Once A Fun Post-Tournament Party It’s Now Like A Las Vegas Nightclub
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Blogger
The Birds Nest at the Phoenix Open – well, okay, the Waste Management Open – is a prime example of when there is a great party event, go to it every year until the organizers screw it up and change and then overprice the darned thing.
Once the main reason to go to the biggest party on the PGA Tour, the Birds Nest is now like going to a Las Vegas nightclub. And at Vegas nightclub VIP prices. It now costs $80 (on Friday and Saturday) to get into the Birds Nest. It used to be 20 bucks.
Heck, with DJ Tiesto playing at a couple years ago, it WAS like going to a Las Vegas nightclub. This year, it’s Flo Rida Featuring Kelley James on Wednesday ($35), OneRepublic on Friday and Zedd on Saturday. A Florida-Georgia Line concert on Thursday has sold out of tickets.
While we’ll give them a break on the Thursday (this day has sold out the past few years and it obviously works from an event standpoint), the Saturday approach has irked some locals and PubClub.com feels it’s time to get back to what made the Birds Nest such a great party in the first place.
Birds Nest Used To Be The Olive In The Phoenix Open Martini
Just a few years ago, the Birds Nest was the olive in the martini that was the Phoenix Open. It was where you went after Friday and particularly Saturday at the golf tournament, where you walked over to continue what you started at the 16th hole and in the food court area.
And that is to say socializing with the many hot Scottsdale singles.
You walked over from the tournament, paid your $20 or $25, went inside and partied. You drank with your friends, you met new friends (if only for a few moments or hours), you danced and had a great time. It was simple, fun and affordable, what every party should be, especially as a capper to an event like the Open.
Now, however, going to the Birds Nest is a hassle. You get your tickets well in advance through Ticketmaster (and pay service fee larger than what it used to get into the place in the first place).
With these current prices, the causal fun nature of the event has changed, as well. Now, it’s more of a club atmosphere rather than a fun, let-your-hair-down party. As a result, it’s not even on the party schedule anymore for some people.
“It’s not worth it,” one Phoenix Open and Birds Nest veteran told PubClub.com. “Maybe on Wednesday, when it’s actually pretty good. But not on Friday or especially Saturday. I still go the tournament because it’s a blast, but not anymore the Birds Nest.”
Frankly, they have over-priced the fun. They have gone upscale. Why the heck do casual, fun events always have to screw things up by going “upscale?”
The past few years the organizers have added big-name DJs and bands. They are great. But they doesn’t belong at the Birds Nest.
Local party bands are fine; it’s not like the place is starving for a crowd; it was packed for decades before this new revolution.
The lines for drinks are long not only that, “it screws up your whole Saturday night,” our local source continued. “It ends at 10, which means you’re not at the bars until after 11. Most of the girls are burnt out by then and don’t even bother going out to the bars, so they go home.
“It’s ruined our Saturday night in Scottsdale.”
The Birds Nest needs to quit trying to be a nightclub or a concert and go back to what it was originally – a fun, easy-going and lively fun party after the Phoenix Open.
For 20 bucks.
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