RiverEdge Park

Earlier this year, when I first gazed upon the newly completed River Edge Park in my hometown of Aurora, my first thought was "really?!?  A big outdoor concert venue in Aurora?  Never thought THAT would happen!"  Clearly, I was gonna need to attend a show there ASAP.

Well, I didn't get to go there until Friday August 16, when I saw "Peter Frampton's Guitar Circus."  What a great show!  Four hours of great guitar players, culminating in a high-energy set from Mr. Frampton and his band.  Man, that guy still sounds great!  

River Edge Park has a LOT going for it!  I walked around for a while to get an idea of the sound quality in various sections of the venue, and I gotta say that the sound was great everywhere!  Being a musician myself, I'm quite picky (and sometimes complain) about that sort of thing!

It should be noted that even while I was standing in line for beer or food (which were both very good BTW) I could always hear the concert perfectly!

I thought the place looked great, everything was clean, the free parking lot was a less-than-10-minute walk away, and there were plenty of security personnel and uniformed police officers walking around to deal with any potentially unruly concertgoers.  

And now, the ONLY issue I had with the venue: why in the heck aren't there more bathrooms?!?  The shortest wait time I had at any point in the evening was 10 minutes, and the longest was over 20.  Not good!  I think an easy solution might be a row of port-o-lets somewhere on the grounds...

I'm certainly looking forward to next season's concert schedule at River Edge Park!  See you there next summer!

Nice venue with reasonably priced general admission tickets. We typically sit on the lawn and chill. Friendly people, clean, fun! Great time close to home.

I always buy my tickets at the Paramount Theater box office ahead of time so I arrive with tickets in hand and can get right in. Just get general admission. The other ticket choices are more pricey and IMHO not worth it unless you've got money to burn.

Wait a song or two to get a drink. The lines thin out. Have fun and don't take it all so seriously!

My daughter and I saw the Bridgit Mendler/R5 show on 8/18/2013,  It was a great way to close out the summer break.  Thanks to the artists and some inventive/helpful parents around us we were able to have a good time.  HOWEVER....some major changes in security and communication need to take place at Riveredge Park.  I fear that sometime in the future they may have the "wrong" crowd and wind up with significant injuries or violence.  
First off.....I've been to MANY concerts in my lifetime.  I've seen some "crazy" stuff at various shows.  If they run security at the "Disney" Bridgit Mendler/R5 shows (at river edge) like they do at some of the more adult concerts they are asking for trouble.  It is only a matter of time.  
We arrived early with VIP passes that indicated we had special seating and FIRST entry into the park.  The gates opened at 4pm but we arrived early around 2:50pm just in case...  The lines were pretty long by the time we approached the park.  I arrived at the dinky little ticket booths and they knew NOTHING about the package we paid $100.00 extra for.  I tried to explain the VIP privileges and the ticket girl/security wanted me to go to the end of the line and wait until everyone had entered the building.....then they would distribute our VIP passes....when they could find them.  I almost lost my mind right then and there.  I kept my cool for my daughter's sake and continued to plead my case.  This only made me look like an enormous jerk to the people waiting in line to pick up their Will Call tickets behind me.  People were yelling and screaming at me to "give it up" or "listen to what she is telling you to do."  I was furious.    
I almost lost my mind right then and there...thankfully I wasn't the only one.  There were other parents too.  After arguing with four different people including someone that reportedly was a supervisor I finally pulled up the artists website on my smartphone.  After they reviewed the VIP ticket privileges they relented and let me in immediately.  
That was only the first part of the mess.  
There were two artists performing.  They both had pretty big fan bases.  R5, the first act has a fan base that is made up of rabid pre-teens known as the "R5 family."  The R5 family had separate VIP packages from the Bridget Mendler fans.  Arguing over seating started early because the R5 fans got in first for VIP soundcheck.  They were already seated in the prime spots.  The first three to four rows were completely taken.  Mendler's fans had also paid for tickets promising "VIP" seating in the first three rows.  The R5 "family" refused to move and they were in such mass that the security seemingly gave up.....they GAVE UP on trying to enforce any sort of rule.  The artists reps came up with a harebrained solution that included the R5 kids moving out of the front row and to different seats when R5 was done playing......This was ALL moot point by the time the gates were open and the rest of the world got to enter the venue.  Pre-teen girls CRAMMED themselves in the first row like they were sardines in a box.  There were literally four rows of girls in an area reserved for VIPS that would have been for 2 rows at the most.  The problem also was that there were benches and people already seated in the front row.  It was absolutely ridiculous.  I spoke with a security guard about my concerns and she shrugged her shoulders and told me, "I know this is dangerous.  They won't listen to us."  
The bottom line is that this venue needs to do away with General Admission seating for events like this.  Each seat should be designated by a row and a number.  Many of us already seated near the front had children between the ages of 5-10.  We all worked hard to make sure that our kids had a foothold and a safe place to stand during the r5 show.  The band was very good and overall the kids were very well behaved......but under the wrong circumstances this could have been a complete disaster.  
R5 finished their set and even MORE kids started pouring into the front rows.....kids that were arriving 2 hours late for the show were forcing their way into the rows and standing on the seats.  Nobody stopped them.  I've never been to a concert where you were allowed to stand on seats..
It was at that time the sudden announcement came that the Bridgit Mendler VIP fans could leave the seating area and watch the show from the "pit" in front of the stage.  After that the evening was great.  We had a wonderful time and felt much safer.  
I would suggest to the City the following:
Start numbering/assigning the seats in the "general admission area"
Do a better job of maintaining the rows in front of the stage.  
The people running the venue need to coordinate their efforts with the artists VIP programs and be aware of what fans have been promised.  I know that the venues can't always deliver. Thats reality...but this venue had NO idea of what was going on.  
Did we have a great time?  yes
Will we go again? no