Bill has dashed off a few thoughts on this year's festival. As he says, "Do with them what you wish." An excerpt:
1. Riverbend is a bargain. Even if there are only a couple of acts that you want to see, the $28 (until yesterday) or $37 (from today on) pin prices are more than reasonable for the number and quality of acts scheduled to appear over the course of the festival. And while the $23 you have to pay to get a single-day wristband is a little high, considering Alejandro Escovedo (appearing at this year’s festival) charged between $22.50 and $25 for a recent Atlanta gig at Eddie’s Attic, it is by no means excessive.
2. But… …while Riverbend is a bargain, it is also too long. Riverbend has always felt about two days longer than it should be. Stretching it out too long has resulted in a few truly questionable bookings. For example, the Commodores without Lionel Richie do not need to exist, period, let alone be booked as one of the festival’s main stage acts. They just don’t. In short, we need fewer acts and more original members.
Read the whole post at Bill's blog.
Adrienne on June 8, 2009
Also factor in that there's no crowd control, and the Coca Cola Stage is just a bad venue. I'd prefer to spend $25, $75 or even $100 for a better stage and acoustics if it's an act that I want to see.
Also note that people just go to Riverbend to go to Riverbend (most of those people are probably from McMinn, Rhea, Polk or Sequatchie County), but how many true fans go to hear an act? If you go to a club, coffee house or concert, chances are those in attendance are fans.
It's a major problem to have the main stage directly adjacent to the main entrance. I hate crowds and unless Friends of the Festival manages to eliminate the horrible bottleneck at the entrance, I'll never walk through the Riverbend gates willingly again.
fred on June 10, 2009
you hate crowds? Bottlenecks? Bad acoustics?
start giving examples/specifics of events that you have actually attended and lets compare.
You come off as a complainer and a snob.
Snob is more like it.
You hate crowds then bitch about going... wtf did you expect???? ... sorry Riverbend needs to call you next year for your schedule so they can make a clear path for you to walk.
fred on June 10, 2009
what a pretentious bitch you must be: ""Also note that people just go to Riverbend to go to Riverbend (most of those people are probably from McMinn, Rhea, Polk or Sequatchie County).."" Sorry you had to rub elbows with the common folk. Pretentious Snob you are.