BROWN: Fest not perfect but worthy of sequel

By Mark Brown, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Friday, July 25, 2008

Photo by David Accomazzo © The Rocky

Main entrance to Mile High Music Festival.

Photo by Tim Hussin

Jeff McMillen, 16, of Wichita, Kan., watches as Bret Dennen plays on the main stage during the Mile High Music Festival at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday, July 20, 2008.

Photo by Tim Hussin

John Mayer plays at the Mile High Music Festival at Dick's Sporting Goods Park on Sunday, July 20, 2008.

Last weekend's Mile High Music Festival got a surprisingly smooth launch, with more fans than expected and fewer problems than expected.

So, like any blockbuster, it's getting a sequel: It'll be back next year.

"Without question. We're even starting to look at bands already," said Chuck Morris of AEG Live.

Not so fast. "Fewer problems than expected" doesn't mean perfect, however, and Morris and crew already are addressing the drawbacks that frustrated some fans.

"We've already had a lot of staff meetings about making it better. Every complaint we take seriously. That's how you stay in business," Morris said. "For me, it wasn't good enough."

Some problems last weekend came from lack of communication with fans. Some complained that there was only one route into the festival (actually, there were three). Some complained that the portable toilets were all in one area (they weren't). Some complained about incredibly long beer and food lines (while booths with short lines were often mere yards away).

Fans have been weighing in on the good and bad all week at RockyMountainNews.com. While many raved and some clearly didn't understand the nature of such festivals, some complaints were on the money. Some examples and Morris' response:

* Overpriced beer ($8): Morris notes that those same-size beers are now $8 at the Fillmore Auditorium and $9 at Fiddler's Green.

* The drinking-water refill stations should have been 100 feet long - not 10: "Totally agree. That's on my list," Morris said.

* Why only one location for portable toilets? There wasn't - they were more spread out, but harder to find. "Porta-potties should have been spread out more and more visually easy to see. Totally agree with that. That's on my list," Morris said. Restrooms were open and mostly empty inside the stadium.

* Not enough shade: "Absolutely on my list," Morris said. "More shade tents, more spray tents, and planting more trees around the facility." Also on tap: "a restaurant that's one big tent."

* The parking/traffic was awful. It seemed like there was only one entrance and exit: "That's not true," Morris said, noting that there were entrances on the north, south and middle of the grounds, as well as a shuttle lot at Northfield. There was a major traffic snarl at one point, "but there were three major accidents on I-70, and one was a policeman."

* Why is there no re-entry? "It just creates such havoc," Morris said. "What we did do was on a case-by- case basis. If someone had to go home with a baby-sitter problem we were very free about it. We didn't want it as a regular policy."

* This would have been better if there had been overnight camping: "I really don't want overnight camping," Morris said. "This is a city festival."

* Each stage needs their name posted up high so you knew which one was which: "Completely agree. Absolutely," Morris said. "That was one of those things we just spaced out. That would have been much better."

* Why were some of the big acts spread out over different stages, and so close together in show times, making it impossible to see them all? Thankful we had John Mayer and Dave (Matthews) on the same stage: "That's not entirely true. When the two biggest acts were on, all the other stages were closed," Morris said. "We had a lot of great acts . . . The middle of our lineup was so powerful and so great, that yeah, you couldn't see them all."

Others commenting on RockyMountainNews.com defended the fest.

"To the people whining about one row of bathrooms, you should have looked 50 feet around the corner. There were at least 150 more bathrooms. And if you put a little more effort into your day, the stadium was open, had three separate bathrooms, and I never saw more than 5 people in the bathroom at a time, meaning 25-35 urinals were always open," one wrote. "People whine too much and expect everything to be spelled out for them."

Another wrote: "People are whining way too much. Traffic was nothing worse than any reasonable person can expect at such a large event . . . The entrance/exit did get a little jammed, especially on day 2, but the wait was never that long. The beer and food was overpriced, but that seems to be the way things are at events like this. Good old corporate greed at its finest. There could have been a bit more shade, but all you needed to do was bring an umbrella or watch the bands in the tents for a while.

"People complaining about lack of toilets just followed the rest of the sheep in line at the closest toilets. Not once did I wait any more than a few seconds to use one."

"All those people who are complaining about the bathrooms, beer, parking, etc., etc., clearly haven't been to enough concerts, or only attend the ones that require wearing a tuxedo, a pompous attitude, and demand you stay seated and quiet till the end," another added.

And finally: "As for $8 beer . . . have any of you complaining been to a concert or sporting event lately? That's pretty much par for the course. You should have taken advantage of lax security and brought in a flask like a non-rookie," another said.

Sage advice for next year.

brownm@RockyMountainNews or 303-954-2674

• July 28, 2008

  11:57 a.m.

  Suggest removal

  jjwood64 writes:

  Memo to "Schmuck" Morris: If you're going to do a two-day festival, to NOT have camping is sheer stupidity. I kindly suggest to Morris to attend a festival run by Planet Bluegrass -- Telluride, Rockygrass, Folks Festival -- to see how a QUALITY festival is run. I didn't touch Mile High with a ten foot pole because of (a) too many "filler" acts (b) no camping (c) the "rock concert" mentality.

  I just returned from Rockygrass, which once again was a top quality festival from the music -- Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sparrow Quartet, Natalie MacMaster & Donnell Leahy, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Peter Rowan, Bela Fleck and many more -- to
  the staff and volunteers, to the high quality food and ware vendors, to the kids and music instruments tents, and a large etc.
  It was an experience I KNOW Morris and his AEG Live corporate fatcats are incapable of providing. Not to mention a beautiful location in Lyons that has evolved into a first-class venue MEANT for a quality music experience.

  IF you don't believe me, the only way to find out is to attend a Rockygrass, Telluride or Folks Festival yourself!

• July 29, 2008

  8:57 p.m.

  Suggest removal

  roxy418 writes:

  So, jjwood64 only "quality" festivals are put on by Planet Bluegrass and play a few types of music, and local bands are "filler" acts? The whole point was to do something DIFFERENT! So, no there was no camping, since it takes 10 minutes to drive from downtown... Hear, see, explore new & different artists. Just thankful Denver has it's own festival and am proud of that. It's awful being positive and open to new things!