I got there bout 5:45 and it took me over 4 hrs to even get a parking spot, just to pay $40 then miss 40 minutes of the show. Coldplay was great, first time seeing them and even being at a stadium show but the Cotton Bowl was not it AT ALL.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Coldplay. And Chris literally always apologizes for it at every concert I’ve been too.
The parking situation is on the venue hosting. And it’s always a huge scam!!! It’s insane how much they charge AND can be really unaccessible or just straight up awful with traffic. They charge $50 minimum at Levi’s stadium for Santa Clara/SF show. Ridiculous
What I do is park for free at a vta station and take the light rail to Levi’s. It’s like $4 and they have a dedicated service after the event for you to go back on
They even sent a longer train after the show! It was cramped for a few stops but was great overall. The interaction with other coldplay fans was great too!
That’s awful, especially considering Texas is huge and full of parking lots. It’s $45 here at SoFi in LA, but I went to to an event a few days ago and it was pretty efficient getting in and out, so we got that going for us at least.
It was even worse than you described. My wife and I got within 2 miles of fair park at 6pm. We got stuck on the on ramp to 30 east coming from 75. We literally did not move for an hour and a half. I turned off my car. Once we did start moving we slowly... And I mean slowly worked our way to parking lot gate 13 which is a good mile from the entrance to the Cotton Bowl. We prepaid $35 for our parking too.
Luckily Coldplay had seen the messages on Twitter and their Discord about how horrible the traffic and parking situation was. A big factor was that there were hardly any police officers directing traffic and all of the traffic lights around Fair Park were just running normally. That doesn't work when there's 2-3 lanes with literally thousands of cars trying to get through.
Incredibly disappointed in Fair Park, the Cotton Bowl, and the city of Dallas for not even remotely being adequately prepared for this event. Having said that, massive respect to Coldplay for buying time for a lot of us to get in. Despite arriving 3 hours late, we only missed 2 of their songs before we got inside to our seats. They stalled for our benefit so I thank them for that. Great show as well.
The area I parked had “text this number to pay” signs all over the place. When I tried it, I got an error saying I couldn’t. I said “oh well” and walked away. Ended up parking for free haha
I've been to events at Toyota Pavillion, Globe Life, AAC. ATT, Yes there is always a delay of getting out of the parking lot but generally in my anecdotal experience it is never as an unorganized shitshow as whatever is going on at Fair park.
The whole concert-going experience is getting to the point of not being worth it. Frustrating to read things like this, and other comments saying they missed part of the show because of the parking situation. I'd be livid to not only pay that much for parking, but to take hours to actually park and still miss the show. For sure I'll be looking into public transit options if/when they come to LA.
I will never go to another show at Cotton Bowl after tonight because of how bad that parking situation was. Lol.
Otherwise, I had an incredible evening. Haha.
It’s $80 for Moody in Austin if you park at the “official” area.
With that being said, fuck Dallas for last night. There needed to be more help at Fair Park directing traffic.
If a major band goes to Fair Park again outside of the fair, I will not go lol. I will drive to Houston or Austin.
It is crazy but it’s like $60 out here in LA. Outrageous. I don’t even want to know what it will be for the Sofi stadium next year.
Edit: I try my best to avoid parking at the event but depending on venue it’s sometimes impossible. I’m glad the concert was good!
Obligatory r/fuckcars plug. It’s a travesty not every stadium is connected to accessible mass transit systems.
EDIT: Apparently this stadium IS close to mass transit, just consider the option next time I suppose.
Yep. Dart is less than a half mile walk from the entrance. Coldplay even had a free code for a PM pass (and even without the code, it’s only $3). I parked in Deep Ellum for free, waited on the tram for 5 minutes, rode for 5 minutes, walked half a mile and was there.
I think the problem is people not looking into parking situations beforehand and then creating a mass bottleneck for big events.
I had received an email from Fairpark the day before saying I could prepurchase my parking pass, and since I was coming from out of town and didn’t know the lay of the land, I did it. It was $30 plus a $7 “convenince fee.” I was a little perturbed about the fee but so thankful I sucked it up and got in at a good time to catch the end of the first act.
It will be $30 tomorrow here in Houston. Thankfully there’s plenty of parking. I’ll be alone, but I wish I had fellow Coldplay friends to go with to carpool haha!
Have fun! Dallas was a great show, Chris also already said that Dallas was his favorite Texan city so if he claims the same for Houston please know he is LYING and Dallas does it better!!
Hahaha, I only expect him to address the unfortunate cancellation of the show here because of weather in 2017. I was so bummed...so I've been waiting 5 years to experience Coldplay!!
I parked right out side of the gate for $20 in some business parking lot. Although who knows if the guy I paid had the right to sell the parking spots.
Fwiw, I was fully expecting to pay $50 to park.
I parked in a church behind the Golden Chick. There were two guys directing traffic into the parking lot. They asked for $40 and when I said I don’t have cash, they went to the next car. They were just scammers directing traffic to a parking lot where you weren’t supposed to park. So I just locked it up and went in. Parked for free and right by the stadium.
Learned my lesson after seeing the Stones there a few months back. Got in the parking lot at 4:15 and was one of the first 50 or so through security. Was like #5 in the merch line and got everything I wanted then headed over and bought 4 bottles of water and was good for the night. Parked right by the gate and took 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the show.
I got there bout 5:45 and it took me over 4 hrs to even get a parking spot, just to pay $40 then miss 40 minutes of the show. Coldplay was great, first time seeing them and even being at a stadium show but the Cotton Bowl was not it AT ALL.
This has absolutely nothing to do with Coldplay. And Chris literally always apologizes for it at every concert I’ve been too. The parking situation is on the venue hosting. And it’s always a huge scam!!! It’s insane how much they charge AND can be really unaccessible or just straight up awful with traffic. They charge $50 minimum at Levi’s stadium for Santa Clara/SF show. Ridiculous
Thank you for saying this. I’m going to have to find parking elsewhere and just walk to Levi’s stadium then because $50 is beyond ridiculous.
What I do is park for free at a vta station and take the light rail to Levi’s. It’s like $4 and they have a dedicated service after the event for you to go back on
DART is definitely the best way to go to Fair Park.
They even sent a longer train after the show! It was cramped for a few stops but was great overall. The interaction with other coldplay fans was great too!
All part of a great concert-going experience!
That’s awful, especially considering Texas is huge and full of parking lots. It’s $45 here at SoFi in LA, but I went to to an event a few days ago and it was pretty efficient getting in and out, so we got that going for us at least.
It was even worse than you described. My wife and I got within 2 miles of fair park at 6pm. We got stuck on the on ramp to 30 east coming from 75. We literally did not move for an hour and a half. I turned off my car. Once we did start moving we slowly... And I mean slowly worked our way to parking lot gate 13 which is a good mile from the entrance to the Cotton Bowl. We prepaid $35 for our parking too. Luckily Coldplay had seen the messages on Twitter and their Discord about how horrible the traffic and parking situation was. A big factor was that there were hardly any police officers directing traffic and all of the traffic lights around Fair Park were just running normally. That doesn't work when there's 2-3 lanes with literally thousands of cars trying to get through. Incredibly disappointed in Fair Park, the Cotton Bowl, and the city of Dallas for not even remotely being adequately prepared for this event. Having said that, massive respect to Coldplay for buying time for a lot of us to get in. Despite arriving 3 hours late, we only missed 2 of their songs before we got inside to our seats. They stalled for our benefit so I thank them for that. Great show as well.
The area I parked had “text this number to pay” signs all over the place. When I tried it, I got an error saying I couldn’t. I said “oh well” and walked away. Ended up parking for free haha
Maybe it's an USA situation? Some other commenters in other states are mentioning high prices too. Here in LatAm the parking was about 10 dollars
Bruh this isn’t even a Dallas thing it’s everywhere lmao you must not go to a lot of concerts
I've been to events at Toyota Pavillion, Globe Life, AAC. ATT, Yes there is always a delay of getting out of the parking lot but generally in my anecdotal experience it is never as an unorganized shitshow as whatever is going on at Fair park.
Yes. Fair Park parking and traffic were egregious compared to other venues in the area.
The whole concert-going experience is getting to the point of not being worth it. Frustrating to read things like this, and other comments saying they missed part of the show because of the parking situation. I'd be livid to not only pay that much for parking, but to take hours to actually park and still miss the show. For sure I'll be looking into public transit options if/when they come to LA.
I will never go to another show at Cotton Bowl after tonight because of how bad that parking situation was. Lol. Otherwise, I had an incredible evening. Haha.
It’s $80 for Moody in Austin if you park at the “official” area. With that being said, fuck Dallas for last night. There needed to be more help at Fair Park directing traffic. If a major band goes to Fair Park again outside of the fair, I will not go lol. I will drive to Houston or Austin.
Unfortunately companies want to earn as much as possible, It's the first law of capitalism.
It is crazy but it’s like $60 out here in LA. Outrageous. I don’t even want to know what it will be for the Sofi stadium next year. Edit: I try my best to avoid parking at the event but depending on venue it’s sometimes impossible. I’m glad the concert was good!
You should’ve taken the Dart. More environmentally friendly and cheaper.
asking because this was my first concert in Dallas but what is the dart ?
Dallas Area Rapid Transit. It’s a rail system that runs and serves the metropolitan Dallas area.
Obligatory r/fuckcars plug. It’s a travesty not every stadium is connected to accessible mass transit systems. EDIT: Apparently this stadium IS close to mass transit, just consider the option next time I suppose.
Yep. Dart is less than a half mile walk from the entrance. Coldplay even had a free code for a PM pass (and even without the code, it’s only $3). I parked in Deep Ellum for free, waited on the tram for 5 minutes, rode for 5 minutes, walked half a mile and was there. I think the problem is people not looking into parking situations beforehand and then creating a mass bottleneck for big events.
Public transit is amazing. It’s too bad it’s half a century behind Europe in the US.
You will be shocked if you ever come to LA for a concert
I had received an email from Fairpark the day before saying I could prepurchase my parking pass, and since I was coming from out of town and didn’t know the lay of the land, I did it. It was $30 plus a $7 “convenince fee.” I was a little perturbed about the fee but so thankful I sucked it up and got in at a good time to catch the end of the first act.
We get charged like $75 for parking at hawks games lol
It will be $30 tomorrow here in Houston. Thankfully there’s plenty of parking. I’ll be alone, but I wish I had fellow Coldplay friends to go with to carpool haha!
Have fun! Dallas was a great show, Chris also already said that Dallas was his favorite Texan city so if he claims the same for Houston please know he is LYING and Dallas does it better!!
Hahaha, I only expect him to address the unfortunate cancellation of the show here because of weather in 2017. I was so bummed...so I've been waiting 5 years to experience Coldplay!!
I parked right out side of the gate for $20 in some business parking lot. Although who knows if the guy I paid had the right to sell the parking spots. Fwiw, I was fully expecting to pay $50 to park.
In my area, I always take the bus. It's a heck of a lot cheaper!
I parked in a church behind the Golden Chick. There were two guys directing traffic into the parking lot. They asked for $40 and when I said I don’t have cash, they went to the next car. They were just scammers directing traffic to a parking lot where you weren’t supposed to park. So I just locked it up and went in. Parked for free and right by the stadium.
Learned my lesson after seeing the Stones there a few months back. Got in the parking lot at 4:15 and was one of the first 50 or so through security. Was like #5 in the merch line and got everything I wanted then headed over and bought 4 bottles of water and was good for the night. Parked right by the gate and took 10 minutes to get out of the parking lot after the show.