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WaMu Zoo Tunes at the Woodland Park Zoo
Rating Details »
Categories: Arts & Entertainment, Zoos [Edit]
Neighborhood: Green Lake601 N 59th St
(between N Evanston Ave & N Fremont Ave)
Seattle, WA 98103
(206) 615-1024
- Good for Kids:
- Yes
13 reviews for WaMu Zoo Tunes at the Woodland Park Zoo
Great concert spot.
Bring a chair, but not more than 24" high.
Be warned that people show up at 9:30am to get their spot. They are locals that get free passes and they usually have no idea who is playing.
I got front row seats by walking up to someone that looked decent and asked if I could sqeeze in next to them. It worked!
Bring a flashlight for your walk back to your car...there are no lights along the road.
No doubt a great location, good sound, lots of nice places to sit. But holy cow ease up on the rules and lectures; I thought I was back in kindgergarten.
First a 3 minute recorded lecture by a local Dj "Make sure your chair isn't tool tall and ask the person behind you if it's okay "Don't talk during the show,watch your kids, turn off your phone. Take a bus next time."
They have a compost and recycling station which is great. But the woman running the station was so overbearing and rude that people were calling her the "recycling Nazi". I was so annoyed I just ended up packing everything out.
Finally at the end of the show after maybe 10 minutes a really rude voice came on and said (I'm paraphrasing)" Hey dummies, the show's over get out, the fields closed." It wasn't even 8:15 yet.
Back in my day the biggest announcement you got at a concert was to watch out for bad acid. Calm down.
It wasn't a terrible evening but if I want to have a picnic outdoors with some music in the background I'll sit outside the gates and skip the cost of a ticket.
No one was paying attention to the music, which I found completely bizarre. I totally support the idea of a family-friendly concert venue. But on a date night with my husband, I could hardly enjoy the music because everyone around me was talking, crawling, crying...
Marymoor is a much, much better venue for the grown-up crowd.
Went to see Los Lobos last night. Super fun and great show. You gotta be early to get a place but no matter where you are it's not that-- bad. Beer and Wine garden had a decent view.
I would recommend going an hour or so early and picking your spot, not to mention it takes awhile to park.
This is fantastic!
Music.
Fun atmosphere!
Night sky in a beautiful locale. Excellent bands. vendors and free samples of everything from ice cream to nuts. Overpriced gooey cheeseburgers. Bring your own food! PCC and Safeway are not too far away.
I just wondered how it is for the animals.
I must disclose that I live in the neighborhood. So as a concession for all the ruckus and headache we experience living by the Zoo, they give us two dates on the concert calendar to attend gratis!
Even so, they book quality bands....I saw Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings last year, and it BLEW MY MIND.
You can bring your own food which is a plus, or they have edible options inside the gate.
Kid and family friendly. See you this summer!
This is not a good venue if you want to listen to music. The chattering audience is so disrespectful to the musicians (especially the openers) it is maddening. Really people, if you want to talk, talk, talk go to a restaurant. They get some great acts, but for those who want to experience live music, this is not really the place. I have gone to a few of these because I get free tickets and its always the same.
They really need areas where people can stand or dance, how hard would that be at a live outdoor venue? Cordon off areas stage left and right in the front. It might give us music lovers a place to hang without having to look around in disgusted disbelief at the chatty majority.
This is highly recommended if you are in the mood for a mellow, all-ages sunset concert surrounded by actual wild animals (not the mosh pit kind).
The first time I heard about this concert series, I thought it sounded kind of cool, but I couldn't fight the mental images of that scene from Spinal Tap when they are all washed up and playing the zoo circuit with their sad little tiny Stonehenge. Then I saw the posters with the artist lineups, and I had to give some respect - the Zoo Tunes concerts are the real deal, with real talent. Up and comers are welcome, but has-beens need not apply.
Year after year, I somehow managed to miss out on every Zoo Tunes show I wanted to see because they would sell out so fast, until finally this year the stars aligned and I managed to nab some tickets while the getting was good. Yippee! This was as much fun as any outdoor concert I have been to, and I hope to make a habit of it.
The concerts are held on a sprawling lawn surrounded by a small assortment of booths with some educational info, children's activities, food, etc. Of course, this is a great setting for a picnic, but the venue's food offerings were actually surprisingly decent - you can get grass-fed beef burgers, for instance. Even better, you can order up a boxed meal from Metropolitan Market and have it delivered to the show! The over 21 crowd also has the option of hanging out in the Beer Garden with a cold brew. Sound zoo-tastic? I sure thought so.
This may seem obvious, but the Zoo Tunes shows are about as family friendly as it gets. Concerts are held in the early evening, and are over by 8:30 pm. So, anyone with kids can get them home and tucked in at a reasonable hour (or I suppose if you are a super hardcore rocker you could leave and go to some other after dark show). Best of all, kids under 12 are free!! That is completely unheard of. Plenty of other outdoor venues will let you bring in a baby or young toddler for free, but I was highly impressed with this family-friendly policy. Based on the crowd at the show I attended, families are heartily taking advantage of it!
The Woodland Park Zoo concerts suck. And it isn't totally the people running the concerts it is the people who go there too. They don't let you stand. They get mad when you dance. They set themselves up in the front row with their wine and cheese and then ask you who is playing.
I have been to the zoo to see the Indigo Girls twice. Both times I was in line to be in the front row BEFORE the zoo even opened. I purchased my zoo entrance and waited inside the zoo EXACTLY where they specified and was the first in line with my group of 6 friends who travelled to see the Indigo Girls from Oregon and California.
I enjoy waiting in line to see concerts especially in zoos because your friends can hold the line for a few minutes and you can get some food and see the animals. After waiting in line for about 12 hours, we were very excited to get in. About 20 minutes before doors, another line formed next to us and we began to panic. Who were these people? They weren't in line for 12 hours. We were told they were handicapped and would not be let in before us. They were just forming a special line. Well, one out of every 10 people in that line had a visible disability and the rest were carrying insanely large coolers and lawn chairs. The time came for doors and they let all the handicapped people and their posse in and held us back. By the time we got in the venue to claim our spot, the handicapped people and their entourages consumed the entire area in from of the stage and set up their blankets. Outraged by the entire thing we could barely stay to watch the show. It would be one thing if this happened once...but it happened twice. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. Buying tickets to a Zoo show is not something I will do again.
Both years a letter of disgust was sent to the Wamu ZooTunes people and both years nothing was done about it.
It is a shame. Since the Pier is no more, there are no decent summer venues in the city and that is so sad.
i will never go back to this venue again for anything. ever.
this is the worst concert venue ever. and i mean ever.
here is the shortlist:
unfair line policies
people who are not there for the music and prefer to talk throughout the concert (why even bother fighting your way up front?)
crazy venue staff, who, despite the artists request, will jump all over you if you stand up or take a photo (without a flash)
overpriced mediocre food
long line for alcohol
insanely early curfew. my favorite band, who normally plays a 90 minute set, only gets about 70-80 minutes here
in 2007, after two lame shows here, i swore that if my band played here in 2008, i'd skip it. even if they were in portland the night before, and even if i was doing most of the tour. they did return in 2008, and i did not.
A relaxing summer evening spent outside at the Woodland Park Zoo meadow listening to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings sounded pretty fantastic, when I heard the WaMu Zoo Tunes advertised. I hurried to Metropolitan Market and purchased our tickets before the show sold out (as the rest of the Zoo Tunes line up tended to do). While Sharon Jones lungs did not disappoint, I doubt I would choose to see her or another performer that I really wanted to see in this venue again. The performers became more background noise to the kids and chatty picnickers than the main attraction. I came to see Sharon Jones perform, not treat her as the radio in the background. Either way, I think Zoo Tunes is a neat idea, but is definitely family oriented.
Great venue if you have children.
I am one of those who get in early because I am a Zoo Season pass holder.
The bands have to rush through their sets to make the curfew. I like my bands to BS with the crowd a little but they are under the gun to squeeze it all in.
On the other hand - I had my kids home and in bed at a decent hour and didn't have to pay for a sitter or ticket for them.
The beer line sucks and they cut it off way too early.
There are only about five porta potties available in the drinking area.
Good news is that the staff searches nothing on entry so it is easy to sneak in a nalgene bottle of wine.
I went to Zoo Tunes about a month ago. I thought Zoo Tunes was great...it's fun for the whole family...and there were lots of families there. I wouldn't go see shows at the zoo for good acoustics, but you get to hear who you want...pretty much all the seats are good. Bring a picnic and some blankets...I went near the beginning of "summer" and it was cold. I just moved from Texas and it amazed me how people were out there in the cold, wet rain like nothing was fazing them. A good time had by all. I'd recommend going for the experience even if you don't know the person who is playing !!
