Marie G.
Yelp
Came here for the first time last night to see the legend Todd Rundgren for my brother's birthday. It was his second time here. In all honesty, I don't have the desire to return here ANY time soon!
It's about a hour and 45 minute drive here from where we are in Queens, which included traffic on the Whitestone bridge. Once you get 30 minutes from Pawling, it's a really nice, senic ride with many peaks and valleys. We drove into the parking lot around 4:20. Figured it was good timing since on the tickets it said doors at 5 PM. Parking lot was a decent size but gets filled quickly! Keep in mind, yesterday was the hottest day of the year so far. As we approached the entrance, we noticed the sign said "Doors 6 PM". That's outrageous! I would say most people traveled from far distances since this place is in the middle of nowhere. So to change the time on the tickets without prior knowledge on the HOTTEST DAY OF THE YEAR is a bunch of b.s.! Everyone was pissed the hell off. People on line were calling and complaining. One disabled guy even pounded on the door for them to open up and let him in. Thankfully they did. Do you know how BRUTAL it was standing outside in 97 degree weather with the sun blistering down on you?! Awful. They finally did let us in at 5:30. A total bumrush ensued.
I did some research beforehand and going from my brother's experience, I thought there would be tables on the floor with a first come, first served basis. I was wrong. It was an open floor like a regular floor with standing only. Towards the back of the floor you had about 4 bar tables with drink service. In the back of that was priority seating. They also had dining room, patio and bar seating, but then you wouldn't be able to see the stage. We chose to stand and got directly up front leaning on the barricade. Sweet spot. I don't know why they make you print out tickets for the show because they didn't scan them. Only asked for your name and that's it. Also didn't do security check.
Now, I felt the air conditioning for the first few minutes. After that, for the rest of the night, THERE WAS NO AIR-CONDITIONING!!! ON THE HOTTEST NIGHT OF THE YEAR SO FAR!!!! UNACCEPTABLE!!! We, and Todd, were dying all night. Drinks helped, but not that much. Poor Todd even sang the encore holding the fan up to his face that they put on the floor for him. Kept wondering all night if I'd make it until the end. Now, this is a Todd Rundgren show so the demographic is 50+. I'm soon to be 46 and even the experience of last night zapped all of my energy today. Not cool to do this to that age demographic, let alone any age!
The ONLY reason this gets 2 stars is because of the drinks. They made them strong and were only 7 bucks each! Gin and tonic and rum and Coke for $7 is a steal. Especially in the large glasses they were serving them in with the heavy pours.
Another artist I like is playing here in October. I'd love to go but I don't want to have that clusterf*$k experience again. It pains me to give the place of one of my 80's idols a bad review , but it needs to be said. Hopefully all the complaints get back to him and he does something. I know him and Todd are good friends. Hope he mentions something to him.