Hey Seth: VFest's prognosis?

it's early to ask this, just wanted some initial impressions…

selected excerpts from the baltimore sun:

Big acts at concert, but high price, too
About half of the tickets for Virgin Festival sold

The one-day festival is not expected to sell out. Organizers said that as of last night, about 35,000 general admission tickets had been sold. That number could climb with walk-up sales, but capacity for the festival is 60,000.

"Attendance will be decent. It's not horrible. With this lineup, I would have expected to do better," said Seth Hurwitz, chairman of festival promoter IMP. "A show of this size would sell out in most metro areas."

A show of this size is expensive - with more than $4 million in talent fees having driven up the cost of admission. The $97.50 tickets went on sale in July after Britain's popular Virgin Festival announced it would be making one stop in the United States this year. The selection of Baltimore was considered a feat for the city, which has never been particularly known as a rock festival town.

Advertised along the East Coast, the event is expected to draw people from Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

"We didn't draw from Washington as well as we could have," Hurwitz said. To people outside the Baltimore area, perhaps Pimlico is an unknown and unfamiliar concert destination, he said.

Attendance for the one-day Pimlico event, however, didn't come out of the gate strong when tickets went on sale July 22. "I could tell the festival wasn't going to sell out in the first hour," said Hurwitz, who also runs Merriweather Post Pavilion. But music festivals have a "breaking-in period the first year." Hurwitz also says 35,000 in attendance is considered impressive for any festival's first year.

"Perhaps I'm the only one disappointed," he said. "I just shoot for the moon."

The concert's timing and ticket price might be factors. (cut discussion on high price and rosh hashana)

Whether the Virgin Music Festival would return to Pimlico, time - or just today - will tell.

"I just need to see how it goes," Hurwitz said. "The attendance will be the final verdict."

so if 40,000 tickets were sold at $97.50, that doesn't even cover the supposed $4 million in artists' fees.

any initial thoughts on wether there will be a vfest 2? i'd certainly look foward to it.

we are still waiting for all the bills to come in to see if we came out ahead…it's that close

persoanally, i had a blast…maybe the most fun of any show in my career

The Who was such an off-the-charts moment, I can't even describe it

I was so proud of the job my people did…of course, the event wasn't perfect, but I think it was pretty spectacular for a first try, and all of our family that we've assimilated over the years came together in a joyous effort

I feel bad & apologize to anyone that was caught short by our learning curve on things like traffic & parking…it's very hard to predict how the patterns will emerge, and anticipate them move for move…I just wish it had been wonderful for everyone

I had so much fun I can't wait to do it again, but I don't see how I'm going to top this year's bill

I do think I'm gonna try though


any questions?

Ah, come on Seth. You can do it.

I don't know if it had much to do with the Virgin Festival but traffic on 695 coming up from I95 north around the west side of the beltway was horrendous. Luckily, I was driving in the opposite direction but it was nothing but stop and go all the way down through I95 just north of the Patapsco River for all of those poor drivers. If the bulk of the traffic was for the Virgin Festival, than maybe more busses with good promotions and/or incentives to encourage others to use them.

I'm still waiting to read about everyones' take on the festival other than just about ticket sales.

I was wishing that the DJ tent had stayed open for another hour or two after the last sets wrapped up. It would have been a great on-site after party and might have smoothed the mass exodus. Was finishing by 10pm part of the venue agreement?

I would definitely have gone if this show were a little closer to DC. RFK would have been perfect – great highway access and Metro. (Do they still do shows at RFK?)

Bring it back Seth. I had a great time! Also knowing the area helped with traffic. Alt. routes to Pimlico (Reisterstown Rd. and Park Heights Ave.) were pretty clear.

wasn't there a roger waters show at nissan that same day too? i'm sure that also cut into attendance numbers as well.

why weren't there more little sailors rooms?

but otherwise, a vey positve festival expierence.

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
RFK would have been perfect

for a Nationals game!!!!

anyone who cares about how their concert sounds wouldn't have their show at RFK Stadium.

Originally posted by le sonick:

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
RFK would have been perfect

for a Nationals game!!!!

anyone who cares about how their concert sounds wouldn't have their show at RFK Stadium.

How exactly is a stadium any different from a race course?

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:

Originally posted by le sonick:

Originally posted by ggwâ?¢:
RFK would have been perfect

for a Nationals game!!!!

anyone who cares about how their concert sounds wouldn't have their show at RFK Stadium.

How exactly is a stadium any different from a race course?

huh? well,

A) a race track is much more open field than a stadium. there arent seats all over the place….much less stuff for the sound to bounce off of (the sound only bounced off the grandstand on saturday, which you could only hear if you were wayyyy far from either stage.

B) Pimlico was grass, whereas the stadium has that crappy mat on the field and then tons of seats.

C) any second stages at RFK would have to be outside of the stadium, making one walk up the crowded steps, through the crowded concourse and out to get to and from each stage.

D) RFK sounds much worse than say, M&T Bank and even the Meadowlands, for whatever reason, i dont know (unless you are right up front)

E) the way V Fest was set up, the grandstand and track were out of the way really, making it seem like we were just out in a big open space, whereas a stadium has tons of reminders that you are, well, in a big concrete stadium

now, i dont know about all of the European festivals, but i know Coachella, Bonnaroo, ACL, Lolla and Voodoo arent in stadiums and i think a stadium would just turn the "festival" into a "concert"

The Toronto V-Fest was held on Olympic Island, which is essentially a giant park. I remember last year's Intonation Festival in Chicago was also held in a large park. I was at both and they worked out really well. It was easy to get from one stage to another, there was plenty of room to just chill out, no noise bleed from one stage to the other, etc.

Is there a large park area with good Metro access that could serve as a venue for next year's festival? Personally, I think Metro access would be critical to the festival's success.

Originally posted by le sonick:
A) a race track is much more open field than a stadium. there arent seats all over the place….much less stuff for the sound to bounce off of (the sound only bounced off the grandstand on saturday, which you could only hear if you were wayyyy far from either stage.

B) Pimlico was grass, whereas the stadium has that crappy mat on the field and then tons of seats.

C) any second stages at RFK would have to be outside of the stadium, making one walk up the crowded steps, through the crowded concourse and out to get to and from each stage.

D) RFK sounds much worse than say, M&T Bank and even the Meadowlands, for whatever reason, i dont know (unless you are right up front)

E) the way V Fest was set up, the grandstand and track were out of the way really, making it seem like we were just out in a big open space, whereas a stadium has tons of reminders that you are, well, in a big concrete stadium
[/QB]

An open field will have worse acoustics than an enclosed space, even a semi-enclosed space like RFK.

With tens of thousands of people there, the difference in sound quality between grass and mats will be negligible.

Having been to many shows at both RFK and Giants Stadium, my experience is that the sound at RFK is MUCH better than Giants Stadium, plus RFK is a cooler stadium with the bouncy upper decks and cooler outer-lying area.

The metro stop right next to RFK would be very attractive and would vastly reduce the bus/traffic issue.

Good point on the second stage though. I don't know how you crack that nut without making people trudge in and out of the stadium.

Mostly I want it at RFK so I can walk eight blocks and be there.

I'd have to agree that not many people would look towards Pimlico as a concert venue. I think having a festival that's accessible by some form of public transportation would help attendence. RFK is so ideal because of it's location. While festival shows there aren't the best for sound quality, I've seen some excellent shows there through out the years that sounded fine, included The Who for "The Kids are Alright" Tour in 1989. :)

The problem is there's not really a large space like Pimlico in DC that could be used and handle major issues like traffic flow. Laurel Racetrack maybe? At least it's a halfway point between DC and Baltimore.

MindCage
Mindless Faith
Deep6 Productions

Originally posted by Relaxer:

Mostly I want it at RFK so I can walk eight blocks and be there.

and lets all be honest thats the big reason.

we'll have to agree to disagree about the sound at RFK as opposed to Giants Stadium AND an open field like Pimlico. (i thought the bands sounded good on Sat, and almost never have i thought a "rock" band sounded good at RFK….U2 doesnt count!)

and as far as the metro goes, BFD, that only helps people who live in DC, it took me 25 minutes to get home from VFest. :)

in the end, if they had V Fest at RFK, it would be just another HFStival and you people (and definitely me!) wouldnt go anyway!!!

I think Pimlico is reasonably metro accessible - Baltimore metro, that is. We drove to the Owings Mill stop and then took the shuttle from the Rogers station. Pretty seamless.

Walking the 1+ miles back to the metro at 10:30pm through some neighborhoods and dark industrial areas was interesting, but we maybe could have picked a better route. Nice to not sit in traffic though.

hmmmmmm

maybe we could have the next one at bull run?

Originally posted by Seth Hurwitz:
I don't see how I'm going to top this year's bill

start with Radiohead :)

Originally posted by le sonick:

Originally posted by Relaxer:

Mostly I want it at RFK so I can walk eight blocks and be there.

and lets all be honest thats the big reason.

Whoo! You're quite the verbal detective there, gleaning meaning from such cryptic statements. You must be exhausted from analyzing "Mostly I want it at RFK because…" and deducing "that's the big reason."

Just joshin' dude! Except for the part where I say, who cares about Baltimore? DC is a BFD, Baltimore… less so.

Originally posted by Relaxer:
Whoo! You're quite the verbal detective there, gleaning meaning from such cryptic statements. You must be exhausted from analyzing "Mostly I want it at RFK because…" and deducing "that's the big reason."

i meant you, me, ggw, and everyone else who stated their opinion about the venue.