The layout is really nice, but the rules are kind of ridiculous, can't bring your own snacks in? The lines for food get so ridiculously long there's no time to get anything to eat, and if you have kids with you that are hungry, they are hungry immediately. The seating was kind of crap, they are plastic fold out chairs that are literally ziptied together. Not plus size, (or any size really) friendly. Why the hell would you want to sit that close to anybody? There are far better amphitheatres, but if you want to see a certain band, you put up with a crappy venue! read more

Recently we went and saw Alison Krauss and Union Station at a very nice evening venue. The only drawback was staff members standing on the side and in the back near the information kiosk and the disabled tent talking throughout the entire evening. Several people talked to them. People gave them the stink eye, yet they kept yakking away about anything and everything, but the concert. And so if I was management, I would have them go someplace else so they could talk. To not disturb the patrons who paid large amounts for a classy lady and talented band in a beautiful venue. Extremely disrespectful. Supervisors (ID on the shirts) came and went, never giving a thought to squelching disturbing behavior. Training on theater etiquette should be mandatory. read more

They have condescending, rude and disrespectful security staff who also seem to have training in how to behave and interact with the general public. I would have had a lovely time watching the Willie Nelson concert if not for being yelled at and insulted by two of these personnel. I understand they they're in charge of crowd control but it should still be courteous. Always courteous, is how the public shoukd dealt with. They were so completely uncouth in a particularly inate manner so I suspect that these younger male staff that they were basically untaught by their mothers as they are socially inept. Be sure to avoid them would be my advice. read more

We came here on a Thursday night (8/29) for Blue October, Matt Nathanson, & Switchfoot concert. Concert started at 6:30pm. Since neither my friend nor I have been here, we decided to come early. There was no traffic and parking was of ease. Even exiting the venue was with ease. I have read some of the other reviews, and possibly this was a much small crowd, but I thought this place was great. It's not too small and not too big. Best yet, free parking!!! It's nested in a cute little town that you should definitely stay overnight and explore. The food selection could be better (stay away from the teriyaki bowl) but, the place was perfect. I feel like you could have sat anywhere and you still get a great view of the stage. The sound system was great. We had a really good time. read more

I've had plenty of time to think about this sitting in the parking lot for an hour waiting for traffic to move. They absolutely need better traffic control. If you happened to go to the left instead of the right, you got out very rapidly. If you had the misfortune of going right, they let almost everyone else out before they allowed you to move once. There were no traffic guides until you got to the exit pinch point. I did enjoy the variety of snacks available for purchase. Most were cash only which is unexpected. I don't think we will be back until they do something about having brick and mortar bathrooms. The porta potties were already disgusting half an hour into the show. The venue has the potential to be a classic and beautiful site. It struggles with logistics. read more

Beautiful place to visit! Ate at the winery and enjoyed the grounds with the entire family!

3 Stars because they only accept cash for beer and wine. Their ATM only accepts cards and can't access from your phone. Thought I was back in the 90s read more

Pros: Beautiful setting, free parking, surprisingly minimal congestion driving in or out. Cons: Slow gate entry (we waited in line for 30 min...in 90 degree heat), limited food/beverage options, port-a-potties. Also, they dropped prices on lawn seats by 50% as the date got closer. We were a little bitter that we paid full price. read more

Beautiful venue for all ages; even those with mobility issues. Stage was easy to see and sound system was wonderful. If you want to see good music under the stars, and not have to walk miles, or lots of stairs, to refreshments or the bathrooms, this is the place. Also, the porta-potties were spotless! read more

My mother's day present was tickets to see Blue October at Ironstone amphitheater. We had such an amazing time. They played with Matt Nathenson and Switchfoot. Such an amazing show. read more

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We recently went to the ironstone amphitheater to see Robert Plant and Alison Krauss. It was our first time to see a show here and we found the access and parking to be easy and efficient. Entrance into the show was a bit slow due to all of the security provisions in place but at least we felt safe. We thought that our ticket was for an assigned seating area on the grass so we were a bit surprised to realize that it was a general admission and a bit disappointed that by the time we arrived there were not many places on the lawn to claim but we racked it up as a newbie error, eaked out a spot to drop our chairs and enjoyed a great show. The views of are not very good here unless you are all the way up front but the sound is amazing and overall we had a great time. An added bonus is that there is a large food truck area and many beverage tents so there are lots of options for food and drinks. We will definitely return but next time we will arrive a little earlier to find a better seat. read more

Ironstone Amphitheatre - Waiting for a delicious pizza at the show - Music Venues Near Me - Murphys, California

We just love Ironstone Amphitheater, it's such a beautiful venue to see a show at. Everyone who works the events are very friendly and helpful, and are very accommodating with special needs/ADA assistance. Lots of yummy food and beverage choices at really reasonable prices compared to other venues. Honestly there isn't a bad spot in the house to see the show, their light and sound programming is really crisp as well. This was our 2nd show here and even though we live 2 hours away we will be back again. The parking is fairly easy, especially if you just wait about 20 mins the lots and road back into town clears out quick. read more

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Such an amazing event. Brought a picnic and sat in the truck to eat it as it was pretty hot outside. The line to get in was long. Bring a drink for the wait. Great grass seating. Every area has a great view. Brad Paisley played 11 different guitars. Amazing venue. Thank you #vetix read more

Beautiful grounds. Plenty of grass for lawn seats. We seen Midland and it was assigned seating or lawn seats. The chair were plastic fold chairs. They had several food stand that also served beer and wine, but CASH ONLY. Taco truck, we ordered tacos and it took 45 mins to get our food. Bathrooms, immaculate!! Ports potties. They had someone cleaning them as soon as someone stepped out. Nice, summer night concert venue!! read more

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We waited in line for 1.5 hours for the August 29 ZZ Top concert and were not seated until 1/3 of the show (Molly Hatchet) was nearly over. We complained to the promoter, but he denied there was any failure of staffing or processing at the security checkpoint. read more

Fantastic venue with the best performances. Food, beverages, seating all great. Lawn seating is the way to go.

Plant/Krauss concert a complete fustercluck!! Note to new Owners: * Hire qualified, trained staff to work these events; not unqualified, untrained "volunteers" because you're too cheap to pay for good help - especially when you have a Sold Out concert!! * Speaking of a sold out concert, respect the thousands of ticket holders who bought their tickets early and DON'T ADD ANOTHER 500 TICKETS AT THE LAST MINUTE creating absolute chaos at the venue. * There are a dozen wineries in the area, yet only two choices of wine. There were only two people performing security checks to enter venue and a line that was at least a quarter mile long. Unbelievable. After standing in line for an hour (!) the tweeker chick wouldn't accept tickets in my Apple Wallet because she didn't have the scanner. Instead she wanted the bar code, which she still couldn't scan with her phone. I've been to hundreds of concerts and never experienced this level of incompetence, dysfunction, chaos and rudeness. The sheer greed of these new owners ruined the concert for many of us. Shame on you... We will never go back to a concert there. read more

Beautiful place no mosquitoes,snacks and great atmosphere ...luv it reminds me a little of the old mountain air concerts

Robert Plant and Alison Krause Great lawn seats. Weather is great. Yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyuyyyyyuuuuuuytreefhutewehji

Great venue! We had a great time at "I want my 80s" concert for my birthday and our anniversary. Beautiful place!! read more

Ironstone Amphitheatre - a view of the stage - Music Venues Near Me - Murphys, California

ZZ Top/Night Ranger/Molly Hatchet. We arrived at 6pm and got in line around 6:10. The line was incredibly longggggggg. As if the gates had not been open. Ever so slowly did the line move. Molases in winter flows faster than this concert line did. At 7pm we were still approx. 1/2 hour to the gate entrance. Molly Hatchet started promptly at 7pm. I'm thinking why are they starting when there are still a thousand goers still awaiting entrance? At 7:30 we are still 20 mins from the gate. Now I'm thinking WE ARE GONNA MISS HATCHET!!! At this point not only am I getting a tad heated but other goers are getting PISSED!! Finally, at 7:40 a crew of 4 security folks show up to assist in the scanning of goers. FINALLY!! Well, we get thru just in time TO MISS MOLLY HATCHET!!! To say that I'm pissed at this point is an understatement. So, we get in and find an usher to help us get seated in the "F" section. DO NOT PURCHASE TICKETS IN "F" SECTION. There were to many obstructions to see the entire stage. That should never happen. We could not see the drummer for Night Ranger with the exception of one cymbal. The lawn seating (cheaper seats) had a much better view then we did. I feel that every dime I spent should be refunded. I'm not sure if I will attend Ironstone again but if I do you can bet it will be in the center or on the lawn!! read more

Never again will I drive the two hours to come here to see a concert and then sit in standstill traffic in Murphy's for another two hours and miss seeing Robert Plant- a show I've been wanting to see for a long long time. I paid a lot of $ for these tix and we're missing the whole thing because this venue can't get its parking figured out. How about shuttle busses? So very upset and disappointed.. read more

We saw Cake here on the 13th of July. We stayed in Murphys, just about 1.5 miles from the venue. Band was great and something I'd been looking forward to for years. The amphitheater was good, quite scenic, we enjoyed it. I scoured reviews before coming up because I didn't want to drink a bunch of wine and drive home. Uber is available in this area (at least when we were there) and it was affordable. I would suggest trying to schedule your Uber before the event. The local taxi service was not helpful, actually kinda rude. Drinks seemed to be limited to beer and wine. However, the wood fired pizza was delicious. We purchased assigned seating in the B section. They were great, but if you're looking for a more affordable option, the lawn seats are also great. read more

Just saw Cake recently and had a great time, the service was very friendly and helpful and I love the atmosphere. I was excited Cake played long Jacket but was a bit sad they didn't play comfort eagle which was my favorite song of theirs. I hope the lead singer is doing well because he has a great sense of humor and I appreciate the amount of work and how it can be stressful to tour. I thought it was super touching giving the treat a wonderful gal and I hope she is doing well too. Overall had a blast! read more

HUGE Disappointment!! ZERO organization for parking! There is NO reason it should take 2 hours to get in or out of this venue! Parking was a complete dusty gridlock... And, with all the money they make they should put up some new screens to help us see since majority of spectators are on the lawn! This concert should have been epic. BIG BUMMER read more

Great place to see a concert. Getting in and out could be tricky but all in all a great venue.

We waited over an hour to get to the venue in gridlock traffic. We arrived in Murphy's an hour early and waited more than hour to get to the venue which is only a couple miles away from downtown. Then we decided to leave the concert a little early. Once again, gridlock traffic. It took 2 hours to leave the parking lot. They need to figure out parking, have way more parking attendants. I saw only one or two parking attendants. There was no CHP to help direct traffic. We won't be coming back to this venue. read more

I have been going to Ironstone concerts and events for many, many years and have always told everyone how organized they were to get the people in/out of the venue. Well, last night was a BIG fail. We arrived in Murphys in time to be at Ironstone BEFORE they opened only to sit in traffic for an hour just to get in the parking lot then waited in line for 45 min to get checked it. We downloaded our tickets per their instructions to the apple wallet only to find they needed the bar code and couldn't read our tickets via the 'wallet'. Thinking perhaps they finally added help and didn't have the correct readers? (Trying hard here to give them the benefit of the doubt). Knowing the concert was sold out, you would think they would have opened their doors early to accommodate getting everyone into the venue in a more timely fashion. We only saw about an hour of the show as we had to leave the concert early so we didn't get stuck in another 1-2 hour traffic jam! Good news, once we relaxed, it was a BEAUTIFUL evening, great music and an almost full moon to delight us. read more

Never. Again. Traffic into the venue from Hwy 4 went between a standst to crawling. Took an hour and a half to go 2 miles. Late for the show then left before the encore to sit in a gridlocked parking lot. If there was an emergency here, people would die. Horrible. read more

The time it took to get in to park and then to leave was horrendous!!! We waited in line 2 hours to get in to park and the again to get out of the parking lot!!!! We won't be going to another concert there again!!!! read more

My first time here and I was pleasantly surprised! I've seen some of the awful Yelp reviews so I planned for the worse. The grounds were very nice and I liked that the venue wasn't huge! I originally bought lawn tickets but once I got there I upgraded to seats which was great since we were pretty close to stage. I don't think there's really a bad seat in the house even if your in the grass. The seats are on the smaller side so if your a bigger person I could see them being uncomfortable but honestly most people stood up the whole time. They had food and beer/wine vendors and I believe it was cash only. The number one complaint I see is the time it took to get out. My pro tip is to leave right away! As soon as the last song was done we booked it to the car and we were able to get out relatively quick! I def would come back if there was an artist I liked performing! read more

Ironstone Amphitheatre - Music Venues Near Me - Murphys, California

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This place is STUNNING, it feels like a summer camp, we recently went to see counting crows there , and we're not disappointed, we got the VIP package that came with the Buffett and very good seats but we realized even if we had gotten "lawn seats" , you're never more than 100 feet away from the stage. The food was very much like a decent wedding Buffett , and it was hot so the unlimited water and soda was a welcome addition. The fact that you feel like you are in the woods was so relaxing and the staff was amazing. They don't have real "bathrooms" but a bank of about 35-40 port o potty's which in 104 degree weather I assumed would be disgusting....wrong. They have a whole staff of people who sanitize and attend to EVERY unit as soon as someone walks out, leaving them clean and smelling good. Parking was awesome, I hate parking in the dirt but this was well maintained. It's basically a one lane road going in and out so we thought it would be a nightmare getting out, not the case at all, we were back on the main road in less than 10 minutes . The sound system was top notch , counting crows were amazing , seats are a little tight but I'm a pretty big guy , so that's usually the case. It's out in the middle of NOWHERE, so if you're planning to go, book a room, unless you are in Sacramento or closer I highly recommend that if you see a band you like heading to this place, you follow, the best way I can explain it is like a mini Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, but much cleaner, beautifully managed and way way more intimate. Get here ! read more

We came here last night (7/22) to see Slightly Stoopid and Pepper. The location is really pretty and on a vineyard. But there's a sketchy one lane road to get to the parking lot, which is a dust/dirt lot and there's no rhyme or reason to the organization of where you should park. But okay it's free can't complain. My biggest issue with this place and why I'm giving it two stars is because I waited in lines 80% of the time I was at the event. I bought tickets and they don't have the option to be electronic. I got into ironstone around 5:50 ish, music starts at 6pm so I thought a few min to pick up tickets and get thru security should be efficient...well... you have to get in a long line with only two window workers to pick up your will call tickets. I was in line for thirty mins just to pick up my tickets at will call. Then I got my tickets and went to stand in another very long line to get thru security and scanned into the event. That was another thirty min!!! I was in line for ever!! I completely missed the first band. So we get in and we have to pee and the first bathroom line is very long so I thought, there's bathrooms inside more let's keep going and so we find the other bathrooms which are directly opposite of the entrance completely entirely across the amphitheater lol so here's a mission to start walking over there. Finally we do and then okay next stop let's get beer! We get in line for beer that takes about 20 min or so. Finally get the drinks and find a seat and we missed already two bands so we sit and listen to the next band.... Pepper starts up and so i go to get more drinks and I'm in line for the entirety of Pepper's set list I was so sad. So I got and sit and wait for slightly stoopid and at this point I'm done with the lines so I listen to them for a bit go to the restroom again and then we leave around 9:45 cuz I didn't even want to endure the ordeal of all the cars trying to leave on this sketchy one lane road and the waiting lines to get out of there... I did not enjoy myself at all the whole time I was here. It sucked lol 10 out of 10 I do not recommend. I'd like to come for wine tasting though that seems more idealistic. read more

Never again! Run far and fast and save your money. Way way way over sold. Way way way too few restrooms and it's ok cause you don't need them cause good luck getting a beer. Hour to get in, hour to get out packed in so tight you can't hardly sit in your chair. All they care about is your money. Not enough staff, no direction, awful awful. Ironstone you should be friggin ashamed of how this venue is ran. You'll never get another cent from me read more

The venue is beautiful. What ruins it is the lack of parking and bathrooms. I spent 45 minutes in the middle of the concert, waiting for a bathroom. They need twice as many port-a-potties, but really, they need real bathrooms! Come on. read more

First time at Ironstone was to see Billy Idol for their summer concert series. First off, the grounds are gorgeous! Absolutely stunning landscapes! I wasn't expecting it to be so spacious. The main road in was paved, the parking was gravel, but it wasn't bad. The Amphitheatre seating was a grassy area so bring your own chairs. We were fortunate to be seated in the front row and wow, Billy Idol did not disappoint! The sound was excellent. The whole experience was as good as it gets. I would definitely come back! read more

Ironstone Amphitheatre - Billy Idol @ Ironstone - Music Venues Near Me - Murphys, California

Restrooms - only on one side of the amphitheater. Takes forever to get to them. Parking lot was the worst lot ever to get out of. I exit for 7000 people in vehicles. It took hours after the concert. Don't go. read more

Gorgeous venue!! Concert was epic. parking was so easy even when showed up later than expected. went back next morning for wine tasting,staff was so friendly read more

This is a mixed review of a mixed venue. The grounds are beautiful and the staff were very pleasant and helpful, but that's where the good ends. The road to the venue is a single lane narrow road. Parking, wow parking, this has to be the worst local for parking and traffic control I've been to, complete unacceptable for a lactation that puts on concerts. Never been here before? Expect to be completely lost and and ask every staff member how to get where you want to go as there is no signage at all, just people wandering around looking for things. Our tickets had a "buffet" included, yeah, well, ok it was food so there's that. The concert area itself was pretty nice, it's relative small and even the furthest reaches are close to the stage. The assigned seating however are plastic fold-out chairs zip-tied together and are so small and low that a child would feel cramped. I'm a larger man at 6'-2" and was extremely uncomfortable sitting on what amounted to a stool. Everyone within ear shot was complaining about the chairs. Then there was the stank of weed everywhere all night long. I get it, this is California after all, but the place reeked like a dumpster fire at a horse stable. Maybe go for the winery and to see the ground but stay away from the concerts unless you are a masochist. read more

We have seen lots of ads for Ironstone in the many years we have come to visit Murphys and Arnold from our home on the coast. We noted that Styx and REO Speedwagon were sharing the bill on Friday the 17th, and purchased reserved seats. We are decades-long fans of Styx and like REO. Some positives and negatives of our experience: All of the venue employees were friendly and helpful. From the person at will call who printed our tickets due to dodgy Web access to our bartenderesses to the ushers, the staff were professional and made us feel welcome. The sound was mixed well, though a little muddy in the bottom end - not sure if that was the road crew's issue or the venue. Though the flora in the venue were pleasant, it got dark fast - sorry we missed most of that. Full disclosure: we have attended lots of concerts in California and have been spoiled by places like the Mountain Winery in Los Gatos and Yoshi's in Oakland, both of whom have worked out their arrival/leaving game. Parking is included in the price of your ticket here, so the suffering of entry and exit is at least egalitarian; "VIP" parking at venues in the bay area falls between $20 - $40 on top of your ticket price. We were warned that parking here would be an existential challenge. This venue delivered. It took us 20 minutes to get in and about an hour and twenty minutes to get out. This was about two-thirds the total length of our concert. We were entertained for a few moments by Bessy the cow and her mates as we crawled in, and parking attendants, covered by a fine layer of dust, in repose as we crawled out. Finally, REO, the opener, played for 90 minutes. Styx played for about an hour. My guess is that the venue has an agreement with neighbors to stop the music by a certain time. If true, promoters and the venue should have forseen this and planned so the headliner played a fuller set(granted, Styx played one more song in Utah three nights before than we got tonight with REO opening). Though there are pleasant aspects of Ironstone and the concert itself was enjoyable and the staff pleasant, the transportation logistics are woeful. Not likely to return. read more