey arena which is home of the montreal canadiens. It plays host to many concerts, as well as the occasional world wrestling federation pay per view. The centre seats approx. 22, 000 (I'm not sure if this includes luxury boxes) and has excellent sightlines to the floor no matter where you are sitting."
"It is a brand new hockey arena (Montreal Canadians of the NHL) built in 1995. It was specially conceived to host musical events (accoustics, seats, designs,etc...)and most of the big names now play at this Center in Montreal. Great place to host the show if you are to see PJ in a high capacity venue." "Overall I think it is closer to going to the theatre than a game."
Molson Park: "Molson Park is a great spot to watch a band. It's an outdoor stage with a slightly sloped field (so even if your back pretty far, it's easy to see the band) and a great sound system. The parking lot will be hell to get out of, and it takes a bit of time getting out of the audience after the show. At the Tragically Hip concert, anyone could get into the mosh pit with a little persistance."
And a dissenting opinion: "Molson Park is not a very nice venue. It holds over 30 thousand people and there is one way in and out! Getting in can take a very long time and the line ups are hell. It's in Barrie which is 45 min north of Toronto. The traffic is always awful. It's a big field in farm land. Also late august in Toronto is very very hot."
Starlake Ampitheatre: "A great place to watch a show. They have pavillion seating (most of it covered) and a huge hill for general admission seating."
Blossom Music Center: ?
ecentre (Blockbuster Music Center: "It's an unbelievable venue, only a few years old. Classic amphitheater type place with stage then seats then the lawn. All the seats have a good sight line (one time for The Who I was in the back corner and I could see fine) and the lawn is elevated very high so everyone can see although the pillars supporting the roof get in the way sometimes, 3 video screens and parking everywhere. The place could be a little louder but I read somewhere they're adding more speakers. I've been telling my friends for years how awesome it would be if PJ played here, truly amazing vibe in that place."
Lakewood Ampitheatre: "This is your standard outdoor 'pavilion' type venue. If you've seen one, you've seen them all: forty rows of covered seats with a grassy hill behind it. It's rather well constructed - you can see the stage reasonably well from almost anywhere on the lawn, even if all of the people in seats are standing on their seats. They also have two large screens facing the lawn for your viewing pleasure. (Here's hoping Ed climbs the back wall again!)
Birmingham-Jefferson Coliseum: ?
Bi-Lo Center: Still being built.
Thompson-Boiling Arena: Basketball arena for the University of Tennessee.
Continental Arena: Formerly known as the Brendan Byrne Arena, this was allegedly the first arena built specifically with concerts in mind. As such, the acoustics were supposed to be super, but I never found it to be that amazing. But, it's not a halfway bad venue, even if it is in New Jersey =).
Madison Square Garden: The grandaddy of all concert arenas. Everyone has played here. They remodeled it recently and it's supposed to be very nice, but it almost doesn't matter: the vibes in this place are just incredible.
Meadows Music Theater: Caryn's brother's favorite NYC-area venue. It's a shed, set in a nice area, with facilities well-removed from the music area.
Great Woods Center: "It is much better than a shed. In fact it is a perfect place for Pearl Jam to play in mid-spetember since the weather will be perfect for an evening show outside under the stars. We usually have "Indian Summer" about then, and given the visibility form all parts of the venue of the sky and the stage the combination should be brillant." Also: "ASTRONOMICAL FOOD PRICES!"
Merriweather Post Pavilion: "Another "pavilion", but one of the worst I've ever been to in terms of viewing. Construction-wise, it's very wooden and outdoors-y, whereas most "pavilions" are concrete. Here's the bad part - the slope of the seats is so steep that unless you're at the very front or at the very top of the lawn, you CAN'T see the stage from the lawn. At all. At the 9/24/96 show, they didn't have tv screens on, so 90% of the people on the lawn could only hear the show. Somebody better tell the band to turn on the tv screens this go-round."
Got any opinions on any of the venues? Send 'em along!