Columbus Ohio Friends Help! EXPRESS LIVE! Question

[scottmel]

Cross posted in COMMUNITY FORUM as well...

Hi there. Hope you can help us with a question. My daughter lives and breathes for 21 Pilots. Loves these guys. She was so excited to score tickets to the June show at EXPRESS LIVE!. We have a similar venue in Pittsburgh called Stage AE. Her concern is this - she is 5 feet tall (18 years old) and is so worried she will see NOTHING! She wants to camp out the night before with my husband for a better spot.

My concern/her concern - does the area permit this? Looks more industrial not like my Pgh venue where it is near a starbucks hotels etc. Looks more remote? Do people camp out? Any direction you could give us would be so appreciated. She can't sleep from excitement and this is 2.5 months away!!!! thanks!

 

[Deffenm]

It is next to the Baseball stadium and the big Arena downtown. There are restaurants a block or so away. I am not sure if the city allows camping out. I have seen people "camping out" at the arena but not sure if it is just all day or overnight. Sorry couldn't be too much help.

 

[SharonZ]

I would call the Venue in Columbus.

 

[Shelly F - Ohio]

There is a Courtyard by Marriott hotel on Spring St that is less than a mile from the venue . Should take 3 minutes to get there according to Google Maps. I have stayed at this hotel about 6 yrs ago and our stay was fine.

 

[elcmum]

My shorty daughter is going, too. I forget which location, but it's the concert on the Wednesday night.

It's my understanding most of those crazy kids are planning a day out of it and just hanging out in line.

I wish I could be more help to you, but she may enjoy waiting in line during the day with lots of other fans.

 

[wvdislover]

Yes, my daughter is planning on camping out, too (she's 5'3)...she wants to stand at the barricade. Personally, I would love to find out that camping out is not allowed (I don't know that I want to camp out, but at the same time, don't want my naive 15 year old camping with a bunch of people she only knows through Twitter). However, I owe it to her b/c of a deal we made earlier this year, so..... I just may have to camp out

 

[kp_plus3]

Hi there! Express live used to be promowest. It's mainly genadm tickets and there is a 'mosh pit' type of front part which is standing room only in front of the stage....I took my daughter to a performance here years ago to see Kesha. We got in line about an hour or two before the concert, but there was a long line. My niece and daughter nudged their way up to the front of that pit area tho...determined little ones!! I couldn't take it there were teens smoking and it was loud and my head couldn't take it so I just stood to the side. Not sure if that's any help or not. This was about 5 years ago

 

[Maggie'sMom]

It looks like you've already gotten some answers on this, but I just thought I'd share what I know about the area. I can look out from our office windows and see this venue. I wouldn't categorize this as an "industrial" area. As mentioned above, it is right next to the baseball stadium and across the street from Nationwide Arena where the Columbus Blue Jackets play. There are a number of office buildings along Nationwide Blvd and plenty of restaurants.

There's a Tim Horton's on the end of the Arena closest to Express Live. Unfortunately, the Starbucks is on the opposite end of the Arena so if you are a Starbucks fan it's a little bit of a walk. Along Nationwide Blvd are a number of sit-down restaurants and a couple fast casual/fast food places. Another good place for food is the North Market, which has a wide variety of food vendors and it is within walking distance.

While there aren't hotels right next to the venue, there are some within walking distance. There's the Courtyard mentioned above. There's also a Hilton, a Hyatt Regency, and a Hampton Inn near the convention center, which is just a few blocks walk.

There are routinely people either camping out the night before or arriving super early the morning of the concert to get in line so that won't be a problem. I just hope you don't have rain. I always feel bad for the people who have camped out in cold and/or rainy weather for concerts as I drive past.

 

[ZeeAgent]

Heading there for 22nd also...also the dad of a 21 pilot fanatic from Pittsburgh with many Stage AE day-long waits on my resume....I called venue and they said no one allowed on property to wait in line until 6am of concert day (AMEN!)...so we plan on being there about 5:30 am and hanging at coffee shop until we can get in line. Found a Hampton Inn about 7 minute walk from venue...not a cheap place to stay, but given these tickets cost $100's less than last time we saw them in concert, i am taking hotel cost in stride....rumor has it that there will eventually be a stamping of wrists with those in line to prevent late 'cutting'...I would love this as cutting seems to be a big issue about 2 hours prior to gates opening in the evening every time we go to State AE.

 

[scottmel]

Thanks zeeagent. I am original poster. I just switched to the lofts hotel called front desk did prepay for 160 a night. It's 1 block away and looks really nice. Front desk girl reiterated what u said with 6 am rule, glad to hear. We will be down!! Thx for update

 

[wvdislover]

This event is causing a great deal of stress in our lives! My daughter wants to camp out (we told her she can't, but she's still hopeful), but they've been told they can't camp out; however, there are now people in line across the street from the venue. She was ok with showing up at 6am when no one could camp out, but now she's stressing b/c she thinks she'll be too far back to see if she doesn't camp out. I have some physical issues that would make it difficult for me to camp out with her, but we don't feel comfortable letting our 15 year old camp out with strangers. UGH!!!

 

[ZeeAgent]

WVdislover...this was my concern also...despite rules about 6am, seems like city does not stop folks from camping out across the street...coupled with fact that this is hometown for group, it is likely to have more committed fanatics than other cities. 2 thoughts...1) there may be an upward limit to fanatics...so maybe 6am will put you only 300 back in line. we were 300 back in Pittsburgh when arriving at 9am on day of show at similar type venue...and still only 3 rows deep in the pit. 2) kids are resilient...so major disappointment is likely to still subside pretty quickly...the worst seat in the place is still worth it...not like you are in big arena and cant even see them on the stage. Good Luck.

 

[wvdislover]

Well, currently, the group my DD was going to camp out with....none of them are going to camp out now. Apparently, there are some people camping who are being rude and making up their own rules about the unofficial line. Our group has decided they want no part of the rudeness and drama and are just going to show up at 6am on Thursday. Let's just hope it's not utter chaos at 6am and that no one gets hurt trying to run to the front of the line. Someone said there are now 2 unofficial lines started already by people camping (one group is at a park down the road), who very well may be asked to leave once it gets a bit closer to nighttime. The guy I spoke to at the venue said that police would break up the campers at the park, since it's public/city property. It's getting rather entertaining to see all of the chatter on Twitter about everything going on.

 

[noblemaidenfair]

I've been here several times for shows (will actually be at the Clippers game next door that night - we're seeing TOP Sat and Sun with my 15 yo DD). While she should get there early Thursday - these shows are a huge deal! - the venue is such that she'll be able to see fine where ever she ends up. If she doesn't end up in the pit, there is a rise in the grassy area that makes the stage viewable from wherever you sit. Congratulations on getting the code and I hope she has an amazing time!!

 

[adelaster]

It blows my mind that this band is so popular they're playing four nights in a row at four different venues. Of the four, your daughter should get the best view at EXPRESS LIVE! I usually hang in the very back there & it's always been fine. Hope you have time to enjoy our city while you're here!