so how did we like the V Fest

this is for those that went

comments & criticism from my people is what I seek

As a vendor:
The booth next to me annoyed me, lost me sales, and pissed off everyone around us by having "music" blasting so loudly I had to yell to my friend to be heard. They had six other vendors complain to them and they did nothing to lower volume. I lost a lot of sales…

Other than that, Jason Williams and Amy were wonderful. They answered all my questions, provided great help, and were on top of everything. My booth/tent was perfect and we had plenty of room. I did not make as much as I would like but who does?

As a music lover:
I though Sunday was much better than Saturday. Decent mix of bands, old and new, which was cool as I got to see Gogol Bordello and Iggy Pop compete for most spastic on stage (Iggy won). The grounds were well organized, parking for me was easy, and trash and recycling bins were plentiful.

The only complaint was that the porta-john did not get cleaned and restocked later in the day.

Overall, Sir, you did a great job and I hope we can do a Flatstock next year and promote it well.

Jeff of El Jefe Design

I'll preface this by saying two things. 1) I've never done the big festival-thing, so I have nothing to compare this to and 2) I only went on Sunday.

I thought the whole thing was very well done. I didn't really have a single problem all day. No traffic, no problems parking, no lines for food, drinks or the bathroom. Reasonable prices. Very easy to go back and forth between the stages. Not difficult to get reasonably close to the stages between bands. I thought it sounded great. No problems leaving either, but we skipped NIN/Kanye, so we beat the crowd.

And this is coming from someone who was dreading this and resigned to being miserable all day. I wasn't. It was a great time.

As for criticisms…I thought the schedule was pretty lopsided, but I guess that's a matter of personal taste. The only band I wanted to see on Friday was Foo. On Sunday I had to pick and choose, because everyone I wanted to see conflicted with someone else I wanted to see. I guess I would have liked to have seen the sets staggered a little more, but even that wasn't as bad as I expected.

I felt bad for El Jefe. Those dorks blasting the music were pretty damn annoying.

Oh - And never, ever book that Hollywood Undead garbage for anything ever again. Ever. Really.

Great time. I'll definitely be back.

Yeah, those guys next to El Jeffe were super annoying (I think it was WHFS - and they had an amp and guitar for anyone that wanted to play/sing) - and no sign of El Jeffe when I was in his booth - probably due to the noise, heh.

I only went Sunday (last year I went both days) - I thought Saturdays lineup was lacking. Had a great time Sunday though - my suggestions:

Have more picnic tables - I thought I remember a bunch of tables last year which were not there this year…

Have more art installations

I also only went to Sunday. The infrastructure of the event was great, but the lineup was awful compared to the last two years. Saturday was a collection of every pitchfork band I never got into, and apparently everyone else since tickets for saturday were practically being given away on craigslist for it. Sunday had absurd lineup overlaps – I went primarily for STP and Dylan and had to choose. And the teeny-bop warped tour bands (Taking Back Sunday 2.0, Paramore) were annoying, but then again, they're the only reason my girlfriend came, so, can't please everyone I guess.

I can honestly say I was extremely unpleased with the lineup and with good reason. When I, as an educated concert ticket buyer, know Portishead, Prince and The Verve were doing Coachella; My Bloody Valentine was doing US dates; and Radiohead was doing festival dates within one week of your event, then I cannot in good conscience swallow NIN, Kanye, Jack Johnson, Lil Wayne, and The Offspring amongst your events headliners. I idiotically held off on a Coachella or Lolla trip thinking your event would be close to comparable as far as headliner quality, and I cannot say had I known all the festivals lineups on advance that I would have even considered attending VFest. Next year, I can't say I'll give VFest the benefit of the doubt.

I guess in the end, as well run as Vfest is put together, if you get subpar talent and can't decide whether you're throwing a rock event, an indie event, or a rap event (this whole "cross genre" thing ticks off way more people then it appeals to), Vfest will remain a US festival footnote.

You've done another fantastic job, Seth. We had VIP tickets and the addition of complimentary food was very much appreciated. The price was right for food and booze vendors. Great sight lines from south stage VIP area.

As far as the music goes, an enjoyable, cross-genre lineup. Perhaps a wee bit more on the current indie scene would be nice, but that's just me. Sound and video were awesome.

Criticisms: Sight lines from north stage VIP area are now non-existent. Water spigots were…well, where the heck were they? We couldn't find any and between all of our other friends, they said they found two. Don't bother with VIP swag bags if there's nothing of substance in them. Just put the freebies out on a table in the grandstand area.

And please!! Never punish one band for the transgressions of another. L'il Wayne should have had his set cut short instead of the Black Keys paying the price (unless there's some mitigating back story that you'd like to share).

Thanks again, Seth. You and your staff did a great job.

Stop dating teeny boppers. Dump your girlfriend and find someone with good taste.

And I wouldn't think there would be that much of a fan overlap between STP and Dylan.

And I bet NIN and Kanye sell more tickets to a festival than My Bloody Valentine would.

Originally posted by Julian, certified WEBLEBRITY:
I also only went to Sunday. The infrastructure of the event was great, but the lineup was awful compared to the last two years. Saturday was a collection of every pitchfork band I never got into, and apparently everyone else since tickets for saturday were practically being given away on craigslist for it. Sunday had absurd lineup overlaps – I went primarily for STP and Dylan and had to choose. And the teeny-bop warped tour bands (Taking Back Sunday 2.0, Paramore) were annoying, but then again, they're the only reason my girlfriend came, so, can't please everyone I guess.

I can honestly say I was extremely unpleased with the lineup and with good reason. When I know Portishead, Prince and The Verve were doing Coachella; My Bloody Valentine was doing US dates; and Radiohead was doing festival dates within one week of your event, then I cannot in good conscience swallow NIN, Kanye, Lil Wayne, and The Offspring amongst your events headliners. If Lollapalooza, Coachella, or APW were anywhere near me, I wouldn't have even considered attending VFest, as well run as it was put together.

I guess in the end, as well run as Vfest is put together, if you get subpar talent and can't decide whether you're throwing a rock event, an indie event, or a rap event, Vfest will remain a US festival footnote.

Hey Charles, glad you found a way to comment in the thread despite not attending the event. Someone make sure I get a 930.com assist on the score sheet.

Originally posted by Charlie Nakatestes,Japanese Golfer:
Stop dating teeny boppers. Dump your girlfriend and find someone with good taste.

Stop being a bitter old curmudgeon and drink your Metamucil.

Sudnay was waaaayyyyy better than saturday. Coldplay plays TWICE in DC and yet we can get them for vfest? wtf?

I didn't go to the event because the line-up was below par from the previous 2 years. And I wasn't a huge fan of the schedule so that completely turned me off. If i had had the weekend off I'm sure I would have gone because there were at least a few bands for me that would have made if worth it but this is far from better than the first 2 years. Maybe waiting til after every other summer festival was announced isn't the best plan .

:x

Originally posted by ebeniezer:
Sudnay was waaaayyyyy better than saturday. Coldplay plays TWICE in DC and yet we can get them for vfest? wtf?

Because Coldplay was in Tokyo. The week before they played Pemberton in BC.

08/09 - Osaka, Japan @ Summer Sonic
08/10 - Tokyo, Japan @ Summer Sonic

I could only go on Sunday, but that was due to personal schedule problems and not the lineup - I was actually quite disappointed that I didn't get to see Wilco and Bloc Party, among others. Sunday had better headliners, but Saturday had more interesting selection of bands during the day that I'd have wanted to see.

I thought it was a lot of fun, and I'll try to make it back both days next year. STP overlap with Dylan sucked, but I didn't have a problem with the rest of the schedule. I still don't think this year's lineup was as strong as last year's but I feel like I got my money's worth. Nine Inch Nails were fantastic.

I was VERY impressed by how clear the sound was, on both stages, all night long. The good food was a nice surprise, as was a functional Scott Weiland.

One thing i noticed this year that was different from previous years is that instead of having a mainstage and a sidestage, there was 2 mainstages.

i REALLY liked this set-up. It seems like that setup split up the crowd well and made it very easy for me and my friends to get great spots to see who we wanted to see.

No problems with parking..traffic…food..lines..or anything for that matter. toilet paper but i expected that.
with the line up. I actually discovered new bands that I never would have listened to.
I mean saturday I mostly went see rodrigo y gabriela and discovered sharon jones, the silver beats, and a bunch of cool dj's in the dance tent. Andrew bird, iggy, and she and him.
Hoegaarden on tap. sweeet.
Both days I had a blast. :)

Lineup sucked this year compared to the previous 2 years, so i only went to Sunday. I must say, compared to that first year, you guys have mastered the art of transportation. Getting in and out of the event is flawlessssssss. I think of any festival i have ever been to, you guys are the easiest to get in and out of.

I enjoyed both Saturday and Sunday…

The set up at the park was great and the free parking on the streets about 1/2 a mile away were great.
Most the booths were great, but they shouldn't be allowed to blast music. (I stopped by Jaffes without even realizing he posted on here, great stuff. Hopefully next year he'll have V-fest posters)

Now for the 2 complaints:
1. Lil Wayne - His lack of professionalism cost The Black Keys set time. Absolutely terrible and idiotic. His music was also offensive and terrible. I understand that he's a 'draw' but he really had a lot of people pissed off.

2. The Dance tent sound could be heard from both stages. There's gotta be a better way to deal with it. During The Swell Season it got slightly annoying.

Overall though it was great. I enjoyed the earlier acts more on Saturday (Gogol, Swell Season, Bloc Party) and the headliners Sunday (Dylan, NIN). I bought a ticket off craigslist for $125 and thought that seemed like a fair price for the lineup.

I'll gladly do V-Fest posters, for free, instead of the standard ad-mat one that was available. I had a ton of people looking for one and I literally had one guy get flip out because I did not do one.

I went both daze. I've been to all three from noon until end. I thought this year's lineup was stronger than last year's. Last year the only bone thrown to the old geezers was Cheap Trick. This year you gave us Chuck, Iggy, and Bob. Thanks for that! Please send pre-sale password for 2009. Can't wait!

Complaints:
I agree that Lil Wayne was a bad booking and was the VFest Douchebag of 2008 (honorable mention to the punk that took a piss a few people away from me during Dylan). The Black Keys should not have been penalized by this.

I wish that there could've been an announcement that the South Stage was behind about 30 minutes on Sunday. I had to roll on STP to run to the South Stage to stand and wait for Dylan. I only saw 7 bands on Sunday when I can usually squeeze in 10.

I had no idea that The Beats and Chuck were splitting a set. I was under the impression that they were backing him. I wish Chuck had come on first. His set was the one I was most looking forward to since I hadn't seen him in 20 years. But I had to make a run for Wilco since I've never seen them.

That is all.

Seth,

I also have nothing to compare it to, because I've never been to festival before, but I had a blast.

The bands were really cool, and I got to see a lot of new stuff and liked some of them. One big reason I bought a 2 day pass was Lil Wayne, and yes I'm irritated he was so late, but in all that was just a minor downer on a great weekend. Sunday night was tough for me, because I really wanted to see Kanye and Van Buurin.

Food vendors: The food was really good, especially the crabcakes. One minor thing. I ordered chicken tenders and they were good, but I bite into the 3rd one and it was very very undercooked. I brought it back and was really nice and explained what happened. I was blown away by the service I got. Some younger college aged girl apologized so much and gave me a new meal. Despite this being something small, I really appreciated it, and it showed great customer service. Hope this all helps.

a few truths revealed…

The Silver Beats were, in fact, supposed to back Chuck up…he changed his mind at the last minute and insisted on the musicians that played

Believe it, or not…the Black Keys set was not cut short…that was it