FirstMerit Bank Pavilion At Northerly Island

My friends and I came here for the 3-​day Lakeshake concert. Overall, I would say it was a great experience considering how many people were there. I really expected there to be tons of people and feel like a sardine, but it really wasn’t bad.
Everything was very well organized. They had plenty of bathrooms (thank you!!!), they even had trailers that had «flushing» toilets and sinks to wash your hands in. They had a few food and beverage vendors. The drinks and food are not cheap, but we were expecting that. You have a great view of the stage/​screens for almost anywhere. There were only 3 areas that were covered (VIP seating, the smaller stage, and the Blackhawks tent). Otherwise you were out in the sun all day. I wish there were some other shaded areas. There are plenty of places to set up chairs, stand, or sit in the grass. I love the outdoors and the beautiful skyline! It’s also cooler/​buggier since it it by the lake. I like the cooler part, not so much the bugs.
I would come back here again for a concert!

An outdoor music venue is a great place to hear music in the summertime and last night’s Steve Winwood and Steely Dan concert was amazing… once we got inside the venue. The system (or lack thereof) for entrance is severely broken. Fans missed a good bit of Winwood’s performance waiting in line to get in and there aren’t even additional speakers so you can hear the music while you deal with the chaos. Then the security people checking bags did a half ass job and were not thorough at all. In light of the recent Orando shootings, screenings need to be more thorough at all public venues. That will only make things worse at this location since they can’t handle the crowds with their current process. Then there is no way to get a cab or über out of there. The cabs aren’t even in the designated waiting area near Shedd. After walking two miles we finally found one on Michigan Avenue. First Merit — you are dulling Chicago’s image for getting events right.

This review is particularly for the lawn and based on my expectations (which were very low) from reading reviews on here. I was in the lawn for Farm Aid and it was great! I was able to see the performers on stage, although it was quite far away. But there really is not much of a slope; I am 6’5″ and able to see over everyone, while my girlfriend who is 5’2″ couldn’t. But that’s kind of to be expected, isn’t it? If you’re all the way out in the lawn and the performers look tiny, don’t you spend most of the time looking at the monitors anyway? And there were several monitors up, one very large at the front of the lawn that worked great. Sound was great.
The mud: yes, it was hella muddy. But it rained all day before and there were thousands of people walking around, so again, not sure what people expect. The venue did put down some plywood on high-​traffic areas and had other semi-​permanent flooring down.
One downside for me was that you are so far removed from the main floor that you can’t really hear them cheering very much, so if the people around you aren’t that into it the atmosphere might be lacking.
Bottom line, IMO: don’t let fears about the lawn keep you from going to a show there if those are the only tickets in your price range. I had a great time.

This is a long overdue of FirstMerit Pavillion. Went here for the Jimmy Buffett concert in the summer of 2013 and had the worst concert experience ever. Granted, we were in the lawn rather than the pavillion, but it was a muddy mess with horrible sound. It was so bad we left early. In 2014, we saw REO Speedwagon and Chicago and it was much improved — no disgusting lawn as we were in the Pavillion — but the seats were cramped and the bathroom situation not great given such a small venue.
The ticket promoter promised all the Buffett concert goers tickets to another concert. That never happened but it certainly squashed all the bad publicity at the time.
The reason for two stars instead of one is that it’s so beautiful to see the Chicago skyline — truly a magnificent view while listening to live music.

Went to a Counting Crows concert here last night. I had tickets in the 200 section and this was my first time at this venue. I was not impressed at all. The seats (plastic folding chairs) were super uncomfortable and lined up with little room so that when anyone needed to get up, it was difficult. Not enough bathrooms and overpriced concessions.
Unless you buy VIP tickets you are out in the elements so keep that in mind. I’ll skip this venue in the future.

My first time for a concert at First Merit Pavilion. The concert hasn’t even started yet and I know I won’t be back! The seats are SO close together, I’m squished in between two heavier than average people… and it’s incredibly uncomfortable! I guess the venue has to pack em in so they can make every dollar they can!!! If you want to pretend you’re a sardine… First Merit Pavilion is the place to go!!!

What could be viewed as positives, are also potential negatives:
Outdoors
Plus: Outdoors
Minus: Flat terrain can mean poor sound, and it does here.
On the Lake
Plus: Beautiful on the lake location
Minus: Dank, especially at night next to sweaty people.
Overall Pros:
Great location
Surprisingly decent parking
Overall Cons:
Flat main floor seating layout.
Smallest folding chairs imaginable, twist tied together. No you can’t sit at all.
Crammed folding chairs means crammed people, everyone cant face the stage, you have to stand sideways.
Overpriced everything.
VIP:
Pay extra to listen to the party sitting next to you gabbing all night, hope you are drunk enough to not want to listen to the music. It’s fun if you want to gab, not if you want to listen.
If you’re in the first 10 rows or so center, this venue is okay, maybe even good considering the location. Otherwise if you don’t mind the pork raising pen style of ‘seating”, not too bad.

The venue is located east of the harbor, parking is the North Garage at Soldier Fields. Traffic into the museum campus is terrible, don’t use McFetridge Dr/​S Columbus Dr, instead use the 18^th Dr exit and up Museum Campus Dr into the garage. It wasn’t too crowded as we entered the venue only took a few minutes to get in. Food vendors are expensive, $ 9 – 12 for just a slice of pizza or BBQ sandwich, bottled water is $ 4.75 (bring an unopened bottle instead, which is allowed). There are «nicer» women’s restrooms with sinks inside the trailer behind the porta potties, didn’t know until someone told me. Our seats were off to the side in the 300’s and since there is no elevation, it was hard to see the stage with everyone in front of you, the rows were narrow and seating tight. The sound system wasn’t good at the beginning. Leaving the venue was difficult, tight and slow moving as there weren’t many exits. Parking was free, two-​hour prior to concert time, which was a definite plus.

Pros: Bryan Adams was in good form, venue had easy access to refreshments and clean restrooms. Event staff members were friendly, if not very informed. Seats were pretty low comfort, but it didn’t matter because everyone stood throughout the concert anyway. Great view of the skyline, screens were high-​def and sound system was superior. Navy Pier fireworks visible after concert.
Con: Long walk from mass transit (45 min from Roosevelt Station). More of a drag after the concert than before.
Overall, great time!

Loved the music, Bryan Adams that night, hated the venue. Traffic is a pain, seating is all temp chairs. If you are an artist, for Gods sake vet your venues out before you sign them.

I went to the FirstMerit Pavilion in June for Dashboard Confessional and Third Eye Blind. It was a rainy. Like, non-​stop downpour for eight hours rainy. It rained right on through the show, which was fairly miserable. On a nice day, I imagine this is a beautiful venue.
We walked in to the complex instead of driving/​cabbing/​etc. Getting in was quick, probably due to the lack of crowd that showed up early on in the evening and/​or arriving between the opener and Dashboard. Our seats were easy to navigate to, and nothing felt crowded. Even the line for the bathroom (trailer/​port-​a-​potty hybrids) was fairly non-​existent.
Our seats were in the 300s in the center. While we were straight back, I couldn’t really see the stage because we weren’t elevated at all. I watched the screens for 95% of the show — if I hadn’t seen both bands several times before, I’d have been annoyed. If I return, I’ll opt for the seats a little off to the side so that we are up above the crowd a bit.
Sound was okay — the wind seemed to cause it to carry at some points.
I didn’t have the greatest experience, but I’d like to give the Pavilion another go on a nice night to see it at its best.

I attend the 2015 V103 block party concert at this location in July. I was very happy with the venue. I was also happy I read the reviews below; they were spot on.
For the most part, the drinks here are VERY high. It’s up to $ 15 – 17 for one large domestic beer. So I made my beer last! There were food vendors and I think a mixed drink vendor. Make sure to bring some funds if you don’t drink/​eat before.
There is seating at this location. This concert was assigned seating. There are folding chairs (that is what it looks like) on the floor. There there are folding blue chairs on the balcony and lastly green stadium chairs on the upper balcony. I am not sure if you have to pay for it, but we saw people with their own folding seats outside the gates… I would not recommend these seats at the fence blocks your view. I guess you may be able to see through the gate, but my seats (blue balcony seats) were $ 20… Room between the seats are tight, but not too tight where we all couldn’t dance :)
It is an outdoor location. It may be the best to pack a rain jacket or parka. You CAN’T bring in umbrellas! It was a rainy day and many people had brought theirs… only to hang them on a tree outside the gates and hope no one steals it.
The sound was great for an outside location! My last outside concert, the sound crew had a major issue with making the live band’s sound, as well as the mikes for the singers were off. Not here! Nothing was off and I’m sure those outside the fence heard everything like those inside the gate. Great job on that!
Parking was free at Solder Field for us… not sure if this is the case or other events.
I would could to this location again without a second thought!

I love the venue in general but the VIP boxes are going downhill quickly for the 2015 season. Live Nation Premium Seating raised the ticket prices while simultaneously adding more seats to the VIP Club, making the area more crowded. I actually received an email a couple weeks ago from the sales department that tried to spin the addition of seats as a positive. While concession prices in the regular areas of Northerly Island generally remain constant during the course of a season, last summer the food prices in the VIP Club were raised 50% for the popular shows like Dave Matthews and Phish. Expect that same crap for 2015.

Well, so far so good. I think this space is still finding itself, though. They could really improve the visuals by installing permanent fences first of all. It seems as though they are still ‘temporarily’ set up around the food concessions, etc.
Entrances are well staffed and it’s easy to get in and out with VIP parking. We got relocated in our seats and they have us better seats and were super nice about it. I will say that the flat seats in the 200-​level section aren’t evenly spaced, so we had about 2″ of extra leg room while the row behind us had enough room for people to sit and walk!
Food options are somewhat limited and not super healthy. Robinsons ribs are the place to go (but I’m biased…). Tacos take forever — be warned. They also didn’t seem to know the crowd for the concert I was attending. no cold white wine and huge lines for wine/​cocktails (vs beer lines which were shorter).
Lovely setting, though. The screen on one side was blurry the entire time, but overall, visuals and sound were really good.
Lovely space on a nice evening for a concert. A few tweaks to work out, but overall, a great spot to spend an evening in.

The pros:
— Beautiful outdoor venue with skyline views (depending on where you are sitting)
— It’s on the lake, so always a little cooler, which is great for super hot summer nights
— Shockingly clean bathrooms
— Good sound/​accoustics
The cons:
— Same as for virtually any concert venue — tough to get to with large crowds and absurb concession prices
When you think about it those cons are pretty much to be expected virtually anywhere, right? Given that I would rate Northerly Island as one of my favorite places to see a concert. Just give yourself time to get there.
²⁰⁷⁄₃₆₅

Love the skyline. Love the open air.
We parked for free in the Soldier Field North Parking garage and had a trolley/​shuttle waiting to drive us over to the concert. Super convenient!
Yes, drinks are ridiculousy priced but that’s to be expected. $ 11 for tall boy beers but $ 14 for a tallboy limearita.
Plenty of bathroom options, portapotties and actual bathrooms in one looks like a mobile home.

Inconvenient location and hard to get to with the crowds from shows, but once there it’s a pretty rad spot!
I like taking in the city scape at sunset to the west and the Navy Pier fireworks to the east. They also have huge cans of adult beverages which make for a fun concert going experience.

The views of the skyline from here is amazing however, the prices of drinks were out of control! $ 11 for beer. More for «cocktails.» Really?!
Although I didn’t use the washrooms, I did notice there were PLENTY throughout the venue.

Well the name has changed again to «First Merit Pavilion» (Rolls right off the tongue, right?) but whatever they call it, with the stage now turned the other way (facing the lake not the city) — the sound is amazing!
And sitting outside on a great Chicago night listening to your favorite music can never be a bad idea, right?
A couple of things that still need some working out. First– the «lawn seats» are totally flat and on the night I went there– recently sodded so they need some time to settle. I know they don’t want to build a berm off of the lake but without it– the back of the lawn (closest to the lake) has decent sound but you can’t see much. The same is true of the 310– 312 bleacher seats over to the one side. You get out of the direct line of sound and view.
I sat in section 202 and the sound and view of the stage were great! What I did miss was the view of the city…for from this vantage point the stage totally blocks one of the greatest skylines in the world! Too bad as I seem to remember a great view when the stage was the other way!
Beer is expensive– $ 9 for a Bud light– but the lines were pretty non existent. As for the restrooms– I was impressed to actually see an attendant in the women’s room replenishing paper and supplies. Sure they are «upgraded» porta potties but not as bad as I expected.
Parking in the Soldier Field North lot is free if you have a paid seat ticket or you can upgrade and save the walk (it’s probably ¾ of a mile) by buying VIP parking which I think is another $ 25 or so.
All in all a great night of music!

WARNING: IF YOU HAVE GENERAL ADMISSION TICKETS ON THE LAWN AT THIS VENUE I WOULD MORE THAN LIKELY NOT RECOMMEND IT…
Fortunately this was not the case for me at the recent Phishband 3-​night extravaganza BUT my professional concert best friend and I went back there a couple times for professional evaluation and overall we deemed that it was UNSAT.
If you have GA Pavilion or reserved bleachers the place is fine. Good sound, nice scenic views of the city, BUT it’s not really a dedicated true amphitheater… it’s very makeshift… All the concession stands and bathroom very temporary /​wheeled in… The Staff didn’t seem that with it either.
I would go back, but it’s definitely not a top outdoor venue.

I’m a diehard Parrothead. I can make the best out of any situation and I’ve gone to concerts with far worse weather. However, I’ve not been to concerts that were far worse venues. Do NOT go to concerts at this venue anymore. PERIOD
Sweet Jesus. The ‘new” Northerly is a god awful mess.
Tailgating. sub par at best. Then I lost my buzz after the 2 mile hike to the venue. I know everyone has complained about the mud pit that was the lawn, but honestly, it is a lawn and it had been raining immensely the day before so that I pretty much understand. I’ve experienced far muddier in Alpine.
The rest of the issues, well, I CAN complain about. And I shall…
The beer lines. For real? you have two tents for beer lines? For that many people? I mean, really? Are you the type of person to invite 10 guests over for dinner and make enough food for two?
The lines for beers were far worse than anything else I’ve ever experienced. ANYWHERE. Um, You know how many people go to Lolla every year? Yet they manage to have you stand in line for oh maybe 10 minutes max. Nope, not there. There are no ‘lines’. It was a free for all based on the lack of an actual structure. They were low on employees, you name it. However, the kicker: the beer wasn’t cold!!! $ 10 for a beer that were served straight from the cartons. However my favorite was the fact that the employees were straight up asking for tips. Laughable.
No cell service at all.
Getting out of that venue was worse than parking lots of most large venues due to the fact that we had to disperse in two tiny paths. Glad there wasn’t an emergency or anything or we’d all be killed for the lack of exits.
I had fun because it was a Buffett concert, I was with my friends, and we love him. I am just thankful I have tickets to Alpine in August.
Alpine knows how to accommodate that many people. Alpine will now remain the place to see Jimmy.
I will never again return to Northerly. Nor should anyone else for that matter.