Red Hill Auditorium

Good Concert. Wrong Venue.
Place absolutely stunk of smoke, and there was no place to escape it. I’ve been to outdoor concerts many times and it has never been this bad.
Also, the venue really shouldn’t allow the road for cars to leave to be right next to the main exit — one particularly wonderful example of the male species drove his car into my leg a number of times. Poor crowd and safety management that you don’t see in other venues.
I won’t be going back, and I will be addressing this with venue management as it is unacceptable.
The venue would have easily had a five stars if the food venues were organized as much as the bar, and a smoking section was enforced.
While the seats were uncomfortable *limestone blocks*, they did allow you to bring a pillow if you felt like it — although this could have been awkward if you chose to travel to the venue by bus. And I saw several people have theirs ruined by other people spilling food and drinks as they struggled with the stairs.

I bordered on four and five stars for this review.
Arriving at sunset in the car park, you are treated to the stunning view as soon as you step out of your car. You’re atop Red Hill, looking down the escarpment with Perth City twinkling in the distance. It is truly a beautiful view at dusk, with the dark blue sky, the burnt orange horizon and the dark bushland, it’s beautifully Australian. Once the sun sets you can’t see too much beyond the stage, apart from a few lights in the distance.
You have to arrive early to get a seat, which I was really surprised about. The sound system is incredible, so crisp.
The food stalls are a real issue, with unbelievably long queues, trailing from the top of the hill down towards the stage. One of my friends didn’t eat dinner beforehand and couldn’t get to the front of the queues (before the food ran out) so she had to wait till after the show at 10pm to eat dinner. They really need a lot more food stalls, and they also need a snack stall or some snacks at the bar, like crisps, lollies etc for people who don’t want a meal but might fancy a snack while drinking. The bar worked well however, drinks were standard for gig pricing.
An amazing WA outdoor live music venue, I still think Belvoir is probably my favourite, but this one is right up there.

The venue itself is truly lovely, a fantastic space with great acoustics, view and feel. However, getting there was horrible. Either drive and leave VERY early, meaning at least 2 hours before you want to be there, to avoid the traffic or catch the shuttle bus.
The shuttle bus may seem expensive (in comparison to driving) but you pick you up from one of several locations in Perth, drive you up there and then can get out through priority lanes so its far far quicker. We drove, it took us over an hour and half to make the 30 min drive, and afterwards we waited in the venue for about half an hour before attempting to leave because the traffic was so bad.
Lucky Nick Cave blew us away leaving the memory of the stress of getting there dulled slightly.