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I’m not sold on the increase in tickets, not to any substantive degree.
The bigger issue is that they’ve grossly failed to manage the blankets and chairs. They’re routinely getting closer and closer to the stages. The front paths walking up to the pit from either side of the stage are a fraction of what they used to be.
Eh, I don’t know about that. The fort stage has always been nothing but blankets and chairs, but in years past the back of the field wasn’t nearly as jammed as it is now. They’ve also added more vendors and stuff which limits space somewhat - the area where the foundation tent and family tent are used to be wide open, with the family tent in the back corner where they have food trucks now.
Eh, I don’t know about that. The fort stage has always been nothing but blankets and chairs, but in years past the back of the field wasn’t nearly as jammed as it is now. They’ve also added more vendors and stuff which limits space somewhat - the area where the foundation tent and family tent are used to be wide open, with the family tent in the back corner where they have food trucks now.
I’m not sold on the increase in tickets, not to any substantive degree.
The bigger issue is that they’ve grossly failed to manage the blankets and chairs. They’re routinely getting closer and closer to the stages. The front paths walking up to the pit from either side of the stage are a fraction of what they used to be.
Couldn’t agree more. They seriously need to increase the pit size at the fort stage, especially because 5% of the chairs / blankets are actually being occupied at any given time
Upcoming Shows: August 7: Green Day/Smashing Pumpkins/Rancid/The Linda Lindas August 30: Waxahatchee/Snail Mail/Tim Heidecker September 17: Pearl Jam/Glen Hansard September 24: Idles/English Teacher
Upcoming Shows: August 7: Green Day/Smashing Pumpkins/Rancid/The Linda Lindas August 30: Waxahatchee/Snail Mail/Tim Heidecker September 17: Pearl Jam/Glen Hansard September 24: Idles/English Teacher
Post by stillwater on Jul 30, 2023 19:14:05 GMT -5
This was a heavily-needed expectation reset year. I had a great time and I think it was the right move- they were putting themselves in an impossible situation.
This was a heavily-needed expectation reset year. I had a great time and I think it was the right move- they were putting themselves in an impossible situation.
Would love it if they went back to having just like, regular acts headline instead of like “John McCauley & Friends presents the old timey jug band hootenanny” or whatever where you have to hope for special guests to make it something interesting
This was a heavily-needed expectation reset year. I had a great time and I think it was the right move- they were putting themselves in an impossible situation.
Would love it if they went back to having just like, regular acts headline instead of like “John McCauley & Friends presents the old timey jug band hootenanny” or whatever where you have to hope for special guests to make it something interesting
Disagree. I don’t need the singalongs for all 3 headliners, but if I wanted three headliners without anything special collabwise I’d go to Pitchfork, Beach Road, etc.
I’m just bummed that Billy couldn’t pull out any other acts from the day to join him for a jam. I don’t need Paul Simon or Joni every year… I just want the festival to feel magical and collaborative, I can wait in crowds and listen to Billy Strings at any other music festival.
Also, did anyone notice a lack of other bands rallying around some of the big names on the side stages? The side stage was empty for Billy. And not too crowded for Lana.
Last Edit: Jul 30, 2023 21:18:40 GMT -5 by k2b - Back to Top
What was up with both sides of the stage being basically empty the entire Billy set? I expected it to fill out once Folk Family got out but no it other than Jay seemed to come over.
This was a heavily-needed expectation reset year. I had a great time and I think it was the right move- they were putting themselves in an impossible situation.
Would love it if they went back to having just like, regular acts headline instead of like “John McCauley & Friends presents the old timey jug band hootenanny” or whatever where you have to hope for special guests to make it something interesting
I was fine with how this year played out.
MMJ and Batiste had cameos in headlining sets, but it wasn't some over the top shocker. The collaboration set was a Quad closer. To agree with stillwater, it was a good year for a reset on expectations. I still had a good time.
Noah Kahan being a Quad closer seemed like a mistake though. Should of been a headliner. LDR, while I'm not a fan, should be one too. Either one should have been closing Saturday instead of Batiste.
LDR was one of the few artists who I liked less after seeing live. Have liked her music since 2013 and really loved the singles from her latest album. However, her set last night was bothersome on a couple of levels. The one that sticks with me the most is her passive aggressive comments about not having enough time to sing the songs that her adoring fans want to hear. She literally said (paraphrasing) 'I am so sorry I don't have enough time to sing everything. If you want to hear all of my songs come to my two hour concert'. It felt like she was accusing the festival of not giving her as much time as she deserves. When she brought Nikki Lane out, she had an awkward interaction and playfully jabbed her for talking too much between her songs when performing. All of that would not have been as bad if she hadn't taken a 45 minute break to set up her props on stage and then started an additional 5 minutes late AND finished 5 minutes early. Last thing, which is somewhat beyond her control were the adoring fans in the crowd who would scream everytime she looked at them and had their phones out for the entire show. I saw a good portion of the performance through the phone of the 15 year old kid in front of me. He literally recorded every song she sang. The whole thing was just the opposite of the vibe that Newport cultivates with the one exception of when Jack Antonoff came out and got her to go off script and sing one of her songs she wasn't planning to sing. She should have just dropped the props and the dancers and done her music and brought out some of the other attending artists to collaborate. Would have been great to see her do a song with Remi Wolf for example.
Billy Strings was a great set, but as referenced did not live up to the expectations that inevitably were set in past years. The fact that the VIP sections were empty was sad. Seeing Jay standing by himself in one those sections at the end of the festival felt strange. Don't get me wrong, I think Billy was phenomenal, but I don't know how many times I had heard through the day that they were going to be dissapointed if there was no special surprise. Many people seemed to think Willie Nelson would be there.
Now this is just consipiracy theory, but my thinking on how this came to be was that up until a few weeks ago, Lana was meant to be the closer and that Billy had some conflict that wouldn't let him get there early enough to do the earlier set. Billy made a comment about only being there for a few hours and LDR made many comments about not having enough time. So Jay made the call and switched Bill to the closer and moved Lana up. She would have been a great closing act with Nikki Lane and Jack Antonoff satisfying folks desire for a special collaboration at the end. But instead she had less time in the earlier slot and was upset about it.
All just theory but it makes sense and would explain the strange vibe overall.
In spite of that finish, the fest was great. Loved, loved, loved having my kids join us for the first time in 8 years of coming to the fest. Think my son will forever remember dancing with his dad in the front to Jupiter & Okwess. Willi Carlisle, Goose, Danielle Ponder, Nikki Creek... lots of great sets this weekend.
Hoping some of the hype around the fest cools after this weekend and we can go back to being something wonderful but not quite as popular.
I thought LDR was fantastic and was a highlight of the weekend for me. I liked her heading into the fest - but didn’t expect much - she exceeded my expectations and I’m a much bigger fan now.
It had both high production and unscripted magic; both the essence of a headlining set you’d see at any music festival that was not Newport and the rawness you only get at Newport. She was incredibly reverential about the opportunity to play Newport - something we didn’t really get from several of the other big acts. She brought the ethos of the festival with special collaborative guests, bringing back an artist who played last year. She sounded great as well - better than I expected. (I can only imagine that she probably didn’t make much money from that set - with the entire cast of performers and stage production she brought along.)
I’ve seen complaints about it ending 5 minutes early - but I’m pretty sure it ended on time according to the most recent schedule. I did notice while trying to confirm that her set times bounced around quite a bit in the schedules that Newport uploaded. The original schedule I downloaded didn’t have the same times for her as the final schedule. As for starting 5 minutes late… oh well… Los Lobos also started 5 minutes late and went a few minutes over their final time (and nobody was complaining).
I do agree that some of the LDR fans sucked. We started the set in the pit and there was a lot of entitlement in the pit. Eventually moved back to our seats to get a second perspective and to get away from the crowds.
This was a heavily-needed expectation reset year. I had a great time and I think it was the right move- they were putting themselves in an impossible situation.
Precisely. Maybe tickets won’t be a zoo in 2024 when they go on sale.
