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What time do doors open at Shoreline?

Doors open ninety minutes before showtime at most shows.

Ready Time can tell you when to leave for your show →

Try it with your own show

  1. Tap the showtime and set it to the one on your ticket.
  2. Tap any duration and change it to how long that step really takes you.
  3. Your leave-by time is the first travel row. Ready Time can alert you when it comes up.
Showtime
15 min Final pack & check 3:35 PM
50 min Drive to the venue 3:50 PM
20 min Queue in off Amphitheatre Parkway 4:40 PM
15 min Walk in from the general lots 5:00 PM
15 min In line before doors 5:15 PM
15 min Bag check & screening 5:30 PM
1hr 15min Claim a spot on the lawn & settle in 5:45 PM
Showtime 7:00 PM

Show night at Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountain View, California. Not sure which time on the ticket matters? The concert night plan covers doors, opener and headliner at any venue.

Get an alert on show night when it’s time to leave for Shoreline.

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At a glance

Doors open
Ninety minutes before showtimeAt most shows
Lots open
An hour before doors
Drive
About 50 min from San FranciscoWithout show traffic · real drive
Transit
Caltrain to Mountain View station
Parking
Queue in off Amphitheatre Parkway
Shoreline Amphitheatre from the air, its lawn and tent roof ringed by the parking lots
Photo by Jitze Couperus from Los Altos Hills, California, USA, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 2.0. Resized for this page.

What the time on the ticket means

The time on the ticket is when the first act is due on, and at most shows here the doors opened ninety minutes earlier. With a general-admission ticket that gap is not spare: the spot on the lawn you get is decided by where you are in the line when the doors open, and everyone with the same idea is on the same walk in. So the plan puts you in that line before doors, and the stretch from doors to showtime is a row of its own.

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With a reserved seat the deadline really is the show. Aim to be in your seat ten minutes before the first act, and budget the walk to your row: it is the part people misjudge, not the drive.

Here is the evening drawn to scale. A maps app can number the drive. The rest is the walk in from the lot, the bag check, and the walk to your row.

Front door to your spot on the lawn: 3hr 25min

  • Before you leave 15 min
  • Getting there 1hr 10min
  • The lot and the walk in 15 min
  • Gate, stairs and seat 1hr 45min

Show times, and what doors means here

The usual show times here

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There is no fixed schedule at a concert venue; the promoter sets each show's time, and these are the ones this one runs most often. Pick the one on your ticket and every step before it moves. Anything else, tap the showtime and type it in.

Doors are ninety minutes before showtime at most shows. The chips above apply that ninety minutes to every showtime, but it is the gate clock that holds steadier than the gap: gates land around five or five-thirty most nights, so an early show can be an hour out and a late one two. The event page on the official Shoreline Amphitheatre site lists doors and showtime; the ticket often lists only one. If your gap is different, edit the settle-in row.

Getting to Shoreline

From San Francisco it is about forty miles down the 101 to the Amphitheatre Parkway exit, and the last two miles are the slow part on a show night: the venue shares that exit with the Google campus and the road into Shoreline Park. Drop-off and pickup, rideshare included, happen only in the marked zone on Amphitheatre Parkway across from the path into the venue.

Public transport is thin. The closest Caltrain stop is Mountain View station, two and a half miles away and the venue runs nothing from it, which leaves a rideshare, a bike or a long walk for the last leg. The venue sends traffic and show texts if you sign up for them.

The lots, and the walk in

General parking comes with the ticket and the lots open an hour before the gates. Everything arrives off the 101 at Amphitheatre Parkway and Shoreline Boulevard, and the lots are flat open ground rather than numbered spaces, so how far you walk is decided by how far back the attendants wave you.

Premier Parking is sold separately as the shorter walk and the quicker exit, and a Reserved Premier space is held for you whatever time you turn up. Accessible parking is in the C and D lots, with overflow in Lot A and a shuttle to the main entrance. Tailgating is not allowed here at all; the venue’s own line is to save the party for inside.

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Arrive with the crowd and the far end of a general lot is a fifteen-minute walk, twice if you left something in the car. The exit is the other half of it: every lot empties onto the same parkway and back onto the 101, and an hour in the car after the last song is not unusual.

The gate, the bag, and the stairs

Gates open ninety minutes before the show on a typical night. Screening is metal detectors, sometimes a pat-down, and a bag check: a small clutch up to 6 by 9 inches, or a clear plastic or vinyl tote up to 12 by 12 by 6. Food goes in one clear gallon bag, water is a sealed bottle up to a gallon or an empty refillable one, and the refill stations inside are free.

No glass, no coolers, no umbrellas, and no chairs of your own: lawn chairs are rented at the venue. There is no re-entry. Then the lawn, which is a long grass slope above the reserved sections; the spot you get is whatever is still free when you walk up, and the top of it is a long way from the stage.

Doors, lots and bag rules change; the official site is the live source.

Common questions

How early should I get to Shoreline?

For a general-admission ticket, be in the line before doors, which are ninety minutes before showtime at most shows here; the plan above puts you there fifteen minutes early. For a reserved seat, aim to be at the gate thirty-five minutes before the show. Either way the walk in from the lot is the part to budget for, and it depends on which lot you got.

What time should I leave for a 7:00 PM show at Shoreline?

About 3:50 PM from San Francisco for a general-admission ticket with a 50-minute drive and a spot in the general lots. Later for a reserved seat or the Premier lot. Every row above is editable; the first travel row is your leave-by time.

What time do the lots open at Shoreline?

An hour before doors. General parking is included with the ticket and the lots open an hour before the gates. Premier Parking is sold separately as the shorter walk and the quicker exit, and a Reserved Premier space is held whatever time you arrive. Accessible parking is in the C and D lots, with overflow in Lot A and a shuttle to the main entrance. The official Shoreline Amphitheatre site has the day's times.

How long is the walk from the parking lot at Shoreline?

About fifteen minutes from the far end of a general lot and five from Premier. The lots are flat open ground, so the walk is decided by where the attendants put you rather than by which lot you drove into. The plan's default for the general lots is 15 minutes, and it is editable.

Can I take a bus or train to Shoreline?

Barely. The closest Caltrain stop is Mountain View station, two and a half miles from the venue, and the venue runs no shuttle from it, so most people finish the trip by rideshare or bike. Drop-off and pickup are only in the marked zone on Amphitheatre Parkway, across from the path into the venue.

What bag can I bring into Shoreline?

A small clutch up to 6 by 9 inches, or a clear plastic or vinyl tote up to 12 by 12 by 6. Food in a clear one-gallon bag, sealed water up to a gallon or an empty refillable bottle. No glass, coolers, umbrellas or chairs of your own, and no re-entry once you are in.

Going to a game instead? The stadium pages. Flying in? The airport pages.

The countdown to showtime, on your Lock Screen

Start the plan in the app, and the Lock Screen and Dynamic Island show the time left, with a bar that fills as each step passes.

Glance at it on the walk in without opening the app.

Every step also gets its own alert, and sharing the plan gives whoever is driving the same leave time, with alerts on their phone.

Live Activities are part of Premium, a one-time unlock.

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