Mountain View’s Shoreline Amphitheatre
Celebrating its 30-year anniversary, the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View is one of the premiere outdoor entertainment venues in the Silicon Valley. For music lovers, it is the chosen location in which to see live musical performances. The 2016 summer concert season kicks off this year on May 26th and runs through October 8th.
Built in cooperation with Bay Area concert promoter, Bill Graham, as part of the Shoreline Park Project, the amphitheater opened in 1986. The venue can accommodate 22,500 concert-goers: 6,500 in the reserved seating section and an additional 16,000 on its open seating lawn area. Shoreline hosts about 25 shows each year with a total of 350,000 people in attendance. That equates to 10,5000,000 visitors and 750 events over its 30 year history.
Some of the world’s biggest musicians, orchestras and symphonies have played at Shoreline Amphitheatre including the Bee Gees, The Grateful Dead (the venue was designed to look like their ‘steal your face logo’ from the air), Elton John, The Who, Joan Baez, …even the Dalai Lama made an appearance at Shoreline. Back in 2011, SFGATE pulled together 25 Facts About Shoreline to celebrate their 25th anniversary that are worth a read.
The venue has also played host to numerous high-profile music festivals including Bridge School Benefit, Lilith Fair, Lollapalooza, Vans Warped Tour and others. Since 1986, the weekend-long Bridge School Benefit occurs every October at Shoreline Amphitheatre with proceeds going toward assisting children with physical and communication impairments. The brainchild of the multi-talented Neil Young and his ex-wife, Pegi Young (Morton), the concert is known for its amazing line up of top talent, including Young himself. Born in Canada, Young has lived most of his life in La Honda, a small town in San Mateo County.
Though performers for the October 2016 Bridge School Benefit have not yet been announced, Shoreline’s summer concert series begins on May 26th with the still popular 80’s band, The Cure. Shoreline always serves up an impressive array of concerts and musicians, appealing to a wide range of tastes that include country, classic rock, alternative and even the New Zealand comedy band, Flight of the Concords. In conjunction with the San Francisco Symphony, Shoreline also puts on one the of Bay Area’s most patriotic fireworks displays in July. (Insider’s tip: for the best seat in the house, reserve a boat and watch the sky light up from Shoreline Lake!)
Whatever your listening pleasure, the acoustics of the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View as well as its open-air format and incredible line-up of performers make it a spectacular venue to enjoy a Silicon Valley summer evening.
