Roaming Numeral

While this venue labels itself as being a Boston music venue, it is in fact located nearly an hour outside of the city center in Mansfield, Massachusetts.

This distance give the venue room to spread out. It has a generous amount of parking, though perhaps not enough for a full house. We were in one of the last lots and the venue wasn’t even full yet!

As most public events are headed, we were not allowed to bring bags any larger than a fanny pack, or otherwise a clear vinyl bag. Luckily, I brought a jacket with zip up pockets so I was able to put my things in there. Unopened water bottles were still allowed through security with no issue. At the front of the gate, our limited items were scanned and we were walked through a metal detector before entering the park.

The venue is a big bowl shaped structure sat on a hill- lawn admission on the very edge of the viewing area is available for a significant discount, though seats were not provided. It seemed a bit like a picnic back there, and there were big screens so that concert goers could see the stage with more detail. The majority of the seating area is covered by a flat roof so viewers are protected from the rain despite it being an open air venue.

Sprawled out around the seating and stage area, semi permanent vendors sell a variety of snacks and alcohol. The $20 can of wine was the best bang for your buck- we checked. Sure there were less expensive drinks, but they weren’t THAT much less expensive and definitely not as strong.

We were lucky enough to get a good deal on tickets to Odesza in Section 3. While we had a great view and felt super close to the stage (pictures can’t quite do it justice), I did feel that we were a bit left out of the light show, which was very centralized down the middle of the stadium. It’s hard to tell if it was an issue with the stage itself or the choreography of the lights themselves, but either way it didn’t prevent us from having an amazing time.

While I normally I don’t think having a side view of the stage is detrimental to the viewing experience, for shows that heavily rely on lighting, the closer to the middle the better.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my concert experience at the XFinity Center, but I do think I’ll splurge on some more central tickets next time Odesza comes to town! They are one of my favorite artists and it was such a gift to see them live- especially with Elderbrook and Sylvan Esso, who I also love!