Coachman Park

I went to the new Sound at the brand new Coachman Park facility to see Peter Frampton. It is a great new venue. It is an open-air concert venue similar to the State Fairgrounds outside Tampa, but it is more intimate. It is on the water right near the Capital Theater in Clearwater. A short walk from there and the restaurants. The venue and park are very nice. As you go into the Sound from the park, there are a group of food trucks that greet you. There is a good variety, and there happens to coincidentally be my favorite food truck. Funnel Vision, with fantastic food and desserts. As you go by the food trucks, you go into the seating area, and it is shaped like a big semi-circle around the stage, which is very wide. It’s not fancy. It just has the modern industrial design with all the large white pipes and roof overhead. The roof covers just about all of the seats except for some on the sides and back. After the seats in the back, there is a short lawn of artificial turf, and then there is a walkway that separates the very back of the area, which is also a lawn that slopes upward. At the top of the lawn, there are a couple of drink vendors and some bathroom facilities, along with a big building not connected to the venue. The seating is good and you can see well from any seat you buy. There’s no need to buy the expensive seats unless you want to sit right up front. You will notice that the seats get a little uncomfortable after a while because they are hard plastic and all connected to one another. The best thing to do is stand up every so often to stretch. One thing about the venue because l think it’s very new, is that the security is aggressive. From the minute we got in the ticket line which took a long time, they were kind of bossy, and when you got inside they were constantly telling people that they couldn’t sit on the cement wall at the end of the lawn. The old timers were getting feisty with the security because they felt they were being denied something silly. For a different reason, one person even got handcuffed and arrested by the police who were actually less aggressive than the security. I had to laugh when l saw an old timer getting arrested at a Peter Frampton concert. Peter Frampton was fantastic, by the way. Even though he has a degenerative muscular disease, he put on a long show sitting down, and his voice is still very good. He was very personable and told many stories. He is a very positive person. Overall, the venue is nice, and l had a good time and would go back again. Especially to explore more of the park. Maybe for one of the markets they have there. It’s worth a trip there. I heard that there were 20 shows happening this year. One more thing. The venue is great for night shows. Keep in mind you’ll have to deal with the sun until you get under the roof. After the sun sets, the place is beautiful with the lights and the atmosphere.