On a whim, we went to night 1 of The Rolling Stones concert at Chicago’s Soldier Field. While our seats were on the fifty-yard line, they were all the way at the top. So, the view of the concert was not great, but the view of Lake Michigan and Navy pier made up for it. The evening as a perfect 70 degrees, and The Stones put on a long, energetic show.
I have been to a lot of concerts and a lot of venues. Since 2015 I have been a professional concert photographer. On the long list of venues I have been to, I’d say Soldier Field tied for the worst layout. Normally you can circumnavigate the entire upper and lower concourses. The lower concourse had sections that were down steps. Imagine 60000-80000 fans trying to navigate stairs holding beer and food. Not such a great idea.
On the upper concourse, the section markings were not great, and you couldn’t walk all the way around. It was very confusing. I could really see its age based on the less-than-stellar layout. The best thing about Soldier Field was that they honored reserve parking. I paid for the northwest lot, and I entered through a reservation only entrance. A few years ago I had reserved parking for Garth Brooks at Paul Brown Stadium, now PayCor Stadium, and 2 hours before the show, I couldn’t even get close to the entrance. Regardless, it was great to see The Stones before they stopped touring.