TBD(The Bridge District) Music Fest West Sacramento (Empire: 2014, hotels) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

Chimérique · 10-05-2014, 02:08 AM

TBD Music Fest West Sacramento

2 days concluded, great venue, great location, great setting, lots of talent.

For those of you who actually attended, what did you like and not like about the West Sacramento location?

It felt there were more people from out of town than Sacramento, do you see this as being Sacramento's SXSW?

Any other comments about the fest, are you looking forward to next years event?

Chimérique · 10-05-2014, 08:33 AM

We did not attend Friday, nor can make it today (Sunday), so please post about those day's performances and any other comments on it's impact on West Sac and Sacramento.

Chimérique · 10-05-2014, 08:46 AM

Logistics-design:

Can’t wait for the Barn structure to be built for next years event. I was talking to Clay Nutting (one of the founders) and he said the builders of the Barn couldn’t finish it in time for the festival but it is being built offsite. Clay asked the City of West Sacramento to hold off on the site preparation so it would not get in the way of this years fest because he knew the Barn would not be finished in time.

The Barn should be in line with the oval Garden Park. As you stand in Garden park and look east the Barn should be visible just a block or two away.

It looks like the Barn will have at least one stage within it’s structure so I could see any one of the 4 stages at TBD to be set-up within the Barn Structure.

People:

Primarily an under 35 crowd, more like an under 25 crowd. Attendees were remarkably well-behaved, and polite. Staff were polite, even Security was courteous and polite - go figure. Good vibes, good times. Many Sacramentans but alot of SF and LA youngsters. This was a fantastic gathering of Young Vibrant Talented Sacramentans.

Talent:
Pleasantly surprised. I liked 90% of the talent, many I never heard of. Shout out to Sacramento’s very own Ghost Beach. Nick Waterhouse, French Horn Rebellion, Smallpools, MS MR and Cherub were on the top of my list for Saturday. The Empire of the Sun show was a theatrical delight.

Sactoslacker · 10-06-2014, 10:01 AM

Not really my flavor of music, but it's very cool things like this are happening in the Sacto area and not having to drive wasteland amphitheater.

However,some people thought it was too loud tho..
TBD Fest’s music is too loud, some West Sacramento neighbors claim - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee

I guess the saying is true, ("If it's too loud, you're too old).

Regardless, congrats to Hargis & Nutting for making it happen.

ryuns · 10-06-2014, 11:03 AM

Thanks for the write-up. I was really curious about it, since I did not attend--we've been going to Hardly Strictly Bluegrass for the past five or so years so it would be hard to skip. (They've already gotten some feedback about changing the weekend, since it overlaps with HSB, Austin City Limits, and Transcendence, so hopefully they'll consider that). Would really like to go next year.

Did everyone totally bake? Was there shade if you wanted it, and water for free or reasonably-priced?

The Barn is basically a large, stylized shade structure, right? And the plans are for a permanent stage for regular shows? And that's where Clay Nutting and co are going to put the beer garden? And then TBD could presumably use that as one of their stages? I'm stoked to see the whole thing together and hope it gets regular shows. After spending some time in Germany this summer, I think we're definitely in need of more nice, shaded/sheltered, beergarden-type facilities in a nice setting. Midtown Biergarten is cool, but something in a more park-like setting would be nice.

xeney · 10-06-2014, 11:38 AM

I don't think it was anywhere near as loud as the Aftershock festival last month at Discovery Park. I didn't attend either, but the Discovery Park music could be heard well into East Sacramento, and we didn't even hear the Raley Field music here in midtown. We can hear the fireworks from Rivercats games so we expected to hear it, but nope.

wburg · 10-06-2014, 10:56 PM

I couldn't hear it in Midtown,, but I was running a different music festival that may have drowned it out. I hear the attendance was about 20,000 for all weekend, which means a bit larger than the Aftershock festival a few weeks ago, or about one-third the size of this year's Sacramento Music Festival. I hear shade was an issue, as was dust.

And I heard that the Transcendence festival (the other festival happening at Camp Pollock) was shut down early?

Chimérique · 10-07-2014, 01:25 AM

Here is the Sacramento Bee article:

TBD Fest seen as showcase for West Sacramento waterfront - Our Region - The Sacramento Bee

People have said it was the best Sacramento Event they have ever been too.

Chimérique · 10-07-2014, 01:38 AM

Many festival attendees stayed at nearby hotels like Embassy Suites, Capitol Plaza Holiday Inn, Hyatt, The Citizen, etc.

At our hotel there were a few pool parties during the day, many came up from the Bay Area enjoying the sun and we got to talking to several people who said they come to Sacramento just for the warmer weather and sun and reasonable hotel prices. Events like TBD would bring them to Sacramento even more. Because of TBD, our hotel had that PalmSprings White Party vibe -- in a good way!

ryuns · 10-07-2014, 10:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wburg

I couldn't hear it in Midtown,, but I was running a different music festival that may have drowned it out. I hear the attendance was about 20,000 for all weekend, which means a bit larger than the Aftershock festival a few weeks ago, or about one-third the size of this year's Sacramento Music Festival. I hear shade was an issue, as was dust.

And I heard that the Transcendence festival (the other festival happening at Camp Pollock) was shut down early?

I hope attendance was great, and after some good reviews and working out the first year wrinkles, it seems like next year could be even more popular. I hope we can maintain these types of festivals (including Aftershock, even though the music doesn't interest me as much), because Sac could be a natural fit for a few big festivals a year. Warm, fairly predictable weather. Central location, with easy train access. Also, as Chimerique said, affordable hotel prices give it a huge cost advantage over Bay Area shows. For Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in 2013, we split a super crappy hotel room in the middle of the Tenderloin for $250/night. Hopefully, the noise issues for TBD and whatever complaints about protecting wildlife for Aftershock get ironed out.

Transcendance got shut down for lack of permits. They say they claim to have had them all, but the police and fire dept say they were shut down "because of multiple fire code violations, and because they didn’t have an entertainment permit", which sounds pretty fundamental. But who knows? Transcendence Yoga Festival Dismantled by Police | FOX40 I've never had to go through that process and I imagine it's pretty taxing. If there isn't a single point person that an organizer can go to that tell you whether you have all the right permits, something like Transcendance's "dismantling" could happen very easily. And if there isn't a point person, the city should hire one.