Music Midtown final lineup (Atlanta: apartment complexes, condo, safe)

[JPD]

Originally Posted by Hoapres

The "make money" argument is why radio sucks.

It's also the reason why radio exists.

[FlyiMetro]

Originally Posted by testa50

The festival was very successful and popular. Everybody seemed to be having a great time. Why are people complaining?

Nobody is stopping you from making a competing festival at the location of your choosing. But the goal of the organizers is to make money, and I'd venture they came out just fine the way Music Midtown was.

So this show features hip hop now?

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by Hoapres

I'm hearing about how this used to have multiple stages.

If venture they would make more money and have more people "having fun" with a more diverse line-up.

I don't know how you could fit more people into the park. As it was, they were sold out on Saturday night, and nearly sold out on Friday. If you went on Saturday, you would know that you wouldn't WANT more people there. Being that its called "Music Midtown", it kind of has to be in Midtown. How many sites are there in Midtown that are bigger than Piedmont Park and can support that many people.

What I also liked is that this festival was scheduled so that you could see every band perform if you wanted to. You never had several competing stages to deal with.

This is a completely different setup than Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza. Bonnaroo had 184 bands over 4 days on 10 stages in about 4 times the space, with hundreds of acres of parking and camping on site. Lollapalooza had 138 bands on 8 stages in about 10 times the space. Music Midtown, on the other hand, was 15 bands over two days. It's not meant to be a Bonnaroo or Lollapalooza, at least not yet.

Also keep in mind that Bonnaroo has been going on for 11 years, and Lollapalooza for about 22 years, While Music Midtown is on only its second year after the hiatus. The previous two are much more mature festivals.

As for Porta Potties...I was there on the setup days and was amazed at how many there were. I couldn't imagine there being even more. But even at that, there were scores of people peeing all around the grounds. Did anyone go to the Dave Matthews concert in Piedmont in I think 2007? There must have been a grand total of 40 Porta Potties. It was terrible. I spent literally half of the show in line for one.

[ATLTJL]

Music Midtown used to take place at a variety of venues around midtown. This was back in the days when there were more empty spaces that could be used. I never went, but I was told that the lot which is now the Federal Reserve hosted many of the stages with local venues like the old Cotton Club also providing space. As midtown developed, space became an issue. I seem to recall a lot of complaints about venues. Some of them were set up in parking lots and people didn't like hanging around on asphalt. Also, streets had to be closed to allow people to move about, and that caused problems and would cause even more nowadays. These logistic nightmares made putting on the festival increasingly difficult and people who went hated it, which also caused it to die. This is the story I've been able to piece together as to what happened.

Piedmont Park is the perfect venue, but 2 stages is really probably the maximum the park could, or at least should, support.

As for port-o-potties, ther were plenty of them. Most people just seemed to congregate around the ones that were closest to the stage, but if you ventured a bit further away, there were adequate potties. Perhaps next time they could have better placement of the potties, but there may be safety ordinances specifying where they can and can not be placed. Also, the regular park bathrooms were open and working during their normal hours (locked at 8p, so available for most of the show but not all of it). Maybe next year they could extend the hours of these restrooms. They are outisde the gates of the festival, but since re-entry was allowed, this is a non-issue. I think the biggest issue was people just didn't know where the potties were.

I don't think Music Midtown strives to be a Bonaroo or Lollapalooza. Festivals that size would require different space, which may allow for more acts, but would also take away from the charm of being in Piedmont Park. You'd have to host a larger event down by the airport or at a fairgrounds or something.

[Halo_in_reverse]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

I think the biggest issue was people just didn't know where the potties were.

You are probably right about that. Considering that there were so many people (like myself) that don't live in Atlanta who aren't completely familiar with the terrain so to speak

[tonygeorgia]

They should add a stage to the HUGE field near Piedmont Dr

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

They should add a stage to the HUGE field near Piedmont Dr

There is no Piedmont Drive in Atlanta. Are you referring to Piedmont Ave?

Which field? The one that runs along 10th Street from Argonne to Taft? I think that would be a great location for some smaller stages with more regional/local bands.

Or are you referring to the ball fields? I don't think they want those getting trashed by the crowds.

I was there when the sun rose on Sunday morning. While the grounds didn't look as bad as I expected, they definitely took a beating. I couldn't believe the amount of trash.

[tonygeorgia]

Originally Posted by samiwas1

There is no Piedmont Drive in Atlanta. Are you referring to Piedmont Ave?

Which field? The one that runs along 10th Street from Argonne to Taft? I think that would be a great location for some smaller stages with more regional/local bands.

Or are you referring to the ball fields? I don't think they want those getting trashed by the crowds.

I was there when the sun rose on Sunday morning. While the grounds didn't look as bad as I expected, they definitely took a beating. I couldn't believe the amount of trash.

The ball field

[samiwas1]

Originally Posted by tonygeorgia

The ball field

That is a nice, big space. And who knows, in the future, maybe they will add some stages there. But, they might also not want to have the fields damaged by the stage setup and crowds. The festivals do quite a number on the grounds. Also, it doubles the amount of space that must be secured and tricked out, so the expenses go up (presumably, the extra ticket sales would cover this).

[JPD]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Music Midtown used to take place at a variety of venues around midtown.

In my opinion, Music Midtown's best location was over by SciTrek/Civic Center. Plenty of room for two or three large stages and several smaller stages. Lots of grass and trees, close to MARTA, not as many residents to bother (compared to PIedmont Park). I don't know why they don't use that space anymore. Seemed like the perfect location.