Düsseldorf’s Jazz Rally Turns City And “Longest Bar In The World” Into Jazz Mecca

DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY – Jazz legend Klaus Doldinger and his current project Passport, plus hot younger musicians, like Curtis Stigers from the US and Germany’s Clueso, are headliners at the “Jazz Rally” in Düsseldorf (2011 dates: June 10-12, with preview concerts on June 9), an event that’s been dazzling music lovers for 19 years with its quality program, style and unique format. Visitors can “hop” from concert to concert, a total of 87 concerts in 36 venues, on one ticket. Jazz Rally keeps getting bigger: this year increases the number of concerts and musicians by about 10% compared to 2010, and more than 300,000 visitors are expected.

Düsseldorf has what’s known as the “longest bar in the world” – rows and rows of pubs and restaurants in the city’s historic old town, more than 260 of them, and bar-hopping might as well have been invented here. All year long, visitors and locals alike enjoy the short distances from bar to bar, and on many nights, the old town seems like one big party place for eating and drinking. It was a natural step to offer the same options and convenience for jazz lovers. There are 36 stages all over the city, including the off-beat Airport Hangar 8 at Düsseldorf International Airport, the city’s central train station, and the planetarium-turned-concert-hall Tonhalle. Most are in walking distance from each other and turn Düsseldorf into one large jazz venue for the weekend.

Jazz lovers can purchase in advance the “Jazz-Rally-Button,” an all-access event pass, for Euro 25 – 30 for admission to all scheduled concerts. Day passes are available for Euro 20 - 25. Children up to 14 years of age are admitted free of charge. The program features about 80 bands and also includes funk, soul, blues, and rock performances.

For more information about Jazz Rally 2011 and hotel specials, visit www.duesseldorfer-jazzrally.de. Düsseldorf International Airport, Germany’s third-largest, offers several non-stop flights from US cities, as well as convenient connections to many European cities and beyond.

Outside Lands 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.

Outside Lands Festival
http://www.sfoutsidelands.com
August 12 – 14, 2011
San Francisco, California

Overview
Billed as music, food, wine, and art, the Outside Lands festival in San Francisco, California, is one of the best summer festivals going. An eclectic mix of bands loads the music bill while fans can wander, sampling great wines, exceptional food, and having a lot of summer fun in Northern California.

Ticketing
Tickets for the Outside Lands Festival can be purchased at through their website (www.sfoutsidelands.com) but act fast. Most of the general admission packages are already sold out. According to the website, there is limited availability for the remaining general admission 3-day pass. This goes for $199, but includes access to the wineries as well as the bands. If you are looking to attend the festival with a little more style and amenities, the VIP package can be purchased for $450 for a 3-day pass. The VIP package includes an exclusive club complete with massage services, access to VIP food services, and access to alcohol services. It honestly doesn’t sound like it’s worth the extra $250.

Lineup
Outside Lands has always brought their share of excellent performing acts and this year is no exception. With Phish giving their standard 2-set performance, Muse, The Black Keys, MGMT, John Fogerty, Old 97s, and Warren Haynes Band (just to name a few), there are plenty bands to love on the ballot. While official performance dates/times have not yet been released, it’s safe to say that Phish, Arcade Fire, and Muse are your headliners for each night respectively.

History
The Outside Lands Festival started in 2008 with over 60 musical acts from around the world performing. Now into its fourth year, The Outside Lands festival has gained in popularity every year. This year looks to be the best selling ever for the event, as evident by most of the general admission packages already being sold out.

Every year, Outside Lands secures incredible performers to entertain the crowd. Having been graced with such brilliant bands as Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Radiohead, Wilco, Pearl Jam, and My Morning Jacket in years past, this year’s festival continues in that tradition of great musicians.

Outside Lands also strives to be the most eco-friendly festival in existence. There are plenty of recycling containers and recycled material all around the festival. One of the stages (the panhandle solar stage) is powered completely by solar energy. The festival allows and encourages refillable water containers (as opposed to bottled waters) and offers several refillable water stations.

Places To Stay
If you are planning on staying near the festival, you had better book your rooms now. While the 2011 hotel partners have not yet been listed on the website, the hotels in the immediate area are bound to sell out lightning fast. There are several hotel/motels near the park. A quick search of Google shows the Red Victorian, The Oceanview, and the Laurel Inn. The Hotel Tomo is very close by and has received some great reviews from past festival attendees.

If you are willing to venture a little further away, there are several hotels where rooms can be had for a much smaller cost than those that are close to the festival. A 30 minute cab ride may save you hundreds in room costs. And if you’ve never been to San Francisco before, it offers the chance to explore other parts of this beautiful city away from the festival area.

Overall
The Outside Lands Festival looks like a lot of fun. With great food, wine tasting, exceptional bands, several areas of environmental friendly entertainment and education on greening the Earth, this is a fantastic festival to visit in the summertime. The weather in San Francisco in August is just gorgeous and you would not be disappointed by attending this show at that time of year. With some of the hottest names in music headlining the event, Outside Lands could be a great festival to enjoy.

Ryo’s Final Word
The lack of second tier bands for the cost of this festival would make me hesitant to attend (especially with the travel costs). Outside Lands goes from super-huge name acts (Phish, Muse) to acts I’ve never heard of. There’s no middle ground of up and coming acts, or bands that have flown under the radar for far too long. That’s a big deterrent for attending this festival.

Download Festival 2010

It’s festival week here at The Rock and Roll Guru! This week I’ll be discussing the upcoming summer festivals – highlighting the highs, lows, and all the in-betweens of each. I’ve selected five festivals and will post daily on each. Enjoy!

Download Festival
http://www.downloadfestival.co.uk/home

If you live in the UK, or if you are planning a trip for the summer, the Download Festival is a hard one to beat. Taking place over the course of three days (June 11 – 13, 2010), Download Festival will bring the rock like no other festival can. AC/DC, Aerosmith (with Steven Tyler), Rage Against The Machine, Megadeth, and Stone Temple Pilots are just the highlights of this year’s festival.

History
The Download Festival started off as the Monsters of Rock Festival 30 years ago in 1980. The first year included Judas Priest and The Scorpions on the bill. In 1996, the last Monsters of Rock festival was held and then there was silence for many years. In 2003, the Download Festival was born as a remembrance of the Monsters of Rock and a hybrid of the classic metal from years ago mixed with modern metal for the new arrivals. An amalgam of metal music that’s bound to make everyone happy, Download Festival strives to get the best acts on the bill and give the audience the most bang for their buck.

Lineup
This year’s lineup includes AC/DC as the major headliners. Also performing over the weekend are Rage Against The Machine, Aerosmith, The Deftones, Stone Temple Pilots, Megadeth, Motorhead, Billy Idol, Saxon, and Ratt, just to name a few. When you add in the bands that are performing on the second stage, you have one of the most rocking festivals in existence. Hard and heavy, the Download Festival is metal done right.

Ticketing
Weekend ticketing plus 5 days of camping is 180 pounds, which roughly translates to $270. That’s a little on the high side, but when you look at the lineup, it is definitely worth it. And it includes the price of camping, which is much cheaper than a hotel. As of this posting, no single day tickets were available for Download Festival.

Places to Stay
Thinking of attending? Here are some recommended places to stay and/or visit. The festival itself has camp grounds for those who want to stay right on the site. The campsite opens on Wednesday, June 9th at 10:00AM and is available until Monday, June 14th at 12:00PM.

If camping isn’t quite your style, there are nearby hotels worth checking out. A quick search of the web shows nearby bed and breakfast boutiques located less than 3 miles from the park, some as close as one half mile. There are also plenty of hotels nearby. Best Westin, Marriott, and Days Inn are all minutes away and most of the nearby hotels offer complimentary shuttle service to the park.

Overall
The Download Festival looks like a great concert to attend in 2010. With plenty of heavy hitting headliners and several acts that are worth checking out, Download is going to be an incredible summer festival. I expect to hear good things about this once it has come and gone. If you have the opportunity, check it out and be part of the history.

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.

Rocklahoma 2010 - The Good, The Bad, and The What The...?

I wanted to share some thoughts on this year’s Rocklahoma festival. You know... the festival that’s been known as the hair metal fans dream for the past few years? Well, this year, for whatever reason, Rocklahoma has gotten a new promoter (AEG) and suddenly the festival is going through drastic changes. Let’s pick apart the good ones and the bad ones, shall we?

The Good
The dates have changed. One of the biggest complaints of Rocklahomas past is that the heat was too brutal and the July festival was a killer in the daytime. This year, the promoters hope to rectify that situation by making Rocklahoma a 3-day event over Memorial Day Weekend. Choosing May to hold the festival was a wise idea as the triple digit temperatures should be non-existent and people can enjoy the great rock and roll without baking in the intense heat.

Adding new artists. This could be a good thing. If bands like Puddle of Mudd, Black Stone Cherry, and Saliva play alongside bands like Jackyl, Stryper, and Winger, that’s a good thing. Some fans may not like the format change, but I think it was that format change that had many fans excited for last year’s (total failure) Rock Gone Wild festival. Mixing in new rock acts with the established classic rock veterans is a definite good thing.

The Bad
AEG is now promoting this festival. It’s like making a deal with the devil. A national promoter such as AEG is going to charge insane fees to promote this festival and just where do you think the costs are going to be passed off to? Oh yeah, the fans. Ticket prices are going to skyrocket and AEG is going to push VIP packages like there is no tomorrow. These packages will not be cheap either. Obviously we won’t know until they are announced, but I have a strong feeling that they will cost much more than they have in the past.

Changing the dates was a good thing, but picking Memorial Day weekend was not such a smart idea. Tons of people are on the road that weekend and the airports may be jammed. Getting in may be easy, but getting out? That’s an entirely different story.

Removing an extra day of the festival and adding modern bands. What concerns me with this part of the announcement is that we will lose some of the cusp bands that make this festival a fun one. Bands like the BulletBoys, Dangerous Toys, and other similar acts, may now be dropped from the bill in place of some modern act that AEG is promoting. The great thing about Rocklahoma was that it was always THE nostalgia festival and now it’s going to be just another rock fest.

Personally, I will be attending M3 this year but that’s for more than just the lineup (and the fact that it’s a one day festival closer to home). My friends over at Hard Rock Hideout are going to be attending as well, so it’s an excuse for us to get together and party!

Those are my thoughts on the pros and cons of this year’s Rocklahoma. What are your thoughts? Are you going? Not going? Love it? Hate it? Post a comment and let us know!

Here’s a link to the official press release:
http://rock.feverfest.com/press-11302009.php

UPDATE:
The bands have officially been announced (see below). Expect a post next week dissecting the good, the bad, and the what the...? regarding these bands.

M3 Festival 2010

The M3 festival is returning this year. What is M3 you ask? Just an amazing day of hair metal music played at maximum volume and one of the better festivals of 2009. It promises to be just as great, if not better, in 2010.

Being held at the same location as last year, The Merriweather Pavilion in Columbia, Maryland, this year’s lineup features confirmed acts of Kix, Winger, Vince Neil, Cinderella, Warrant, L.A. Guns, The Scorpions, Nelson Trixter, and more!

Most of my regular readers know that I also write reviews for Hard Rock Hideout (http://www.hardrockhideout.com/). This is the festival that we have chosen to attend this year. Rather than try and brave the mid-summer heat of Rocklahoma, or attend another unproven festival, M3 is our festival of choice for 2010.

M3 promises to be an incredible festival of hair metal music bliss. Last year’s M3 was an amazing event that was enjoyed by all. 2 stages featuring several acts across the day saw some great bands performing. This year’s lineup is shaping up to be even better. With Winger supporting their fabulous new album (Karma), Cinderella performing, and The Scorpions as the big headliners, this is going to be one amazing day of music and mayhem. It will be an excellent introduction to the 2010 summer concert season.

No word about the on sale date for tickets, but I imagine that it would be soon. The website claims that prices and on sale dates should be announced in the next week.

For more information and updates, visit the M3 Festival website at: http://m3rock.webs.com/

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.

Rocklahoma or Rock Gone Wild

Festival season is nearing! The weather is warming up and rock fans are making their travel arrangements. For metal-heads and hard rocking headbangers there are two big festivals to choose. These two have removed themselves from all other festivals and have really become the festivals of choice; Rocklahoma, in Oklahoma and Rock Gone Wild, in Iowa. Yes, there are other rock/metal festivals happening over the summer, but these two seem to be the biggest. So, which festival would be the better one to attend? Let’s examine the acts, the prices, and the overall perks.

Rating Criteria:
The rating criteria have been broken down into the five most important categories, listed below.
Bands
Venue
Amenities
Ticket Price
History

Rocklahoma: July 9 – 12

Bands
Rocklahoma boasts an impressive lineup of heavy metal/hard rock acts that were at their height of fame during the late 80s/early 90s. Twisted Sister, Kix, Great White, Nelson, Warrant, and Night Ranger, just to name a few.

Venue
This is the 3rd annual festival for Rocklahoma, so they have worked out most of the kinks and growing pains. The location is central US, so relatively easy to get to.

Amenities
Camping/RV parking is offered and RV rentals (delivered to the site) are available. Camping prices were not listed on the website.

Ticket Prices
$120 for reserved seating. $400 VIP: which includes unlimited beverages (and tap beer) and 2 buffet meals a day + ticket for all four nights.

History
This will be the third year for Rocklahoma. They also hold two other annual festivals on these grounds, so they are rich with experience and understanding.

Rock Gone Wild: August 20 – 23

Bands
Much different from Rocklahoma, Rock Gone Wild boasts both hard rockin’ heroes from the 80s and modern rock bands of today. Puddle of Mudd, Saliva, Skid Row, Kix, Saigon Kick, and Dokken are the bigger names. Warrant, Lita Ford, Eve 6, RhinoBucket, Dangerous Toys, and Junkyard are also on the 4-day bill.

Venue
This is the first Rock Gone Wild, so they may not be prepared for certain crisis or issues (Woodstock 99 comes to mind). They seem to have pretty solid organization, but they have no history of running a festival. They are also in Middle America, and easy to travel to.

Amenities
Camping is available, as is RV parking. Campsites are $20 for the entire event, and campsites can be set up as early as Monday, August 17th.

Ticket Prices
General Admission - $175
VIP Package - $365 which includes seating in rows 11 – 30, buffet style meals, unlimited beer (tap I presume) and unlimited soft drinks.
Platinum Package - $565 which includes everything that the VIP package has plus liquor, champagne, poster, T-shirt, and access to the sinner’s lounge (which will have a night club atmosphere complete with pole dancers)

History
This is Rock Gone Wild’s first year. Their stages are still being built and there is no picture up yet on what the venue will look like seating-wise. How many seats, how much lawn for general admission, are there reserved seats, etc? These questions currently remain unanswered.

So, which is the better festival? Let’s go point for point.

Bands
I have to give the nod to Rock Gone Wild which currently has a better lineup. Now, both of these festivals have yet to finalize the rosters, so this could change, but as of now Puddle of Mudd, Saliva, Dangerous Toys, and Junkyard trump Twisted Sister, Kix, Nelson, and Night Ranger. Not by much, but a trump is a trump. Point – Rock Gone Wild

Venue
Rocklahoma hands down. Rock Gone Wild’s venue is still being built. Rocklahoma has the history. Point – Rocklahoma.

Amenities
This is a close call. Both sites offer the basic showers, water, port-o-johns, RV spots, and general store. RGW is $20 for the entire festival and you can set up 4 days prior to the event. Rocklahoma does not have their price listed yet, and you can only set up the day before the event. Rocklahoma does offer the option of renting an RV and having it delivered. According to the websites, Rock Gone Wild offers a more scenic campground nestled in the woods and surrounded by a beautiful stream. This gives RGW a slight edge. Point – Rock Gone Wild

Tickets
Clearly this goes to Rocklahoma. Their general admission is much lower and while their VIP is slightly higher, they don’t have the uber-expensive platinum VIP option of RGW and thus don’t have the high cost. Point – Rocklahoma.

History
Again, Rocklahoma has the edge, as they have done these festivals before. RGW is a first year festival. First year festivals usually have a lot of growing pains. While the organization seems spectacular and it looks like the organizers have things tied down pretty tight, the proof is in the event, which no one will know until August. Point – Rocklahoma.

Final Score:
Rocklahoma – 3
Rock Gone Wild – 2

There you have it, a point-by-point breakdown of the better summer rock/metal festival. While it is a very close race, Rocklahoma currently has the slight edge, and thus is a better spend of your hard earned dollar.

Comments are open. Feel free to post some.