Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

[Flagstaff Jess]

a quick note about the alcoholic contraband...The enforcement of the "no outside alcohol" rule is due to the liquor license we have on the premise to be able to sell $5/$4 beers to the crowd.

Any outside alcohol found inside the area established as being fit for sales of alcohol could, for all technical purposes, find us in violation of our agreement with the town/state as dictated by the terms of the liquor license. Therefore, theoretically, if the wrong person saw you inside with a beer/ other booze they could revoke our license and effectively make the festival "dry" for the year.

So, please don't bring outside alcohol into the venue. Our beer prices are as cheap as anywhere else you can purchase beer, particularly in a music/ festival/ event setting.

I'm sorry some of you aren't the biggest fans of NBB, but I think you should give them a shot. Fat Tire is one of my least favorite beers, but they have some great brews. Don't hate on the brewery because you don't like one of their beers...I suggest, Mothership Wit, 1554, and the new Mighty Arrow which has a fantastic hop character in a surprisingly light beer.

Ya know, I think we should all remember that, while it's a big party to us, it's business for Planet Bluegrass with all the pains that come along with running the business in order for us to have fun.  They do a great job at keeping the hard-nosed rules at a minimum and cut us a LOT of slack sometimes.  None of us want a 'dry' festival due to excessive violations, so either play by the rules or don't grumble too much if you get nailed.  I'm certainly not innocent of the occasional bit of sneakage so am not standing on any sort of soapbox.  Ultimately they are still trying to watch out for our collective good by occasionally having to put their foot down on some obvious problems. 

By the way, I love Fat Tire so screw you haters!!!  Hehe.

I can't believe anyone would sneak in PBR let alone drink it.  Yuck. 

[BluegrassDustin]

a quick note about the alcoholic contraband...The enforcement of the "no outside alcohol" rule is due to the liquor license we have on the premise to be able to sell $5/$4 beers to the crowd.

Any outside alcohol found inside the area established as being fit for sales of alcohol could, for all technical purposes, find us in violation of our agreement with the town/state as dictated by the terms of the liquor license. Therefore, theoretically, if the wrong person saw you inside with a beer/ other booze they could revoke our license and effectively make the festival "dry" for the year.

So, please don't bring outside alcohol into the venue. Our beer prices are as cheap as anywhere else you can purchase beer, particularly in a music/ festival/ event setting.

I'm sorry some of you aren't the biggest fans of NBB, but I think you should give them a shot. Fat Tire is one of my least favorite beers, but they have some great brews. Don't hate on the brewery because you don't like one of their beers...I suggest, Mothership Wit, 1554, and the new Mighty Arrow which has a fantastic hop character in a surprisingly light beer.

All alcohol?  Or just beer?

Any type of alcohol could affect the liquor license, despite the fact that we don't sell any hard liquor.
(go figure... )

[newatTBF09]

  Why does everyone complain so  much. The security is looser here than ANYWHERE else I've been. GEEZL, PEEZL guys!! AT Red Rocks you cant take in anything, lest ye be shot.
They are linent as heck at TBF. Apparently the young 'Uns- 20 somethings, drink PBR's ( NASTY as they are), because they say it is the best cheap beer there is. They can't afford nicer brews. It's that simple.
 
But , I gotta tell ya, $4 for any beer is a GREAT price . I was pleasantly surprised. Geez, at a baseball game  beers are $6-8 bucks a piece!
Just follow the rules and hush. When people start complaining too much, it will cause MORE RULES to pop up. Hush up and drink what's there!!

[helixer]

As many people have stated, the folks at PB make the TBF seem easy, which requires one hellava lotta work. This festival is one of my highlights for the year, and I will always appreciate the staff for putting it on. The lineup was exceptional. I don't know Dustin, but if he is responsible for Ryan Adams ( an earlier post was giving him shit for Ryan) then I have to toast Dustin, because while Ryan was a fruit loop last year (my ears are still ringing) , he usually puts on incredible shows and plays more acoustic...
  I do have one small complaint- my family wanted to buy posters for our house and for friends' gifts ( it was raining) so we went to get a box but it was $5- which seemed like a lot! So we decided to order more posters after the show, but now we hear they are sold out! Say it ain't so! Any chance you are going to print a few more? I know 10 people who are ready to shell out some cash who are going to be very bummed!

 Listening to: Untold Stories- Hot rize

[BluegrassDustin]

As many people have stated, the folks at PB make the TBF seem easy, which requires one hellava lotta work. This festival is one of my highlights for the year, and I will always appreciate the staff for putting it on. The lineup was exceptional. I don't know Dustin, but if he is responsible for Ryan Adams ( an earlier post was giving him shit for Ryan) then I have to toast Dustin, because while Ryan was a fruit loop last year (my ears are still ringing) , he usually puts on incredible shows and plays more acoustic...
  I do have one small complaint- my family wanted to buy posters for our house and for friends' gifts ( it was raining) so we went to get a box but it was $5- which seemed like a lot! So we decided to order more posters after the show, but now we hear they are sold out! Say it ain't so! Any chance you are going to print a few more? I know 10 people who are ready to shell out some cash who are going to be very bummed!

not sold out. Just haven't gotten them up, yet. I'm hoping to do so by weeks end.



D.

[Bevin]

I want to say thanks for PB for another wonderful festival as well......


I do have one small complaint. This is the first year that a "walking lane"was not enforced  upon the left hand side of the field- ( heading towards the porta johns or first aid.)   It simply dead-ended a bit before where the keltys started....  If you wanted to get to the back, you needed to go up to center lane near sound booths to get out unless you wanted to crawl through the field of kelties... This was a real problem for mobility impaired folks as well as persons with strollers/wagons... I was surprised that it was allowed by the fire marshall.  Anyone else notice this problem? We are normally in almost the same place every year and in the past the lane was marked off with chalk and was enforced.... I did mention this to a PB employee and got jumped all over about "complaining."   

Debbie

I'm pretty sure that there was no walking lane along the east side fence last year either.  It's much nicer on our side of the field when you can walk from the hula-hoop zone/True Love's Dance Hall straight back to the porta-johns, but if I recall correctly, there hasn't been an actual lane there for a couple of years.  I guess they make room for more people to sit that way, but a walking lane makes a huge difference in getting around on the east side.  Something for PB to consider - there used to be a regular walking lane, but now there's not.  Perhaps it was overlooked?  Maybe it was intentional?  Hard to tell.  The Kelty-people in the back pack 'em in close enough that there's no way to get through the Kelty's without a lane.  Maybe we need to get a posse' together next year and go out to the field on Monday or Tuesday while they're setting up and ask them to consider an actual lane. 

[Ellen]

I absolutely agree with all of the kudos for PB and the amazing job you guys do.  I am part of 2 much smaller festivals and can attest to the amount of work required.  The alcohol thing is always dicey and there are always rules imposed by the regulators, so we should all try really hard not to let a few folks blow it for all of us.  If you have to bring it in, at least have enough sense to put it in a cup.  About regulations and prices, just try going to a show at the Gourge in WA.  A bunch of us were there recently for the Dead/Allman Bros. show and a 16 oz. PBR was $9 and the gestapo was out enforcing whatever the heck they chose to.  Nothing liquid was allowed through the gates, even if it was unopened.  And, if you bought a bottle of water there, they took the cap off and threw it away for some insane reason.  Long live Planet Bluegrass and their kinder, gentler way of treating us.

You guys are the best!!!  Can't wait for Rockygrass for another amazing time.  Thanks for all you do.

[trot03]

ive got to reiterate whats been said before.... the security is SO lax at TBF, i think its kind of silly to complain-- the fact is, as dustin said, they have to protect their liquor liscense, and i think that is totally reasonable. 

beyond the possibility of the wrong person seeing someone with outside booze, if you dont provide some sort of semblance of a security check, you will get a lot of people who cant handle the freedom taking advantage of it. if you guys didnt like the marshmellows, i think you would SERIOUSLY dislike that.

if youre trying to sneak in beer, then youre (probably) either bringing in crappy beer or glass-- in both cases, youre better off buying one inside. 4 bucks is an incredibly reasonable price for a beer at a show, even if its a small cup. youll pay 3 bucks more for a couple more ounces at red rocks....

bottom line, i feel like complaining about the security at TBF is a little like complaining about the music at TBF.... anything you didnt like about it had to have been an EXTREMELY minor part of the weekend....

 Listening to: doc n dawg

[trot03]

and by the way as a 24 year old i am PERSONALLY offended that 20somethings have been linked to PBR here.  i think i just vomitted in my mouth.  joke, of course.

[zack_adcock]

Unfortunately I think this is a symptom of Wilco crowds these days, bless those boys' hearts. I saw them in Oxford, Mississippi, this past April and the show sold out in like an hour and a half but people STILL talked throughout the whole show, to the point where Jeff stopped and railed on them a few times and strongly emphasized lines from their songs like "I'd like to thank you all for nothing" (from "Misunderstood") and "I can tell you're not listening" (from "Impossible Germany"). Luckily I was in the 3rd row and the up-close people seemed quiet enough.

Sad to see such a load of jackasses love such a great band. I try so hard to have a tolerant mindset but there's something about being able to hear a couple of good ol' boys' asinine, drunken conversation over one of my favorite bands that makes me just want to stop going to shows.

But to the point of your post, PBG crowds are great!

[UselessJo]

Make sure you also show your thanks for PB by filling out their after fest survey!

[bouzouki]

there is a magic communication in the art of live music between the audience and the performer.  maybe in the world of cars, trains, planes, freeways, cellphones, and ipods, stereos and TV, we don't need that magic, as long as we don't hear the note... die.  In Telluride, you can hear the note fade into the wind.

[mark2010]

I think you longer time TBFers see things through rose tinted spectacles.
Bouzoucki - put some more tobacco in there...

In my experience most of the TBF audience didnt either turn up until half way though the day despite having paid a tarp out or then left around 8.30pm. There were great rafts of people who never listened to a note of the music and talked, laughed or arsed about throughout the whole of some sets.

My impression was that TBF is only 40% attended by those who come for the music, 40% more who see it as a day out/picnic or (worse) place to be seen and 20% (mainly younger element) who come just to get wasted.

Sorry, its not as idyllic as you make out, but it is much better than most festivals.

People generally cannot stay silent and appreciate the music because they just dont have the attention span they used to in a world of text, blogging, facebook, "reality" tv and CNN 30 seconds is about the most people can manage.
Classical music would not exist if society had been like it is now.






 Listening to: Ramones - California Sun

[bouzouki]

I think you longer time TBFers see things through rose tinted spectacles.
Bouzoucki - put some more tobacco in there...

In my experience most of the TBF audience didnt either turn up until half way though the day despite having paid a tarp out or then left around 8.30pm. There were great rafts of people who never listened to a note of the music and talked, laughed or arsed about throughout the whole of some sets.

My impression was that TBF is only 40% attended by those who come for the music, 40% more who see it as a day out/picnic or (worse) place to be seen and 20% (mainly younger element) who come just to get wasted.

Sorry, its not as idyllic as you make out, but it is much better than most festivals.

People generally cannot stay silent and appreciate the music because they just dont have the attention span they used to in a world of text, blogging, facebook, "reality" tv and CNN 30 seconds is about the most people can manage.
Classical music would not exist if society had been like it is now.


Actually my spectacles are tinted with specks of concrete, dented, bent, and otherwise waiting for replacement.  Over the years, I have watched drunks pass out in front of me, been stepped on, spilled on, tripped over, had to move to see the stage, listened to fools, watched townies lose their last meal, and observed people ignore entire sets, to the point of no applause.  That said, I have done my best to keep away from places where the music was the background to fistfights, or flying bottles.  I find music to be a unique art form, developed in a moment, and until the last 100 years, mostly lost immediately following the last note.  I like music to move me, and if I was alone in this, then nobody would understand my passion for music, but I have felt waves of joy, sadness, elation,bliss, and a range of experiences that only intrepid travelers can know, where the ego slips aside, and the music plays the band.  I'll admit that I am crazy, but if you are not crazy, you aren't paying attention, to be alive during these times, surrounded by so many that need to be entertained, spoonfed and distracted.  I have discussed God with religious fanatics and schizophrenics, atheists and manic bipolars, and I have heard a crisp clear tone that left me satisfied as it faded into nothing. 
Do I expect anyone else to hear? Sadly, no, but there are those who understand, and I think that we have the responsibility to shake the complacency of people that consider the music to be white noise background to their drama, which is vastly more important than the silent listeners, that are listening to the music for the music.  So I bend the boxes, stretch the envelope, and write stuff that probably makes little sense to any average reader, and certainly makes no sense to those that have to talk louder than the music to be heard, but I don't mind, I have been shaken to the core by thunder and lightning, Peter Rowan, Jerry Garcia, and Emmylou Harris, and by my self, playing with my eyes closed, listening to a beautiful melody, wishing I could play like take, and realizing, as it fell apart, that I can.   Bouzouki Dan   

[bouzouki]

Landshark, is the sun up when you start writing?  I saw the article, and liked it.
Mark2010, if I put tobacco in my pipe and smoke it, my insurance goes up, something you Brits can dodge, I guess.
It is a new day and the clouds made a beautiful colored sunrise. I need a new mix of music to take me to the river, with Panama Red, that is still crooked, on railroad earth, on the peaks of Sam's Telluride.