Jaguars amphitheater, flex field construction to begin next month

[Adam White]

One curiosity that I guess shouldn't have surprised me but it did.

I was stunned how few black folks I saw in the audience. And I had what I guess is something of a black-white moment when the Tedeschi Trucks Band did one of their encore songs. I was pretty certain it would be an Allman Brothers selection for obvious reasons. And it was. Everybody around me knew the tune and started singing it with gusto.

That's what you get for going to see Blueshammer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaM6lTmhnak

AW, you're killing it with the really current pop culture references lately.

FTFY

[Adam White]

Being far from home, there is nothing more uplifting than reading a thread where locals are actually pleased-happy-surprised about the quality of something built in jax...

I remember when the last set of renderings came out, everyone was freaking out saying ´typical jax´and ´here we go again´...

What a surprise to see people happy and to see a killer space in downtown JAX!

Hopefully a sign of things to come

True. I think it looks pretty cool - surprisingly like the renderings. I hope it means Jax gets more concerts now. Seems like it would be a great place to see a show.

[exnewsman]

I attended the grand opening show with the TDB. I thought the venue was great, sound was good and sight lines were awesome. As some have mentioned, the sun was blasting in pretty good during the opening act, but my seat was adequately protected. Don't think it was too much of a bother for most at the show. I was never sweating, so the heat was not an issue.

I am curious what changes or upgrades still remain. I thought the lighting was subpar. When I left the venue I could see the lighting on the roof, but it wasn't visible inside which I thought could have added a nice glow. Similar to the side panels. Some colored lighting on both the large side panels would have created a great glow and enhanced the visual appeal. If you look at the rendering, they show large video screens on either side of the stage at the top. Wondering if those will be installed or were just part of the rendering? Noticed the Daily's Place shadowing lighting was one for a few minutes and then off the rest of the show.

The signage was very confusing. One sign pointing me left. Then you go left and another sign pointing me right. So that was frustrating until you can actually get inside and understand the set-up and where the sections are. LOTS of helpful, friendly people in place to assist though. The customer service was tremendous.

Attaching the venue to the stadium made it possible to utilize the restrooms and food sections at the stadium, thus eliminating building that infrastructure. Thought that was a very wise idea. Everything is very compact, with wide aisles so getting around is easy.

From the west side of the venue, a nice view of the Hart Bridge. From the east side, nice view of Downtown.

Would have been interesting to see how the show looked on the stadium video boards. Overall though, kudos to Shad Kahn, Mark Lamping, COJ, and the hundreds of workers who worked nearly around the clock to get DP ready to rock. And finally, to Derek and Susan and their entire band... just an awesome show (especially in light of Gregg Allman's passing just a few hours earlier). You know Derek had to be hurting big time inside, but he played his ass off all night and it was the perfect way to open this great venue.

[KenFSU]

I am curious what changes or upgrades still remain.

From last week's press release:

Work continues on Daily's Place, with the scheduled completion of the covered flex field set for mid-July, just before the start of the Jacksonville Jaguars' 2017 training camp.  Concert-goers can also look forward to several new features and amenities still to come this summer at Daily's Place, including:

-          Additional permanent food and beverage options – The ground floor concession area will feature new fixed concessions stands that will take shape in the next few weeks, including an innovative frozen drink stand, a Daily's food truck featuring fresh, made-to-order Daily's Dash menu items, and the Miller Lite Lounge, a unique partnership with MillerCoors.

-          Technological enhancements – The Daily's Place free public Wi-Fi system will be fully activated by the end of June.

-          Several new video boards will be installed, including a three-sided triangle board in the south end zone concession area.

-          Architectural features – Florida's sunshine will continue to bleach the unique Daily's Place roof panels, giving it a consistent white appearance by summer's end.  The permanent enclosure for the covered flex field will be completed before the start of training camp and feature a PTFE material never before used in the United States. 

-          By the end of July, one-of-a-kind glass bridges will take guests from the main concourse and Fields Auto Group Terrace Suite into the seating bowl of Daily's Place. 

[RattlerGator]

If you haven't looked at the Daily's Place twitter page, they currently have up one hell of an urban shot as their banner photo:

https://twitter.com/dailysplace/with_replies

#BigDuval

[Jax-Nole]

I am curious what changes or upgrades still remain. I thought the lighting was subpar. When I left the venue I could see the lighting on the roof, but it wasn't visible inside which I thought could have added a nice glow. Similar to the side panels. Some colored lighting on both the large side panels would have created a great glow and enhanced the visual appeal. If you look at the rendering, they show large video screens on either side of the stage at the top. Wondering if those will be installed or were just part of the rendering? Noticed the Daily's Place shadowing lighting was one for a few minutes and then off the rest of the show.

They didn't have the rooftop lighting on during that concert. They only had it on low and a constant color during Train on Sunday. I think they aren't really using it during concerts because it would probably interfere with any lighting effects bands try to have from inside. It makes sense to do it that way. I looked at the camera tonight, and they didn't come on until after the concert ended. Same issue might occur with the Daily's sign and interfering with lighting. They had it on until sunset on Sunday then shut it off.

Video screens haven't been installed yet, but when I was there, it didn't feel like they were necessary. Every seat has a good view of the stage as far as I could tell. I think I read that the furthest seat from the stage is only 160 ft away, so unless you are almost blind, you should have no problem seeing anything. The only reason they might be useful is if there are other types of events held there, like a play or a magic show or something, that require a closer view of what is going on.

[Keith-N-Jax]

Thanks Ken for the updates, it can only get better from here,

[downtownbrown]

Dave Matthews was great.  One tiny issue: our seats are on the west wing of the second level.  We had trouble hearing his commentary because of the speaker direction.  Otherwise, what a great venue!

[Jax-Nole]

Something I just remembered about when I was there, at least 2 of the seats in my row had holes in the cushions already. This was at the 2nd concert there Sunday night. Those seats should not have had damage to them already. I wonder how often they are going to have to change out the seats.

[RattlerGator]

I didn't really pay much attention to the seats but (IIRC) it seemed as though the base had a hard, firm edge and a softer yet firm (and seemingly replaceable) "seat" so that replacement *may* not be a big deal at all. Whatever the case, it's hard to believe wear and tear wasn't factored into the maintenance considerations of the amphitheater.

[Adam White]

They may end up finding the seats they use aren't robust enough and replace them over time with a better model.

[JBTripper]

Dave Matthews was great.  One tiny issue: our seats are on the west wing of the second level.  We had trouble hearing his commentary because of the speaker direction.  Otherwise, what a great venue!

Not sure if you can attribute that to the speaker direction. Dave Matthews is a notorious mumbler. Impossible to understand for anyone outside the Dancing-Nancy-Sticker crowd.

[exnewsman]

I didn't really pay much attention to the seats but (IIRC) it seemed as though the base had a hard, firm edge and a softer yet firm (and seemingly replaceable) "seat" so that replacement *may* not be a big deal at all. Whatever the case, it's hard to believe wear and tear wasn't factored into the maintenance considerations of the amphitheater.

Didn't help that people were using the seats as a step ladder so they didn't have to walk down the aisle. Shameful really. There is plenty of leg room (compared to say, the Florida Theater). So no excuses.

[Tacachale]

Not sure if this was mentioned already, but I just saw that Daily's Place has booked 27 shows for 2017 (running May thru November), with likely more to come in the fall that haven't been booked yet. Clearly the concern that the venue was only on the hook for 25 events has not become an issue.

http://jacksonville.com/lists/dailys-place-concert-schedule

[Tacachale]

On the other hand, on a personal note, I don't see any concerts in that list I'll be going to. There's at least one at the St. Augustine Amphitheater I want to see (Jason Isbell) and a few more at Ponte Vedra Concert Hall (Beach House 2 weeks ago, and Conor Oberst coming up), and I'll be travelling this summer/fall to see several acts that skipped NE Florida entirely. I hope at some point the Amphitheater moves beyond the classic rock/Hot 100 wheelhouse and gets a broader range of shows.