Red Sky Music Festival

The Red Sky Music Festival in Omaha, NE. My take on what could have been a much better week of music. Now don't get me wrong, I had a very fun time at 311 and Sublime with Rome. No doubt about it. And I would have loved to have seen Kid Rock the next night. But see, that was exactly the problem.

I can party like a rockstar, ask anybody who has gone out with me. So getting my butt to work the next day and still being functional is no problem. Yes it was 110 degree heat index after work. Yes I drank. Yes I was in the middle of the mosh pit. And finally yes I could do the exact same the next night if needed. The problem with the whole music series was that they charged and charged for all of the main acts. Of course concerts demand and bring in big time money to the producers, vendors, and  artists themselves. I understand that. It costs money to book the bands, book the venue, set everything up, etc. But for the concert goer, this can get pricey! Red Sky Music Festival was setup so that during the day, they had bands playing on their two smaller stages outside of TD Ameritrade Park. Grounds passes were $15 per day, a three day pass was $30, and a six day pass was $60. Now these are just grounds passes, which would get you in during the day to see acts such as Sister Hazel, Better Than Ezra, George Clinton, Tonic, Soul Asylum, The Charlie Daniels Band, 10000 Maniacs, Bruce Hornsby, and Hookshot amongst dozens of others. There was also a battle of the local bands. All great bands! But, these grounds passes didn't get you into the mainstage area at TD Ameritrade.

 

Did the high temps and ticket prices keep fans away? Think they said that about 7k made it to the 311 and Sublime with Rome concert. About double that for Kid Rock

At the mainstage at TD Ameritrade Park, you had Journey with Nightranger, 311 and Sublime with Rome, Kid Rock, Zac Brown Band, and Jason Aldean. Yes there was a different headliner each night, except for the very last night. And I'll get back to that in a second. So IF you miraculously had the entire week off and were the biggest music fan ever, you could possibly buy a ticket to each and every show. How much would it cost you? $208 at the least. Those are the cheapest tickets available. Even though it says includes service fees on their website, it doesn't. My $35 tickets to the show I went to, ended up costing me $47.80. Hilarious that they would put "includes facility fees", but they don't mention the $12 worth of service fees that Ticketmaster rapes you with. So add an extra $60 to that 208 and you get roughly $268 to see everyone. And those are the absolute cheapest seats, which for 311 and Sublime, I guess it didn't matter. Also back to this later. This isn't Bonaroo, it isn't Lollapalooza. This is Omaha's first attempt at a week long concert going experience. Oh yeah, did I mention that beer was $7.00 a plastic cup?

So the very last night, there was a headliner band missing. Rumor is that the band backed out and Red Sky couldn't get someone to fill in. Wow, you missed out on a Saturday night headliner? Shame on you! Probably could have been one of your biggest nights there and you failed to produce a band. As for the tickets. There were different ticket levels. I prefer to be on the grounds, aka general admission so that I can work my way to the front rows. These were actually the more expensive tickets. Yet when we got to TD Ameritrade, I saw that they were letting everyone and anyone onto the main grounds. Yes, even the tix that were $10 cheaper. And even the 89.7 River listeners who took advantage of the $10 sale tickets got to the same place that I got to with my $47.80 ticket. As you can see, I'm bitter about that. On to the concert. Maybe I'll start a new blog entry so that readers who stumble upon this won't be discouraged from reading my 311 and Sublime with Rome experience.

Ways to improve this week long music extravaganza? Stretch the concert out to eight days so that it covers both weekends and doesn't start on a Monday.   After the first day of the Red Sky Festival, The Omaha World Herald had a story and showed ONE person sitting in a chair listening to a band play. And picture said something to the degree that he was the only one there that opening morning of the festival. Another suggestion? Maybe for the people that have tickets to the main stage acts, allow them to get into the other grounds concerts during the day for a reduced fee. Or after 5pm, let them onto the grounds for no charge. Come on Red Sky, you'll make your money back with two cups of beer. Also, I know it is meant to be a summer concert series type of deal. But seriously, everybody knows that the high heat index killed your ticket sales. So next time do it in April, May or June. Not July or August.

Now I'm not all Debbie Downer over here. The festival did have it's box of positives. There was enough musical variety to fulfill everyone's tastes. They did offer you a plastic cup to allow you to get water. Yes, for free. At the 311 concert, they had a water hose going and spraying into the air to cool you down if you wish. And TD Ameritrade ballpark for concerts is awesome! Now we have both an indoor and an outdoor venue to bring in the major acts. Nice! There was paid parking galore, so carpooling saved a ton. And the sound was decent at the ballpark. So what did other people think of the whole experience? Feel free to comment. To tell you the truth. Only one other coworker at my company went to one of the concerts. Nobody else did. What does that tell you? Okay...onto the concert!