BRISTOW, Va. —
There will be no more tailgating at Jiffy Lube Live.
Spokespeople for Jiffy Lube and its owner Live Nation didn’t return phones and emails late this week. But Prince William County policeconfirm that the Bristow concert venue is cracking down on partying in the parking lot. No pop-up tents, no portable grills and absolutely no alcohol.
There has always been a rule against drinking in the parking lot. But now the outdoor amphitheater is adopting a “no tolerance” policy when it comes to drinking and tailgating.
Fans buying tickets for shows this season were surprised to see “No Tailgating” stamped on their stubs. On its Facebook page, Jiffy Lube Live writes that safety, and abiding by Virginia’s law banning public alcohol consumption, prompted the change.
How is all this to be accomplished? Gates will open an hour and a half later. Police security will issue one warning to those tailgating or drinking and if the offenders do not comply, they will be served with a trespassing notice and removed from the property.
What prompted this move? Probably the deaths of a grandmother and grandson after one of the Jimmy Buffett concerts in 2009 and the deaths of several teens after a Rascal Flatts concert in 2010. All involved drunk driving. A young man, convicted of DWI, is now serving prison time for the deaths of grandmother Susie Delgado and her grandson.
Buffett concerts are particularly bad for the drinking scene. Back in the day, revelers would arrive early in the day to begin a day of boozing and wasting away in Margaritaville. By mid afternoon, those in the Parrothead area could count on walking in vomit to get from one spot to the other.
This is a situation that can be controlled. With all the hoopla about the illegal immigrant drunk driving incident, local elected officials who were howling the loudest ignored the alcohol -related deaths arising from partying at Jiffy Lube. Corey Stewart didn’t appear on Fox News lamenting the death of the grandmother and grandson or the teenagers. Instead, he used the issue of illegal immigration to champion his cause. Some of us never saw why the tragic death of a nun because of drunk driving deserved more attention than the untimely death from drunk driving which originated at Jiffy Lube.
Parrotheads on Facebook are already threatening boycot. That boycot won’t last long. NO parrothead can stay away that long. Endless drinking for hours before a concert just isn’t a safe thing to do. Get a motel room for concerts, drink there, and take a cab. Notice that there are no hotels out near the concert hall. People would have to come in to town. Smart hotels would run shuttle buses–ones that could just be hosed down after a concert.
Are there plans to limit alcohol sales at Jiffy Lube or does the free market take care of that? 8 ounces of beer cost in the neighborhood of $5, 5 or 6 years ago. That price hasn’t gone down. Wine was also expensive. Those planning on intoxication had better bring a huge checkbook.
Delayed gate openings make it tough for those who want to avoid traffic and arrive early. However, the safety of those on Prince William County roads is more important, especially in light of the tragic deaths of Battlefield students Derek Meffert and Stephen Dixon after a Rascal Flatts concert in 2010, and Susie Delgado and her grandson in 2009. Ms. Delgado hadn’t been to a concert but the drunk driver who hit her had been to see Jimmy Buffett.
The county and Jiffy Lube have much more control over illegal drinking than they do over illegal immigrants. To have ignored the illegal drinking in order to push the politics of illegal immigration any longer would have simply been irresponsible.
The Parrotheads are pissed!!!
Indeed they are!!!
This should have been done a long time ago. Most people don’t abuse. It only takes a few to ruin it for everyone.
I guess they will have to arrive an hour and a half later.
Back 10-15 years ago, people would go out in the morning, grab the spots in the far parking lot near the woods and party hardy until many were too drunk to make it to the concert.
Parrotheads are very serious about their tailgating equipment:
http://www.tailgatingtimes.com/index.php?/categories/5-Gear/P2.html
Two years ago, a drunk Parrot Head leaving the concert, rear-ended a woman, her mother, and her little boy. The car was struck so hard it flipped over, killing the grandmother, and the little boy.
I have tailgated at (Nissan) Jiffy Lube. The rule was if you drank outside, you refrained inside, so you were sober by the time the concert ended. If you drank inside, you weren’t driving home. I think this is a good move by the owners. If there is no tailgating, this limits the time period in which someone can consume. I’d have been happier if they just outlawed the drinking, and open flames, but contined to allow people to consume food.
Too bad. I’ve had some great times tailgating there. But overpriced concerts are certainly not a necessity, really.
I went to a concert there once with my family. I said never again, but with the new rules it might be worth another try. The last time I went years ago I considered it the worst managed event I’d ever been to. Piles of tailgating trash all over the parking lot, people running up into the woods constantly to relieve themselves, and NO traffic control which took an hour to get out of the parking lot.
Change of any kind was definitely needed.
This is just a money-grab on the part of the Jiffy-Lube Live owners. Not only are they cracking down on people bringing their own alcohol, they forbid you to bring your own Coke or lemonade. From the Jiffy-Lub Live web site,
“No alcoholic or non-alcoholic beverages will be admitted except for one sealed bottle of water.”
They are not banning people from bringing their own alcohol because of concern for public safety. They’ll sell you all the alcohol you want from their own concessions. This is just more corporate hypocrisy.
Good luck to the Parrotheads! I hope their boycott succeeds.
By the way, if Jiffy Lube Live bans all alcohol including their own concession sales and foregos that money to save lives on the roads, I’ll take them seriously. In fact, if they do that and make the venue family-friendly, I might even take the NTK family to some performances there. As is, I refuse to justify this money-grab on their part with any sort of approval.
I just thought of one more thing. This move reminds me of a quote from “The Outlaw Josey Wales.” Elena will remember it because we’ve discussed it here before.
“Don’t pi** down my back and tell me it’s raining.”
Are they planning to NOT serve alcohol there? I didn’t think so. They want the money all for themselves. Anyone attending a concert at that stupid named place should boycott alcohol purchases there. I wonder how they’d like that one? Especially at the country music shows. This crowd is the rowdiest and drunkest by far. I’ve attend numerous Ozz Fests and have not seen the crazy drunk fools I have at MZQ Fest. Oh, and we were there one night that a man died from alcohol poinsoning just two rows from us in the parking lot at Buffet show. It took us four hours to get out of the lot that night. I’m not saying alcohol is not a concern, but Live Nation will loose consumers as a result of this move. Perhaps, this is the way they get out of the concert business in PW, and the developers throw up some more Vinyl Villages.
@Lafayette
Lafayette – that’s why Rollins Ford Road and the extension of University Boulevard Road were put in the CIP this year.
This isn’t about safety – it’s about money.
@Need to Know
Their prices are high enough to prevent excessive alcohol consumption.
You have never been able to bring in open containers. Most sports and music venues have the same rules. They don’t want people packing in their own booze.
People buying beer or wine at the concession stands is very different and is controllable.
I expect it was a lot more than money. I expect that Jiffy Lube (ugh) was under a great deal of pressure from the county and from organizations like MADD to tighten up. There have been several deaths in the area that have stemmed from drinking at that site.
In fact, I believe this blog added to the pressure.
@Lafayette
Let’s face it. Putting in Cellar Doors Concert was one of the dumbest ideas known to man. Why put in a concert hall you cannot get to and adds to rush hour traffic.
Uhm.. You can bring a 32 pack of beer into a NASCAR event without any issue as long as it’s in a soft shelled cooler. Kegs are forbiddin (in the track, tailgating is fine) as are glass bottles.
The amount of alcohol drunk during those races…in the stands and during the before/after tailgates is staggering. This is about restricting the market to one seller (the venue) and then cashing in. It will have NO effect on public safety – at all. None.
@Moon-howler
Moon, I have to agree with marinm on this one. If people are at an event like this and want to drink, the cost of the drinks is not going to slow them down much, if at all. The only effect will be to generate more cash for the concessions at Jiffy Lube Live (sounds an establishment in a back alley in Bangkok, Thailand).
Moonhowlings, to its credit, has dealt with the issue of drinking and public safety. However, unless Jiffy Lube Live bans ALL alcohol, including its own sales, that area will still be very dangerous after performances. I’ve never attended an event there mostly because of that problem. As is, what they’ve done is nothing more than money-grubbing hypocrisy. I don’t at all object to businesses making money – 100% behind that concept. However, don’t treat me like an idiot and tell me that efforts to increase cash flow from concession sales are being done in the best interests of public safety.
Actually, it will have every affect on public safety. If you want to drink something other than what is offered at a venue, then stay home and drink.
NTK and Marin sound like they want to shut down the bars. You have every right to go to a different concert hall if you want to drink something that isn’t served. You don’t have the right to do what you want to do on private property that isn’t yours. They have said no drinking and no tail-gating. Its their right to do it and your right to go there or some place else. More and more stadiums and concert arenas are tightening up on tailgating because of alcohol related accidents.
If you are the vendor, you control how much someone buys. I have never seen anyone drunk on the beer or wine at concerts at Nissan/Jiffy Lube (ugh). They cut off sales long before the last song also.
I call what you are calling money grubbing hypocrisy -capitalism.
Most of us prefer responsible drinking for those who enjoy a glass of wine or beer to guzzling and binging in the parking lot.
Are both of you aware that Nissan used to allow clubs like a soccer team or girl scout team to have their parents work the concessions and they would split concessions with them? That isn’t but so money grubbing.
Actually this will make it more likely for accidents after concerts. At least if folks are tailgating they have several hours for the alcohol to leave there system before driving. If they are drinking inside up til last call there will actually be more drunk people driving after the shows. Both drunk driving incidents occurred after JLL started opening the parking lot later for concertgoers. This isn’t a coincidence
I also realize that many people don’t agree with me and that people going to concerts also want an event that involves partying. I don’t know what the answer is. How do you control those who abuse? After someone is dead is a little late.
@parrothead,
Most people aren’t going to get drunk ordering a 20 oz beer that costs minimum 10 bucks.
Your argument lacks factual information. The tailgating ban might not be what people want to hear. However, I don’t think you or anyone else can deny what was going on out in the back pasture area of the Nissan parking lot. I wasn’t kidding about having to slip/slide through vomit to get from one car to the other.
Most people drink responsibly. Its those who don’t who ruin it for everyone.
Then there is this idea that concerts really are a lot more fun without a bunch of drunks barfing on you and being generally obnoxious. More people stay away from concerts because of drunks and bad behavior than don’t go to concerts because they cannot drink.
“You don’t have the right to do what you want to do on private property that isn’t yours.”
Kinda like the State telling dining establishments that they were to ban smoking unless they complied with a host of other costly regulations? Eh?
I don’t give a flip what Jiffy Lube does or doesn’t do with it’s business. As a customer I can go or not go based on what services they offer and the value I see in them.
I see the idea of them parroting this as a public safety issue as disingenuous. It’s being done under a profit motive. I have NO issue with that – as you said it’s their property.
You think the cost of alcohol will stop people from drinking at a concert? Really? Ever been to the Friday’s on PW Parkway on a Fri/Sat night? I remember in my younger days the cops sitting outside – it was like clubbing baby seals. Very easy to pick out the drunks.
Parrothead has a good point. People would tailgate after the event to sober up before they drove. That won’t happen now.
I see a lot of comments on controlling what people do. Why do we need to be controlled? Do you want to be controlled? Be treated like a child? Look, I like the Jimmy Buffett shows in part because of the tailgating and party. I like to have a few drinks and laugh with my friends and friendly strangers. We always have a sober driver, always. So now my fun is hampered, great. Those who break the law should suffer consequences, not those who don’t. More people die on any given weekend due to drinking & driving than in like 10 years of coming and going to Buffett concerts. It happens, life sucks but until they outlaw all drinking everywhere let us free Americans have our fun. And don’t give me that BS about no drinking in public, the parking lot is private property and JLL can allow tailgating.
Moon-howler If you really think Jimmy Buffett fans won’t pay 10.00 per 22 oz beer and not get drunk because of cost, you haven’t been to too many Jimmy Buffett concerts.
Bottom line is a large majority of tailgaters stop drinking when entering the venue. They stay inside the venue for approximately 4 hours which gives their bodies 4 hours to process the alcohol they drank.
By default a person who buys a 22 oz beer at last call and drinks it before leaving the venue probably has about 1/2 an hour for their body to process the alcohol they drank. Who do you think is going to be the drunker driver? It won’t be the tailgater.
I’m all for businesses being allowed to make their own decisions and my right to patronize them or not. I like Jimmy Buffet but have never attended a concert at Nissan Pavillion/JLL because of the danger of driving home afterwards. One solution would be to require JLL to have more police on site during and especially after concerts, at their expense. Maybe the PWC Police could develop some sort of giant drunk tank on wheels (sounds a little Soylent Greenish, but it might work) to hold all of the intoxicated concert-goers.
My only irritation and complaint in this matter is JLL making a business decision that is their right to make and increase revenue from concessions sales of alcohol, and then tell me it’s for my own good and the public’s safety.
NTK — won’t actually be a problem after this year because Jimmy B won’t play there anymore. NO tailgating…he doesn’t play the venue. Simple as that. Of course JLL, Live Nation, and the State of Va will lose a boatload of money but maybe he will play at RFK or Fed Ex Field or Ravens stadium and make more revenue for DC or Maryland.
Or maybe he will take over Wolf Trap — That would be a sight – LOL
For those on FB there’s a page set up called Boycott Jiffy Lube Live Tailgating Policy!! The funny thing is they have almost as many fans as the venue. I unliked the venue after this new policy, and like the boycott page. If you’re on FB like this page, please.
I’ve been going to concerts since Nissan opened. It’s a shame they’ve opted to do this to their guests. I’ve been to ALL kinds of concerts there and festivals such as MZQ Fest and Ozz Fest. We love concerts and the fact this venue is in “our back yard”.
@parrothead-My first Buffet show was a Nissan with my husband as one of our first dates. You are right, Buffet won’t be back. What a shame. The parrotheads, as you well know drop a lot of money in our area. Looks like FX or DC will get that $$ next year.
I am trying to figure out how all the Parrotheads bring money to the county. They might have to buy gas. Most don’t stay in the limited hotels in the area. If they are tailgating, they aren’t eating in our restaurants. If they are eating in the restaurants, they won’t mind not being allowed to tail gate.
How do these rules differ from Marriwether Post Pavillion? Basically, the Tailgating Parrotheads were some of the chief offenders out there as far as drunkeness goes–not everyone but more than needed to be.
Let them boycot. They can drive further and still complain. I have been to more than a few Buffet concerts out there. I won’t mind not walking in vomit.
Moon,
The parrottheads do stay in hotel rooms in the vicinity. They even hold conventions at the Best Western on Balls Ford Rd for the entire weekend. This generates a decent amount of revenue. Hell, maybe even more than the big event in July will. 😉
I’ll say it again by far the drunkest, rowdiest, and fighting crowd is the country music concerts. I will say over the past year or so, at ALL types of concerts, people aren’t picking up their trash. This is a problem. Bring your own trash bag and don’t trash the joint.