Shamrock Fest

I went here last year, and I just really didn’t enjoy myself at all.
It has easy access from the Metro that drops you off nearly right in front of RFK.
My friends and I had bought «VIP» tickets, which allow you access to the «VIP» tent that has supposedly easier access to beer and food. This is a total hoax since it seems that they sold just as many VIP tickets as general admission tickets, and the VIP people were just more serious about getting bombed.
You have to wait in long lines for one beer. As people became more and more drunk they started cutting people in line, starting fights, and standing in the front of the line drinking multiple beers at once as to avoid drinking their beer then marching back to the end of the line to wait another hour for a beer.
I saw many men and women start and get into drunken fights, people vomiting outside of entertainment tents, and just being all around drunken fools.
The music is hit or miss. The DJ tent was okay, but there were tons of drunk men grabbing at any girl who walked into the tent. There were some okay ska bands, but at a whole people were trying too hard to make mosh pits and push each other around.
By the end it is just filled with very very inebriated people. Obviously this is the goal for a lot of folks on St Patty’s day, so I cannot pass judgement.
If you want to get wasted and forget what you did a Shamrock fest, then maybe shamrock fest is for you. If you don’t like your shoes to be covered in mud and beer amongst other things I would find something else to do.

Would give it ZERO stars if that was an option. Worst Irish Festival ever. WAAAAAAY too expensive ($ 40 admission, $ 8 for a can of Yuengling, $ 10 for three chicken fingers with a few fries), terrible venue, and nothing about it very Irish. The only good part of it was Scythian and Gaelic Storm playing. Blues Traveler looked washed up, and there is nothing Irish about them anyway. Will never understand the fools who dress up like it’s an Irish Halloween. This was a glorified frat boy party using St. Patrick’s Day as an excuse to get drunk. Simply not worth the money. As a veteran of well run Irish Festivals — Dublin, OH, Pittsburgh, Dayton, Milwaukee — this festival completely stinks compared to those.

My advice: know what you’re getting yourself into…
Supremely disappointed. And FYI this is NOT a family event.
The bad:
They don’t give you a map or schedule of events. the schedule wasn’t even posted on their website. There was no way to know what band was on when/​where.
Beer lines were insanely long.
There was NO Irish food. At all. And the food that was available was terrible and expensive ($ 12 for chicken fingers and fries. $ 5 for fries).
There were about 10 tables for thousands of people. No where else to sit.
The sets for the band were so short. You barely had time to get into the music before they were pulled off stage.
People were allowed to smoke! ! This was maybe the worst part for me. I couldn’t even enjoy being near the stage because I was inhaling so much second hand smoke. AND there were people smoking pot all over the place. Seriously? !? That will tell you about the lack of security…
The crowd was very young, and totally trashed by about 6. People falling down and puking.
The good:
There were plenty of Porter potties, but no soap.

At first let me start out with I factor in everything with my reviews and comments. This year’s Shamrock fest (2015) was horrible!!! This is the third time I attended this festival and this was the worst year yet. I was told that the vendors that funded and hosted the previous years festival went out of business and there was a new vendor. Needless to say this year was a waste of time and money! My group and I spent $ 70.00 for VIP tickets and was sadley disappointed. There were extremely long lines for beer, no games, no where to sit and to top it off the food was a very small selection. As opposed to last year there were numerous amounts of food vendors which you could choose from. Along with that we did not receive a map of the event and a schedule of the bands playing so we did not get to hear the bands that we wanted. Also merchant vendors were limited to about five vendors as opposed to the previous years there were about fifteen. When it is all said and done I will not be attending this event again if the same vendors from 2015 are hosting 2016 Shamrock fest. If there was less that one star I would have gave it that!

It was fun because of the great music but the event was too over priced. Someone wanted me to come there with them I said sure because it’s my first time … Man I had the nastiest $ 5 slice of pizza ever. Worse than 7 eleven It was over bearing but I was so hungry. And they sell 4 $ bottle of water. Like it’s some finest. 40 $ admission ticket 8 $ beer. Useful bring your own Shit ! I feel like the event would be be better inside.

I rarely give out a bad review I usually am pretty positive and try to be understanding, but, there is always an exception. This was my second year attending shamrockfest and it’s looking like it maybe my last. Last year was great, great line up, easy to get beer and the set up had a great flow to it. Last year I didn’t get vip tickets but after seeing the area and realizing that it was probably worth the extra money this year I splurged… Yeah, big mistake. I heard that the event is now being managed by another company so I assume that’s why everything changed.
First of all they totally switched the lovely flow that previous years have proven works. This year they stuck the VIP section smack in the middle and ultimately separated the entire event, I had a vip ticket so to me it was okay, but there was no «VIP stage» just a tiny tent with a Dj… And the other 2 across the lot were way better so I didn’t even waste my time there.
Second, and probably the biggest problem I’ve heard was the beer situation. Okay people who run this event, have you ever drank at a concert before? It’s so fun, why would you ruin that for us? The beer trucks were late, and the VIP lines took 30 minutes to get one beer. They tried to «make it up» and posted that unlimited beer was until 9 on Facebook! Like I go to shamrockfest to check my Facebook. Everyone was very upset they spent so much extra money to waste the day standing in line to get a drink! We ended up buying beers while another member of the group waited in the beer line.
The VIP section didn’t have the activities like last years section. There are VIP portapottys which is pretty nice… But then got really gross. The food court like any event is super over priced, my boyfriend got the pizza and it’s literally 7 – 11 pizza, and at $ 5 a slice. The funnel cake however was worth every penny!
The performers were awesome, as always, and that’s the only reason I didn’t give this event 1 star. I love Irish events and I’m really upset that this one has taken a turn for the worse. I hope the new management realizes their mistakes and fixes them for future shamrockers.

This was my first time attending this event (2014). I enjoyed myself because of the glorious weather, good live music (hence the 2 stars), people watching, and good company. But on the whole it fell short of my expectations.
The biggest shortcoming by far is the limited access to booze. It’s as if the event organizers were purposely trying to limit the amount of drinking going on. Seriously, who does that for a St. Patty’s Day event?! All that was available was beer (and a limited selection; Guiness, Yuengling, and Miller Lite) and Angry Orchard. I don’t have an issue with the high prices of beer tix ($ 10 for a single or $ 20 for three), but the lines were off-​the-​charts ridiculous; at the worst moments, you’d have to wait about ½ hour to get a beer, and ONLY one beer – again, it seemed like they were deliberately trying to limit the level of drinking going on. Who needs that?
The food was your typical overpriced, greasy county fair stuff: burgers, gyros, pizza, funnel cake, etc. Would have been nice to have a couple of booths with some traditional Irish fare – bring on the Shepherd’s pie, or at least some good Irish bangers!
There was no seating, except on the pavement or the island greens by the portapotties. By the end of the event, my back was really sore from hours and hours of standing.
On the plus side, the live music was really good. The Dropkick Murphys started up right on time and put on a good show. So for that alone, it was worth the high price of admission ($ 30 after taxes). Still, I doubt I’ll be going back again. If you want to celebrate St. Patty’s Day the way it was meant to be celebrated (boozin’ it up big time), I’d recommend going anywhere else but here.

Poorly organized. They only had six beer lines for thousands of people. The length of the lines could be measured in football fields. Also, if you had any problems, finding the three event staff that would help was like finding Waldo in a children’s book.

It loses 5 stars because:
The name says it all… SHAM-​rock fest. Expensive to get in, ok beer, expensive cart food (which tastes good though). Last year, it was cold and rainy — the place was barely a quarter full but they still ran out of Guinness. All you could have for your 6 –8 $ coupon was some B**Lite. Gavin DeGraw cancelled last minute, the other bands were blah.
It gets 2 stars because:
The Dropkick Murphys. They came in late in the evening on a miserable day but they atleast made it fun (sort of).
The moshpit. While DM was playing, a bunch of guys started a pit right in the center — and that gave a memorable 10 minutes.

Do not judge Shamrockfest by the old reviews. Beer Taste Magazine ranks this as the #3 St. Patricks Day Festival in the US! I have been to this event for the past 5 years and it gets better every year. More beer choices, more bathrooms, and they even added places to sit in the VIP areas. This year it is going to be held on March 16^th from 1−9PM and yes it is in the RFK parking lot areas, not in the stadium. I read a lot of other reviews about ticket prices versus value so here’s my take. The tickets for this event usually go on sale in Sept/​Oct timeframe and that is when they are the cheapest. They only go up from there at random times so get your tickets early. Today they are $ 30 Main Event — $ 80 VIP (VIP were just $ 70 a few weeks ago). The VIP tickets gice you your own entrance to the festival, limited places to sit, and all the beer you can drink. I’m not sure what cheapos think it’s too much to pay, I pay $ 120 to golf for four hours and $ 15 to watch a 2 hour movie so I think having access to 40 different bands and DJ’s, access to TV’s to catch March Madness games and all that beer for 6 hours is worth it (NOTE — Festival is actually 8 hours but beer sales stop at 7PM so beer is only for 6 hours). The music is all about irish Rock but they do mix it up having had Train and LMFAO in the past. The DJ tents are where the fun really is at as they are just rocking and packed with people having a good time. This aint no sit down foo foo concert event, it’s a full up walk around, wait in line, use the port a pottie, check out different bands, drink lots of beer, have a good time FESTIVAL. I am anxious this year to see Sublime with Rome, Virginia Coalition, and my favorite Shamrockfest band Carbon Leaf! Let’s pray for good weather! See you there.

I personally wasn’t expecting a whole lot since I’m not in the Irish Rock scene, but had quite a lot of fun there this year. There were plenty of things to do there including listening to some notable bands like Dropkick Murphys. There were plenty of booths for random things, and plenty of them give out free stuff. Other attractions included were various carnival rides and carnival-​type foods.
The downside to that is the beer prices. I believe it was around seven to eight dollars for a cup of beer, and there was only the choices between Guinness and Miller Life (I believe). The walking distance between attractions was also a bit far, but that depends if it’s a problem for you and for space in anticipation for how many people attend the festival. I had thighs of steel by the end of the night!
I didn’t expect too much and had an amazing time with the group of friends I came with and would definitely go again next year.

Did not realize until we arrived that this festival was in the parking lot of RFK, not in the stadium. Secondly, it was cold and rainy the entire day (not the organizer’s fault) but it made for a pretty miserable experience. We’d go into the dance tent occasionally just to stay warm with all the bodies in there.
My wife only came to see Gavin DeGraw but he ended up canceling the morning of due to illness. I wanted to see Dropkick Murphys. We stayed all day waiting for them but were so miserable by the end that we listened to 2 songs then left. The lines for the porta potties were ridiculous, too. Other events handle this much better. Won’t be coming back to this again, especially for the price.

Not impressed at all ! I went to this last year and I will never go again. There wasn’t any where to sit — the food was greasy and old — the music was okay. The lines for drinks were completely ridiculous! It was very unorganized and the one weekend my husband and I got to get away — was wasted on this crap. We left early and went into downtown DC had a slice and crashed in our hotel. St Paddy’s is celebrated much better in Brooklyn!!!

I attended the Shamrock Fest when they use to hold it in the Ballston area and that was way more fun and organized then the one at the RFK. I decided to go this year with a couple of my girl friends and had a horrible time. The ticket was about $ 30 after taxes to get in the festival, beer selection was Miller Lite or Guiness at $ 10 each or 3 for $ 20. A couple of my friends bought the VIP ticket which cost $ 97 after taxes! Their beer selection was wider with Harp, Blue Moon and Red Stripe, but their beer lines and «private» bathrooms area was so cramped they opted to leave that area for the more spacious non-​VIP area. The girls complained that the $ 97 was NOT worth the money. All the bands they wanted to see were playing in the non-​VIP section anyways.
They are VERY strict with what you bring in. My friend got her 5 hour energy shot confiscated! Food was overpriced and disgusting. $ 8 for a nasty hamburger and $ 9 gyros made from left over cheesesteak meat with peppers and onions still in it! Can’t expect the porta potties to be anything less than retched. By the time we decided to leave, the crowd started to get rowdy, unruly and obnoxious. The band line up was okay, but the stage placement was odd, with stages next to each other.
I would NEVER go back. The metro was a mess getting there and back. The place was filthy and the crowd was young and overbearing! To make matters worst I paid $ 30 to see 2 bands and to feel disgusting dirty at the end of the night! Not worth the money and definitely don’t recommend the VIP section!

The DC Irish Shamrock Fest is one of the best outdoor events at RFK.
Awesome place to drink, people watch, listen to music and have fun.
The more people you have the more fun you will have. Transportation advice take the metro.
This like the second or third one I have been to. So Yay! I am definitely a fan.

Positives:
–Lots of music
–Lots of port-​a-​potties
–No long beers lines
Negatives:
-$ 25 (really $ 30 after tax and fees) ticket to get in
-$ 10 beer tickets or 3 for $ 20
–Beer (lack of) options=Miller Lite and Guinness (this is actually not a negative… I would drink Guinness out of a sweaty gym shoe) in a 16 oz. plastic cup
–No liquor
–Huge space making the distance to walk to each «station“exhausting after being there for hours
–Nowhere to sit down to eat, thus we opted for the pavement
–LONG food lines
Though I had a great time with my friends, I will have to say that the negatives outweighed the positives by far! If I am buying a $ 10 beer ticket at an outdoor festivals in a super-​sized parking lot, that beer better be a freakin’ 32 oz. tumbler. And of course, they kinda rope you into buying 3 beer tickets because then your beer is really only about 7 bucks. Still. A $ 7 Miller Lite draft?!? Um, no. I can get a craft beer at a nice restaurant for cheaper than that. This was hands down the most expensive festival I have ever attended. I paid $ 30 to get in and then spent another $ 60 in beers. $ 60 in beers! And I was still standing. Thumbs down!