Smaller stage is a great idea. Think a good template that I’ve seen work incredibly well is Folk Festival up in Newport, RI with the three levels of stages (Harbor, Quad, and Fort) with two smaller soap box style stages for local artists/open mics. Recently (two years ago?) Illiterate Light has been running a bicycle/solar powered stage that is really community and family centric with local artists. Also they have plenty of great local art/jewelry/clothing vendors everywhere and non-profits for volunteer days throughout the community. On top of a festival and historical museum that has a few sets too. Gushing rant about Folk Fest over.
Courtney Barnett, Fleet Foxes, Houndmouth, The Heavy Heavy, Kevin Morby, Flaming Lips, Hozier, Danny McBride siting, Roti Rolls, and hats off to first responders- thought they were on top of it for all instances I saw
Lows
Caste system of how wealthy you are directly correlating to how boring your section is, two water stations (??), ZERO public transportation options or incentive to bike there, three beer options (lol), lack of focus on the city/culture, being gouged on tickets when initially purchasing, people not shutting up during sets they weren’t there to see (usually all mainstream music fests tbf)
Overall had a good time and beat traffic both nights so I’ll chalk that up to a success. Hozier was a proper headliner. In a just world not controlled by bottom line thinking and algorithms, Fleet Foxes plays another 30 mins instead of Noah Kahan on Saturday
