The Rock and Roll Guru: 2011 Music Festivals

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Dave Matthews Band Caravan

June 24 – 26, 2011
Bader Field
Atlantic City, New Jersey

July 8 – 10, 2011
Lakeside
Chicago, Illinois

August 26 – 28, 2011
Governors Island
New York, New York

September 2 – 4, 2011
The Gorge
George, Washington

Overview
Celebrating their 20th anniversary in style, Dave Matthews Band has decided to do their own festivals this year. The first festival will take place in Atlantic City, New Jersey, in late June. DMB will headline every night of each festival, which guarantees an amazing experience for the fans.

Ticketing
Tickets are available through the official festival website (www.dmbcaravan.com) and are sold in packages. The general admission tickets for the 3-day event are $195. These can be purchased in installment payments of $65 each. The VIP package costs a heck of a lot more but provides a lot more as well. For $825 fans will get premiere reserved seating at each stage, a VIP hospitality area that includes food and beverages (beer, water, or soft drinks), and a gourmet buffet dinner.

Lineup
Obviously Dave Matthews Band will be headlining this event. They have announced a headlining set for each night of each festival. That alone makes the tickets worth the price. Every festival will have different bands on the bill. OAR has been confirmed for both the New Jersey and Chicago festivals. Other acts include Guster, Ray Lamontagne, David Gray, The Flaming Lips, From Good Homes, TR3, and a special acoustic performance from Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds. So far, the lineups are amazing. Visit the official website to see which acts are performing in which cities.

History
This is the first time that the Dave Matthews Band have decided to host their own festival. While the band has played three night stints in the past, most notably their annual Gorge performances, they have never taken on their own festival. However, DMB is noted for doing things right. I expect that the festivals will run smoothly and with two stages, there should be hardly any waiting time in between acts.

Places To Stay
The official website lists nearby hotels for each of the festival cities. For Atlantic City, the prices of the rooms were a bit high (approximately $180 per night), but a little research should yield some decent results if you don’t mind staying a little further away from the festival. If you decide to go with the hotels that are listed on the website, a shuttle service to and from the concert each day is available. That would save the hassle of parking and paying parking prices.

Overall
DMB Caravan is going to be an amazing experience. With exceptional bands on the bill and a headlining set from DMB every night, this festival is worth the price. Add in the fact that these are the only shows that Dave Matthews Band will be performing in 2011 and it all adds up to an incredible event worth traveling to. If you have the time and the money, cousin Ryo highly recommends seeing one of these festivals this summer.

Ryo’s Final Word
It’s my hope that DMB releases a live concert from each of these festivals, or perhaps a set of highlights from the four. Even though I won’t be able to listen to them until the end of the Every Album Challenge, I would still like them to be there when I emerge to own new albums again.

Monday, May 2, 2011

The M3 Festival 2011

It’s Festival Week once again at The Rock And Roll Guru. This week I will be discussing five select festivals including the highs, the lows, the bands on the bill, the places to go, and why you should attend.

M3 Festival
http://m3rock.webs.com
May 13 – 14, 2011
Columbia, Maryland

Overview
In what has become known as the hair metal event of the year, M3 returns for their third year of metal madness. Taking place in Columbia, Maryland, at the Post Merriweather Pavilion, M3 has stretched itself into a 2-day event for the first time. The concerts begin on Friday, May 13th with KIX headlining the night. Then the party continues on Saturday, May 14th where Whitesnake will close out the festivities. With hair bands galore filling the bill for both nights, this is the festival for the 80s metal lover to attend.

Ticketing
Tickets are available through Ticketfly, a ticketing service that is a billion times better than Ticketmaster. The tickets are sold in a tiered fashion with the most expensive ticket being $175 for the VIP ticket. This package includes backstage passes with a buffet, premiere seating in the first few rows, and a private entrance. Pavilion 1 tickets are $95, Pavilion 2 tickets are $65, and Lawn tickets are $45. There are individual day tickets on sale as well for fans who do not want to attend both dates. But who would want to miss one of these nights?

Lineup
The lineup for this year’s M3 festival is intense and chock full of glam metal (as always). Friday, May 13th, which is being billed as the official “kick-off” party, has 4 great acts. Jetboy will open the evening followed by L.A. Guns, Warrant, and the headliners of the night, KIX. Now that is my idea of an opening night!

The fun continues as the acts get even bigger for day two. Faster Pussycat, Hurtsmile (Gary Cherone’s new band), Slaughter, Mr. Big, Tesla, and the big headliners of the night, Whitesnake are all on the bill. Other entertainers include Lita Ford, Sebastian Bach, Great White, Danger Danger, Pretty Boy Floyd, Big Noize, and Black And Blue. This is a hair metal lover’s delight.

History
Now in its third year of entertaining the masses, the M3 music Festival gets better every year. Last year’s festival ran like a well oiled machine (until Vince Neil gummed up the works). I expect that this year’s festival will run even smoother. With almost no waiting time between bands, thanks to the 2 stage set up, M3 has worked out the kinks in their program and their third year should be their best year yet. The Post Merriweather Pavilion has been around for a while and they know how to host concert events. With plenty of concession stands, good food, and lots of cold beer, M3 is an amazing experience.

Places To Stay
Listed on the M3 website are some nearby hotels. And while there are rooms still available at most of these hotels, practically all of the double bed rooms have been sold out. If you’re going to Columbia with your sweetie, then it’s no worries all the way. However, if you’re going with your buds, expect someone to be sleeping on the floor. If you look a little further outside the immediate area of the Post Merriweather Pavilion, you’ll not only find hotels that have double bed rooms available, you’ll find that they cost less too. Cousin Ryo’s advice is to do a little research and save a few bucks.

Overall
M3 is once again the music festival of choice for the staff at Hard Rock Hideout (www.hardrockhideout.com). After attending last year’s festival and having an amazing time, this even bigger two day event looks to bring even more thrills. With low, low ticket prices (compared to other festivals) and old school glam acts a-plenty, how do you say no to this festival? M3 looks to be the best way to kick-start the summer concert season.

Ryo’s Final Word
I am really hoping that Faster Pussycat will play their stupendous cover of “You’re So Vain.” It would just about make the entire festival for me.