Damian “Jr. Gong” Marley and Stephen Marley got things rolling in mid-June and The Lumineers finished up with a pair of packed shows at the end of September.
According to Brian McFadin, general manager of AEG Live Pacific Northwest, his company’s 13-date Marymoor Park Concert Series was successful, featuring 50,000 total concertgoers in its first year of operations at the park.
AEG Live also promotes shows at Showbox at the Market and Showbox SoDo in Seattle and signed a five-year contract with King County prior to this year’s Marymoor series.
“We were very satisfied with our series this year and have a great partnership with King County. We’re looking forward to at least four more years with them. We were happy to get 13 shows in and are hoping for more next year,” said McFadin, who didn’t have a gross dollar amount for ticket sales available.
Marymoor’s 5,000-seat outdoor venue was home to three sellouts: Steely Dan on Aug. 15 and The Lumineers on Sept. 20-21. Daryl Hall and John Oates’ Aug. 13 show was a near sellout.
Visitors on the Marymoor Park Concerts Facebook page said they were pleased with the shows this season.
In the past, promoters and King County Parks dealt with some complaints from nearby residents who felt the sound was too loud, McFadin said. This season, he said AEG Live is aware of at least one complaint forwarded to King County Parks regarding the sound.
“The decibel limit is 95db. AEG and King County Parks both take periodic measurements to ensure we remain within this limit,” McFadin said. He added that Carlson Audio Systems supplied a new sound system for Marymoor’s concerts this year that featured cardioid subwoofers “that help alleviate the bass blowback to the homes behind the stage, up on the hillside behind the park.”
On the traffic front, Redmond Police Department (RPD) Traffic Lt. Doug Krueger said their officers teamed up with King County staffers to get cars into the concerts at a steady flow at the main west entrance, on West Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast, during the six bigger concerts they worked. (King County Park staffers directed people into the park during the other shows and out of the park for all the events.)
“Some of the concerts were on weekdays, which present potential traffic issues with the evening commute overlap with concert traffic arriving at the park,” Krueger said. “Traffic issues for the most part were averted with the supplemental help.”
During heavy traffic, Krueger said officers “bumped” arriving cars into the park from the south by holding northbound cars for a cycle against their green light. The officers balanced that scenario to be fair to non-concertgoers, as well, he said.
Departing concertgoers in the 10 p.m. range faced some long waits — and some people voiced their displeasure on the Marymoor Park Concerts Facebook page — but King County media relations coordinator Doug Williams said that’s going to occur anytime a large number of people attend a concert or sporting event. There’s only so many ways people can exit the park, he added.
Williams noted that the City of Redmond altered the timing of the light cycle on West Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast near State Route 520 to help with traffic flow.
Instead of exiting on the west side’s main entrance and taking a right onto West Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast to SR 520, Williams said people could opt to travel through the park and exit on the east side, making a left onto East Lake Sammamish Parkway Northeast toward SR 520.
Williams said there was signage at the exits of parking lots reminding people that they could have used either the west or east side exits.
McFadin added that AEG Live and King County Parks staff members will meet before next season to discuss traffic issues and how to refine the exiting process.
