Patriotic Festival Tickets

Things were very confusing. At the scope they didn’t know how to access our tickets on our phones. The seating was very confusing both regarding what the ticket indicated and where the actual seating was ! Four of us had tickets for the chair area for Kane Brown and Morgan Wallen. Could not see stage at all and very hard to hear. Only one food truck! Screens to see Kane Brown in Morgan Wallen way too small! I don’t know how in the world general mission could see anything or hear anything. Music was wonderful although we couldn’t see anything.

Venue was terrible. Artists were great but definitely won’t be returning if they have it at the same venue years to come.

The setup for the Kane Brown and Morgan Wallen concert on Waterside Drive was very poorly planned out. General Admission had several obstructions, only had one screen to view and was a great distance from the stage. The performers were good from what we could see and hear. The stage should have been higher. The setup was too deep from the stage to General admission area. And there was a big empty gap between the VIP chairs and GA. Not sure why. We honestly would have had a better view from outside the fence and not had to buy a ticket. There will need to be huge improvements if the City of Norfolk wants to do it this way next year. I don't think I would ever buy GA or VIP chair tickets to this event again. I would rather take my chances for free and see what i can see from outside the fence. I feel like this was a total waste of money and very disappointing. After reading the comments on the Facebook page for the Patriotic Festival, many people felt the same way that i did.

Overall, the music, performances and artists were AMAZING for this 3-day festival! The Scope Arena on Friday for Jon Pardi was an awesome location for seating, multiple food & alcohol/drink choices offered as well. The layout for the seating sections was good no matter what type of tickets you had. Everything flowed very nicely and met the needs of not only the amount of people but also the variety of age groups. However, the layout of the seating sections at Waterside was not acceptable in my opinion. Based off of the stage location it made it very hard to actually enjoy seeing the concert even with our VIP chair section seats. I actually felt bad for the people who had purchased general admission standing section tickets. The view or lack there of, from their block/section was next to nothing. The other thing that made the waterside location not enjoyable was only having 1 food truck/source of food, 1 merchandise booth and 1 alcohol tent in our section. We waited an hour in line to get food, not even being dramatic with that timing either. At least, either let people bring in outside food and non-alcoholic beverages or provide more sources for these things. I'm aware that we were allowed 1 water bottle, but for elderly or children, this is not conducible for them. I would NOT recommend this layout at waterside again for next year's event. Thank you to everyone who worked so hard to make this event happen! I will definitely attend again if the seating section layout changes.

For the price we paid the venue was not a good set up. The beach was a better venue spot. Disappointed we couldn’t see the stage and their was only 1 screen to view.

Having the Patriotic Festival at two venues was smart. Scope was fantastic! The Waterside venue was good but if you didn't have Pit Passes that experience was definitely lacking. Need better cell coverage as service was dismal. Caused issues with vendors providing food and alcohol sales. Then the ATM machines were out of money. Needs to better to accommodate the volume of fans.

1. The fesitval being split between two different venues was weird to begin with. 2. Friday night was unorganized and several of the event staff had no idea where seating was supposed to be. I showed my tickets, knowing they were for VIP Chair seats and got pointed to general admission. There was also zero ability to actually keep the three sections completely separated, so by the end of the concerts it was just a free for all for where you wanted to go. 3. Saturday and Sunday night was a huge waste of money. Why pay this much for VIP Chair seats when you couldn't even see the concert and could barely hear it both nights. We paid to see the artist perform and got left watching screens with barely any sound. Also, there was only 1 food truck for like each section... why would you limit it to that when there were hundreds of people there each night?? 4. They needed double the amount of porta-johns and they should have actually been stocked with more than 1 roll of toliet paper. 5. There needed to be better consistency of allowing people to stand on the sides in the chair section. 6. The take down and set up between the artist was extremely long. Way longer than at any other concert/ festival I've been too. All in all, the artist did their thing and put on decent shows. It was just impossible to really enjoy them with how chaotic the rest of the event was. I won't go back unless it's moved out of Norfolk, or atleast off of Waterside Dr. -Signed disappointed fan

Pros- having the tide as a transportation option was awesome. I felt safe with the large police presence. Getting into event was easy and streamlined. I was in pit and it was worth the money. Cons- arrangement of sections, the people in the back couldn't see anything. Sound needs to be equally spaced so other sections can hear. Need more food options/food trucks. Only one in pit section and took a long time. More alcohol lines and ones that take more cards or do a ticket system (buy tickets and then use those to get beverages). Larger drinks- like amphitheater may cost a little more but less trips in line.

Set up in Norfolk was awful for the general admission

The festival began at the beach and that’s where it should stay. Virginia Beach is set up for this and does a great job with crowds. Nothing beats standing and watching a concert with your toes in the sand and not on hot asphalt.