Shoreline Amphitheatre is an outdoor amphitheater located in Mountain View, California, in the San Francisco Bay Area. The venue has a capacity of 22,500, with 6,500 reserved seats and 16,000 general admission on the lawn. When the parking lot is utilized for festival stages, the total capacity of the venue can reach 30,000.
History
The amphitheatre was built in 1985-1986 by the city of Mountain View, in cooperation with local promoter Bill Graham, as part of the Shoreline Park project. Graham designed the amphitheatre to resemble The Grateful Dead's "steal your face" logo. Each row of fixed seating at the amphitheatre has a pitch of three feet, providing ample legroom and space for dancing.
The premiere season was during the summer of 1986, it was planned to open with a concert by The Grateful Dead, who had to cancel as a result of Jerry Garcia's coma. They first performed at Shoreline Amphitheater on October 2, 1987 and played a total of 39 concerts. Shows from October 3, 1987 and June 16, 1990 were recorded and later released as a live album, titled View from the Vault, Volume Three. They also broadcast their June 21, 1989 summer solstice show live on pay-per-view across America.
The Bee Gees held a "One for America" concert in the amphitheater on September 2, 1989 during the United States leg of their 1989 One for All tour
Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe performed on September 9, 1989, the show was recorded and released as a live album, titled An Evening of Yes Music Plus.
The Dave Matthews Band performed during their Crash Tour on July 6, 1997, the show was recorded and released as a live album, titled Live Trax Vol. 17.
The amphitheatre has played host to many music festivals, including All That! Music and More Festival, Anger Management Tour, Area Festival, BeachFest, Bridge School Benefit, Country Throwdown Tour, Crüe Fest, Crüe Fest 2, Download Festival, Family Values Tour, FoolFest, Furthur Festival, A Gathering of the Tribes Festival, H.O.R.D.E. Festival, Harmony By the Bay Festival, Honda Civic Tour, Identity Festival, I Love This City Festival, KITS Live 105's BFD, KOME X-Fest, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Mayhem Festival, Ozzfest, Projekt Revolution, Rock the Bells Festival, Sprite Liquid Mix Tour, Uproar Festival and Vans Warped Tour. It has also been the venue for the Google I/O annual developer conference for the year 2016 and 2017. The traditional final act of the season at Shoreline in recent years has been Eddie Money, who traditionally has a homecoming concert at the amphitheatre on the final Thursday before fall.
Built on a landfill
In its opening year, a fan attending a Steve Winwood concert flicked a cigarette lighter and ignited methane that had been leaking from a landfill underneath the theatre. Several small fires were reported that season. After those incidents, the city of Mountain View commissioned methane testing studies to define the location of methane vapors emanating from the soil within the amphitheater. These tests were used in developing a design for improved methane monitoring and more efficient methane extraction to assure the amphitheater became safe as an outdoor venue. Ultimately, the lawn was removed, a gas barrier and methane removal equipment were installed, and then the lawn was re-installed.
See also
- List of contemporary amphitheatres
- List of concert halls
References
External links
- "Shoreline Ampitheatre is a "Steal Your Face"". Dead.net. Retrieved 30 July 2016.Â
