Carlton (or anyone else that lives in the area): I am thinking about driving up on June 19th for this. This is the info that their site provides:
"The Riverbend Festival is an internationally award winning 9 day music festival! Located in the heart of Chattanooga, Tennessee there is no better way to enjoy your summer. Riverbend takes place on the 21st Century Waterfront along the Tennessee River. Boasting five stages with over 100 bands featuring world class entertainment ranging from classic rock, jam bands, country, urban and bluegrass! Riverbend draws over 600,000 patrons annually. We offer countless activities to participate in during Riverbend. Come enjoy our Children's Village, Mobile exhibits, Bluecross Riverbend Run and Walk, Marketplace, Fireworks Finale and MUCH MORE!"
I am looking for some additional info that is not included in that small paragraph...info that only someone who lives in the area can provide. Whatever important things you can tell me will be greatly appreciated.
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judgenothing wrote:
Carlton (or anyone else that lives in the area): I am thinking about driving up on June 19th for this. This is the info that their site provides:
"The Riverbend Festival is an internationally award winning 9 day music festival! Located in the heart of Chattanooga, Tennessee there is no better way to enjoy your summer. Riverbend takes place on the 21st Century Waterfront along the Tennessee River. Boasting five stages with over 100 bands featuring world class entertainment ranging from classic rock, jam bands, country, urban and bluegrass! Riverbend draws over 600,000 patrons annually. We offer countless activities to participate in during Riverbend. Come enjoy our Children's Village, Mobile exhibits, Bluecross Riverbend Run and Walk, Marketplace, Fireworks Finale and MUCH MORE!"
I am looking for some additional info that is not included in that small paragraph...info that only someone who lives in the area can provide. Whatever important things you can tell me will be greatly appreciated.
In the last few years, all the new construction along the river has severely limited what was historically the festivial site. Thusly, they are still trying to jam the same number or more people into an area that's at least 30-40% smaller. In general, if you like large crowds of people confined into a very small area who are all milling around and are mostly there to socialize, see and be seen, and aren't really interested in who's on stage, you'll probably like this festival. We've avoided it for the last 3 years but will most likely go this year just for the DNC set (which I'm guessing will be about 50 minutes long before they get shoved offstage for the next act). The Bud tent can be a sauna but at least it's out of the rain.
Important things: A one day ticket is expensive compared to a total event pass, parking generally sucks, the vendor food tends to be decent but pricey, seems like it's always very hot and very humid (or raining), you better like large, congested crowds, etc.
Not wanting to discourage you but there are better venues to see a show.
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Yeah, gotta agree with Carlton here. If you're going to travel somewhere to see a show, there are better places to go. Ten years ago, I saw Jethro Tull and it was awesome. I could actually breathe! But now, it's like a mass of humanity all jammed together, no one walking anywhere in particular, just talking and getting as wasted as they can. It's true what Carlton said that most of the people are not there for the music at all.
So my advice: Click where it says "tour," and go somewhere besides Riverbend!
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Maybe I should just save the gas money, 1 day ticket money, parking money & food money & find something else to do on June 19th then...especially if 50 minutes is all the time they will get! It will take me longer than that to drive up there.
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sholmes0305 wrote:
Yeah, gotta agree with Carlton here. If you're going to travel somewhere to see a show, there are better places to go. Ten years ago, I saw Jethro Tull and it was awesome. I could actually breathe! But now, it's like a mass of humanity all jammed together, no one walking anywhere in particular, just talking and getting as wasted as they can. It's true what Carlton said that most of the people are not there for the music at all.
So my advice: Click where it says "tour," and go somewhere besides Riverbend!
I also happened to be at the Tull show. It might have been a good show but all I heard for most of their set were the 3 women sitting next to us talking about the heat, how swollen their feet were, and what they were going to do next week in Florida. Two of them were even sitting with their backs to the stage. Why bother to come to a music show if you aren't even remotely interested in music?
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But the great thing about Tull was that either a) Nobody in Chattanooga had ever heard of them, or B) Riverbend still hadn't "made it" in the area yet, 'cos my mind is going to put the audience for that show at less than 100. Now compare that to the THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS that come now, most of which get plastered and don't even watch the shows. It's really frightening.
To judgenothing: How does Isle of Palms sound to you? Not THAT far, and plus you'll be on the beach. Ok, it's more than several hours, but still, let me repeat, it's on the beach.
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sholmes0305 wrote:
'cos my mind is going to put the audience for that show at less than 100.
Were we at the same show? It definitely wasn't packed like sardines as shows tend to be in the last few years but there were definitely more than 100 there. Or did you pay the extra $10 for so called "Star Seating" directly below the stage. What a ridiculous effort by the festival organizers to weazel another $10 a head every night for the headliner's show. From what I've observed, most people aren't willing to pay it and just suffer with the crowds.
Last edited by Carlton (2010-02-09 20:56:54)
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sholmes0305 wrote:
To judgenothing: How does Isle of Palms sound to you? Not THAT far, and plus you'll be on the beach. Ok, it's more than several hours, but still, let me repeat, it's on the beach.
If you've never seen a show at The Windjammer, you need to make the drive to IOP. If you have seen a show at The Windjammer, you KNOW that you need to make the drive to IOP. Yes, the humidity will be godawful, but there will be a nice spot stage left for you to rock out (two nights in a row if you choose!) You do not want to miss The Madison Square Gardeners, either--trust me. What else? Oh yes, a few nice drinks at Dunleavy's on Sullivan's Island before the show. Perhaps a fried green tomato and pimento cheese sandwich at Boulevard Diner in Mount Pleasant. And, and, and, ad nauseum...
One warning: if you come, book your hotel early. There's tourist season in Charleston and then there's the 4th of July weekend. The city will be descended upon by a crowd so large that the number will rival the number of locust in Old Testament stories or the Mongol Horde.
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mongoose_teddy wrote:
There's tourist season in Charleston and then there's the 4th of July weekend. The city will be descended upon by a crowd so large that the number will rival the number of locusts in Old Testament stories or the Mongol Horde.
And that right there might just be what prevents me from driving 355 miles to The Windjammer. I don't mind big crowds at all. It's the traffic (to & from) that WILL get on my nerves. I have a low tolerance for sitting in a "parking lot" on the interstate when I am trying to get somewhere.
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My memory of Jethro Tull is this: I was standing on the closest rail to that gigantic barge that they try to pass of as a "stage," and there were no other people to my left or right that come to mind. (I.e., nobody packed against me. We each had our own personal space.) Maybe I was just so focused on the band that I didn't even notice the people, because believe me, I was GEEKED. I had listened to Tull non-stop for the past year or more, and could barely believe I was actually seeing them live. Perhaps it was more than 100, but I couldn't believe that a band as big as Tull was not packed.
And no, I did NOT pay the extra money. Too cheap for that. heh heh heh
Do you really think DnC will play no more than an hour??? 'Cos I was going to go against my better judgment and see them at Riverbend. Like I said, I HATE that festival, but I love seeing Kevn and the guys, so I might just go and hope for the best.
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sholmes0305 wrote:
Do you really think DnC will play no more than an hour???
Based on my recollection, the schedule for performers at the Bud tent usually averages about an hour per band. The last act on that stage each evening gets to play a somewhat longer set. That's mainly to keep some folks on the festival site helping to cut down on the traffic when everyone bails after the main stage headliner ends. When the daily schedule for the entire event is finally published and if DnC is actually the last performer on that date, you may get more than an hour set.
I see that Dan Baird has also been announced for the same day. If my past luck holds, he'll be on a stage at the other end of the festival grounds at the same time DnC will be on the Bud stage.
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in a perfect world dan baird should be playing with dnc also that day
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