I "heart" the Meadow Brook Music Festival! It is absolutely, hands down, without a doubt my favorite outdoor concert venue in Michigan. The setting is lovely - feels like you are watching a concert in the woods. It isn't huge like Pine Knob, so even on the lawn it has an intimate feel. The vibe is just friendly and happy.
I'm not going to lie - getting into the parking lot can be a bit of a challenge. Long lines and mud and all that. Plan ahead and allow some extra time. Also, make note -- not all pavillion seats are under the roof. Â
I have seen sooooo many great shows here over the years - Wilco, Of Monsters and Men, Ray Lamontagne, The Special Beat Elvis Costello, David Byrne, the DSO, and even the Von Trapp Family Singers (who doesn't love The Sounds of Music, yo?).
Just went to Meadow Brook Music Festival for Of Monsters and Men. The venue is great - just the perfect size for an outdoor concert.
The low rating is due to pricing - $10 to park in a muddy field significantly further away from the venue than most other places. It took me well over 45 minutes to get into the parking lot off the highway. Meadow Brook needs to find a better parking system so that this kind of back up doesn't happen. I've never experienced something like this at any other venue.
For less traffic congestion and the same type of atmosphere, I'll go to DTE for outdoor concerts in the future and try to avoid this venue.
I am writing a review for the event this past weekend (August 25 & 26th, 2012) at the Meadow Brook Music Festival - it was a wine and food tasting festival. Â I purchased a Living Social deal for 2 people for a total of $32.00 - which I have been to a number of wine tastings and I thought ohh how beautiful is this going to be on the lovely grounds of Meadow Brook!
As we were driving to Rochester Hills we were excited about the wine tasting because we have not gone to one in over a year because of my health. Â Now that I am feeling better I am ready to run!!!! Â Since this was a food tasting event we went hungry as well! Â Why eat if they were providing food - right; wrong!
First disappointment was parking - $10 additional for each car parking. Â So, the total now went up to $42.00. Â Okay, this is alright, I thought, because it is a wine and food tasting festival. Â It was quite easy checking in, had to switch the email receipt for tickets and then go through a line and show our driver's license to ensure that we were over 21. Â Now remember, BF is qualified as a senior citizen and me - just getting out of chemo my skin got quite dry and I wish I looked like I was in my 40's! Â 2nd disappointment were all the vendors. Â OMG you should have seen them all. Â They want you to look at their wares - which were beautiful - and spend even more money. Â Hasn't anyone looked at the economy lately? Â I am sure that these poor vendors had to pay for their little tents as well. Â But come on, this is supposedly a wine and food tasting festival, not a home improvement festival, my goodness even Andersen Windows were there to try to sell people going to a wine and food tasting festival windows!!
One good thing was the grounds - beautiful and impeccable, but that was the only good thing. Â So you get your tickets, they give you a little wine glass with Kroger stamped on it, 5 little blue tickets, and one entry into the "Kroger tent". Â Getting into the tent was like a circus, very crowded and it was quite hot outside! Â It's summer and it is outside, but come on - you could have provided fans for a tent that holds about 150 people and there were about 250 inside = shoulder to shoulder. Â We get to the first table and decide to why not try this. Â So, we give them our little tacky wine glass with Kroger stamped on it and they poured us just a little, not enough even for a full taste. Â I sort of laughed and said where is the rest and he said it is pre-measured and it is equal to a one ounce shot! OMG, and to top it off he asks for one of our blue tickets. Â Come on - we are only going to get 4 more one ounce tastes? Â Finally, we get to the food - what where is the food? Â I don't eat sweets, usually. Â Provided as part of the food you got a little cup with maybe a teaspoonful of ice cream - whoopdidoo. Next table you get 3 pieces of some sort of little pasta, and next table you get to taste some cheese and they will give you a piece of bread with it if you want it. Â Wow! Â Remember, we went hungry.
I see some sweet, young girls there and they had full glasses of wine and I asked them how did they get that? Â They said we asked for it and they gave it to us. Â So, just ask them. Â Well, I said it wouldn't hurt. Â So, next vendor I am ready with a smile. Â I say, "can I have more than just the one ounce", they said - on no, it is premeasured and we cannot give any more than that! Â I looked at them and smiled and said thank you, while thinking I am not a pretty young thang so I am not going to get a full glass of wine. Â We continue to go around and find different wines that we want to taste. We smell food and start to go towards it. Â Well, if we want to purchase additional tickets then we can buy some FOOD! Â I looked at BF and told him we can stop on the way home and pick up a bottle of wine and I have 2 perfect steaks waiting to be barbequed at home. Â He looked at me and smiled. Â That is exactly what we did, we left that hell-hole and found contentment at my barbeque grill in my backyard. Â When we were finished we appreciated the fact that in my back yard we had perfectly grilled steaks and enough wine to taste - gee, it is just too bad that the Meadow Brook Wine and Food Tasting Festival did not have anything!
Closer than Pine Knob, just as easy to access and far more intimate - Meadow Brook Music Festival is an ideal spot to check out a show!
The Counting Crowes were amazing last week and given the fact that it's maybe half the size of the Knob, the shows are way more chill and lawn seats will actually get you a spot on some real grass so don't fear if you didn't bring a blanket.
Don't let the name fool you, this ain't no festival. But rather a killer music venue that has amazing shows throughout the summer months (I guess that makes it a summer festival of sorts but....). I've been here a number of times but it had admittedly been a long time since I had been here. I was reminded how awesome it was when I had the utmost pleasure of being there the other night for the Chris Isaak show.
Now, the Chris Isaak concert was pretty phenom but this is a review about the venue so I'll leave my gushing at "OMG IT WAS AMAZING." and proceed as planned....
The venue is a smaller scale DTE and as such I like it much much more. The parking isn't horrendous and you're not walking a mile from your car to the venue and then to your seats. We were lucky enough to have pavilion (2nd row, baby!) and the seats were incredible. Of course there is the orchestra pit in front of the pavilion but it was only about 4 rows and then the pavilion is on a platform which turns into an upward slope so there isn't really a bad seat in the joint. The lawn is kind of steep but I haven't seen a show from lawn since Elvis Costello in the 90s so I won't comment on the view from there but the views around it are stunning. It's just kind of a nice spot in the middle of a wooded area so it's relaxing as it is beautiful.
The staff here is super nice. Not only did they fix me up a fancy cocktail at the concession stand (beer, wine, and canned cocktails are on the menu but if you look inside you can see a bunch of bottles of booze for mixed drinks). I wasn't sure what they had so I asked the gal to just fix me up something nice and girly and she made me a sugary blue wonder. Refreshing!
The usher by our seats did a great job and wasn't a jerk. There were a few people in front of us that kept on seat jumping and she just kept waving them back to their seats instead of kicking them out. She also was nice enough to let folks sneak up to the orchestra pit to take a picture or two. Now, while I had amazing seats the lighting was thwarting my photos so I took advantage of the usher's kindness and ran up a couple of rows to snap a few pictures to remember the dreaminess that is CI by.
The sound is great and the lighting is done really well. Getting out of the park isn't a nightmare either. We just chilled out in the car until it mostly cleared out and drove right out about 10 minutes later. Compare that to the 1+ I spent waiting to get out of downtown after Paul McCartney and I was thrilled.
Love this place, can't wait to get back there again!
This is a great outdoor venue that offers excellent seating from most anywhere and a great country/woodsy feel to it.
We took row U for an adventure last night in seeing the Rocky Horror Show live production, it was a blast.
Meadowbrook has been a long time favorite of mine mostly because its clean, easy to get to, about a third the size of DTE (aka Pine Knob) and is as high quality as anything else owned by PalaceNet.
I think it is a gem that is very much under-rated and undiscovered, but certainly holds their own for smaller events.
The acoustics are superb, the concessions are decent (although the prices are no cheaper than anything that the Palace folks run), the restrooms were surprisingly easy to navigate without major lines, considering there were not that many facilities, then again this is one of the smaller venues so there are less people needing to "go"!
I have been a hill dweller as well as a pavilion squatter and regardless of the resting spot, I have always been comfortable and not had any obstructions.
So bottom line, if an event comes up that is at Meadowbrook Music Festival, I will not hesitate in going!
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