An Island Paradise?

By Scott Smith in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 27, 2005 3:25PM

The reviews are in on Northerly Island and they’re so glowing, we’re wondering if Da Mare is making a list of other underused airports he can bulldoze. Expect complaints from Burt Natarus’ constituents any day now (we know that’s not his ward over there but those people seem to complain anytime someone seems to be having too much fun downtown).

The good: the skyline view, the multitude of air-conditioned bathrooms, and the ability to hear the music for free while picnicking. The bad: the seats flanking the stage that have little to no sightlines and the pricey tickets, concessions, and parking.

The other lingering complaint has been with the lineup of acts. Greg Kot suggests Clear Channel book more lower-priced local acts. With only 7,500 seats, the venue won’t ever be in competition with the Tweeter Center for bookings (see: The Rock Never Stops tour), but many see an opportunity here that shouldn’t be squandered on faux Journey.

We’re also not wild about Clear Channel’s ticket-buying process through the venue’s website. Some links from the “upcoming events” page take you to NEXT, the company run by Clear Channel that sells tickets to its events. Before you’re allowed to even view general pricing, you are required to enter your e-mail address without any indication as to how it will be used. After clicking through to a confirmation page, you’re then asked for your name. While NEXT’s privacy policy states “NEXT Ticketing will not share the customer's registration information with any third parties”, the Clear Channel privacy policy for all its sites states:

“We may use information about you and other site visitors on an aggregated basis to sell and deliver advertising, promotions and content that we believe will be of interest to you. We may use personally identifiable information in similar ways” (emphasis ours).

We never thought we’d say this but you’re probably better off buying from Ticketmaster.