Shoreline Amphitheatre is an outdoor amphitheater in Mountain View, California, USA, in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has a capacity of 22,000 with 6500 reserved seats and rest are unreserved lawn seating. It was built from 1985-86 by the city of Mountain View in cooperation with local promoter Bill Graham as part of the Shoreline Park project. The premier season was during the Summer of 1986 and opened with The Grateful Dead. Each row of fixed seating at the amphitheatre has a pitch of three feet providing ample legroom. In its opening year, a fan attending a Steve Winwood concert flicked a cigarette lighter and ignited methane that had been leaking from a landfill underneath the theatre. Several small fires were reported that season. After those incidents the city of Mountain View commissioned methane testing studies to define the locus of methane vapors emanating from the soil within the Shoreline Amphitheater. [1] These tests were used in developing a design for improved methane monitoring and more efficient methane extraction to assure the amphitheater became safe as an outdoor venue. Ultimately the entire lawn was removed to allow the installation of a gas barrier and better methane removal equipment. The venue has hosted local radio station Live 105's BFD concert every June. The Download Festival's San Francisco show is also held at Shoreline. It has also been the site of every Bridge School Benefit show except one, which was held at the Oakland Coliseum in 1988.

SHORELINE AMPHITHEATRE - CA TICKETS EVENT DATE AVAILABILITY Pussycat Dolls, Lil Kim & Mya Tickets 6/12 Jun 12, 2026 Fri, 6:30 PM Kid Cudi Tickets 6/23 Jun 23, 2026 Tue, 6:30 PM San Francisco Symphony: Summer 1969 - The Soundtrack of a Generation Tickets 7/4 Jul 04, 2026 Sat, 7:00 PM Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show: Chris Stapleton & Molly Tuttle Tickets 7/8 Jul 08, 2026 Wed, 7:30 PM Hilary Duff, La Roux & Jade LeMac Tickets 7/11 Jul 11, 2026 Sat, 7:00 PM

See also

• List of contemporary amphitheatres
• List of concert halls

References

1. ''Methane testing in the vicinity of landfill environs'', EMI prepared for the City of Mountain View, Ca., 1986-87