"It's tiiiiiiiiiiiiiime"
From my quote above, I visited CFG Bank Arena to see Mariah Carey Christmas concert. Overall, I thought the arena was fine - it was not the best place that I've seen a show, but it definitely was not the worst. While obviously concerts are held here, I think this arena is more suited for sporting events just based on the layout. I say this because if you do not have seats close to the stage, you have to rely on only one "jumbo" screen in the middle of the arena. Before purchasing tickets, one should take that into consideration. In the 100 section, I thought the seats were ok. Having visited serval large concert and sporting venues, I expected the seats to be somewhat tight. I'm 5'9'', and I thought the seats were fine - they were not super tight, but they were not super spacious. However, they might be a bit tight for taller folks. While seating was not too tight, it might be a bit of a pain leave your seat (e.g., for a bathroom) break when other folks are sitting in the row. I was sightly annoyed that the seats did not have cup holders (I'm not a fan of putting my beverages on the ground), but it is what it is. Overall, I thought the sound and visual quality was average compared to other concert venues that I've visited in the past.
I thought entering the area was pretty straight forward, and the staff did a good job keeping the lines moving. While there are some considerations for bringing a bag, it's highly recommended that you check out their website to get more information about bag size/limits. I noticed there were quite a few people who were upset because they either had to rent a locker for $15 for their bags or take their bags back to their cars. If possible, it's best to travel without the bag to avoid any confusion and annoyance.
While there was clearly an up charge on food and beverages (as one would expect), I did not think the food and drink prices were too bad for a concert venue. Beers and water were around $15 and $6, respectively. I will say that I was quite impressed by the selection of beers sold at CFG because they had quite decent IPAs. Uff! Deep into the concert, I learned that there was an actual bar, but I did not venture to find it since I did not want to miss more of the show. I guess this information is good to know for next time.
Event parking at the arena was about $55. However, if you are willing to walk 10+ minutes, you definitely can find cheaper options nearby. We found a garage that charged $15, which clearly is significantly less than $55.
Since I had a pretty decent experience at GFC Bank Arena, I definitely see myself visiting again especially because the ticket prices (of course this review is based on an N of 1) were a bit cheaper than DC's Capital One Arena. read more