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Post by Bill on Jun 13, 2016 20:03:18 GMT -5
VIP area was too large!!!! You need to allow more prime viewing area for the majority of your guests.
Too many mediocre no-name bands during the afternoon; previous Mtn Jams had stronger bands during that timeslot - ex: The Word, Sharon Jones, JRAD, Mississippi All Stars, Ben Folds, Grace Potter, etc.
Too much non-healthy food - very little healthy food choices!!!! Shitty corporate Bud style beer, up until 2 years ago, we used to have craft brewery selection.
In short, as a 10 TIME MountainJam attendee, I've witness the quality of the bands go down, the quality of the food choices become unhealthy, and the VIP section choke out the prime viewing areas. It has has become apparent the entire festival has become a watered down product catering to the people with the VIP bucks. Bad trend - all my friends - all multi year Mtn Jammers have noticed the trend and are questioning whether to return.
The positive? Security was much better than the fiasco of two years ago & the free water filling station!!! Good job.
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Post by moonlitegraham on Jun 13, 2016 20:51:20 GMT -5
I agree with the VIP comment. Way too big. Looks like the haves and have nots...
As for the healthy food issue...If you wanted to eat healthy , you could, but it did take some work. Food choices were similar to every other festival I have attended.
Security seemed appropriate. If you were outwardly ridiculous they called you on it. Otherwise, they left you alone.
Afternoon slots were a bit lacking. Could have done without Beck and used that money to bring in a higher level Saturday act. (After Rateliff- He tore it up)
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Post by raspberryjam on Jun 14, 2016 10:23:31 GMT -5
I agree, VIP was too big, but viewing right behind it was great.
I thought Beck was amazing. Loved it!
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Post by Me on Jun 14, 2016 13:48:40 GMT -5
VIP area - obviously.
I'd argue The Record Company & Nathaniel Ratliff stole the show. Their sets were amazing and had so much engergy. Love Cannon was a blast too, everybody enjoyed their set. Courtney Barnett was great, and Jane Lee Hooker put on a hell of a set for 100 people that bothered to show up for it. The London Souls are always great too. Saturday knocked it out of the park all day long (even with the Gary Clark Jr Shuffling). Plenty of awesome bands all day long.
The range of food was business as usual. The beer did take a step back, but they had Goose Island IPA (until the kegs were tapped which happened quite a lot). Stella isn't a bad substitute, but the Redhook years were much better.
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Post by hunterdrummer on Jun 14, 2016 14:06:21 GMT -5
Beck CRUSHED!!! to each his own...  The VIP pit was setup for Taste of Country... In fact most of the changes made to MtnJam were probably to accommodate the larger Taste of Country fest And it was packed!!! I got a pass for a friend and helped with some stuff - it let me into VIP. For Kid Rock it was crowded - for Kenny Chesney it was downright crowded... Think of the $$$ They made on that.. The difference between ToC and MtnJam is night and day.. ALL my friends that work the festivals LOVE the people at MtnJam... not so much with ToC... |
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Post by misterbrow on Jun 14, 2016 14:07:29 GMT -5
Goose Island and Red Hook are both Anheuser-Busch InBev beers. Although, yes, Red Hook better than Goose and Goose better than Bud. The high point was the 4th stage and the beer/wine garden before TownSquare got involved.
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Post by jetro315 on Jun 18, 2016 21:04:44 GMT -5
I don't agree with the "mediocre no name bands" in the daytime. You had Jason Isbell, Chris Robinson, Gary Clark Jr scratched for what's name, oh yeah Warren Haynes, Lettuce, Nathaniel Rateliff, Courtney Barnett, The London Souls, Cabinet, Turkuaz and some young up and comers like Marcus King, Record Company, Con Brio & Darlingside. That's on par with every other year. Yeah, there may not have been as many jam bands but that doesn't mean these bands weren't talented. I thought it was actually a pretty deep lineup. I told people I could have left after Marcus King's set. It was that good. Just wish it was longer, but we did get to see the whole band again come out with Mule. I met the kid too and he is very humble and seems like a real nice dude. He's only 20 years old! Crazy. Besides the music I had a blast. It helps that we camped with long time MJ friends who we haven't camped with before which created a really nice vibe but also didn't have any issues whatsoever with security. First year I can remember not being patted down once. They did catch me trying to sneak in 10 beers but just told me I couldn't come through with them. They didn't try to take them or anything. So I just gave them to my friend and he went to other security line and got them through. lol I agree with the VIP section being unnecessary. I heard Umphrey's mock the section because there was like 3 people standing there and the rest was empty because as we all know Thursday is the least crowded day. It was too big an area. It did however not effect me personally getting good spots to see bands I wanted to get close for. Not sure if it was just not crowded as past years or what, but even for Beck we got a killer spot and that was probably the most packed it was all weekend. We didn't even attempt to get close for the Black Keys last year because it would have been too hard. Overall, this ranked right up there for me with some of my favorite Jams. The weather was great until Sunday, which we planned on leaving early anyway and the music was solid in my opinion. I thought the 3 headliners that I saw all knocked it out of the park. Big deal they weren't jam bands. But Beck & Wilco have been at it for a long time and both have a huge catalog of songs to choose from. I did here more than one person saying Wilco wasn't that good which kind of baffled me. I have seen them before, only once, but thought that this set was blazing. They impressed me a whole lot and I am excited to see them again. I understand that people think the vibe is changing and it is starting to sell out and only focus on money. But there are still all different kinds of genres of music with plenty of young, upstart bands trying to make a name for themselves(which is always my favorite part). Peach Fest has all the jam bands this year but MJ was more of a mixed bag which I dig. One thing I was thinking is that from what the co-founder Gary was saying, it sounds like they pretty much thought that they had The Dead & Company locked in and at the last minute they pulled out. So if they signed The Dead, that would have changed a whole lot from a lineup perspective. When they realized that they weren't getting The Dead, I'm assuming they put The Avetts in their slot, who usually go on right before the headliner. I could be wrong. Hopefully not too many were totally discouraged and head back up the mountain next year. And maybe I will see you there! *Check out www.facebook.com/greatlivemusic/ for MJ videos, pictures & discussions along with all kinds of other live music. |
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