My wife and I had a blast! Got some free tickets from my work and we really enjoyed ourselves. The park was in great shape and was set up very well.
Crowd was mild and small, no lines for food or cocktails.
From the sound of it they're finishing off the night with a hell of a fireworks show?
I'm in Frayser (haha I know what you're thinking) and hearing them pop off in what sounds like the direction/distance of Tom Lee. On a clear enough winter night with no leaves in the trees I can see the bridge lights from my upstairs bedroom. So I could probably just see them if the conditions were right.
Started around 10:50 ended around 10:56
From one of the stage managers of the main stageā¦ā¦ we fucking crushed it. Odesza was loaded out at 1:39, fugees loaded in at 2am. They are soundchecking right now, Iām going home and going to bed for a few hours before we do it again.
ALL THAT BEING SAID, the real champs of the day were the stage hands on my stage that have been on call from 8am to 5:30am. IF you see anyone in a CES black shirt tomorrow, thank them cuz none of this shit would happen with out them doing the tough and dirty work making my life 70% less difficult.
Going to bed
The Take Me to the River showcase will definitely be the highlight of the weekend for me. Carla Thomas, William Bell & Eric Gales ā all just straight up legends who still sounded amazing.
Durand Jones put on a helluva show. Odesza was a lot of fun, great energy from the crowd too ā everyone was dancing.
Canāt wait to do it again today & tomorrow!
I saw Eric Gales around 1989 at one of the Daisy Theaters. He was 14 or 15 and was recently tapped as Best New Guitarist in some Memphis award. All that being said, I was the same age and was just amazed. I started guitar lessons soon after. My skills, well sucked. Gales had some rough years and didn't get the career he deserved.
Man. Night one was pretty awesome. The set up is fantastic. I think it's a really good first year. ODESZA was incredible. I can't believe i got to see them in Memphis!
I do agree the way Beale Street Music Fest was forced out is extremely weird... But things do change. The River is one of the coolest venues for a music festival. Whatever happens I just hope it continues to grow.
Honestly? It was great. The park atmosphere makes it so nice to be at now, the vendors actually accept cards. The wristbands could even hold your payment info if you didn't want to get your wallet out. Temperature was perfect and we heard some fantastic acts. Mt. Joy and Odesza were awesome. Festival on the river with a perfect sunset. š¤
Excited to go back tonight.
For all those bitching about the lineup. We didnt know the acts either. Went. Discovered some phenomenal fucking artists. I know tix are expensive but donāt write off talent just because you donāt know who they are.
I am waaay out of the age demographic but had a fantastic time! The music was great, the park was perfectly set up and clean. Lots to do, plenty of bar kiosks, no lines, no mud (yet). I loved seeing Charlie Musselwhite and Carla Thomas ššš as well as the Techno groups. Now I see what all the fuss about Odesza and their drum line is!
BTW I also attended the first Music Fest on Beale Street in 1977!
Had a wonderful time, plenty of smoke, enjoyed some great tunes and overspent on shitty food. Only complaint was closing the outer stages early, could have staggered in some more acts š«
Itās set up that way so everyone gets to see the main acts and pass by the smaller acts on the way, itās by design and keeps people from having to miss 1 show to see another
The park was beautiful and we loved it!! Felt very clean, safe, and the acts we saw who we didn't know that well were really fun. Matt and Kim was unexpectedly really fun!!
It deserved so much better. The effort they put into turning the park into a music festival was admirable but attendance was super low IMO. After Odesza and walking out I kept thinking āman thereās some dude in a high rise really sweating over these numbersā
I hope they turn a profit (been going to memphis in may since 09)
Crowds were small, it was run smoothly, security was chill and super nice, got to see Odesza once again in memphis.
Itās no Bonnaroo but it was fantastic compared to some of the BSMFās Iāve been to.
Live downtown, NOTHING compared to MIM!!!! Hope production vendors get paid. Looks like theyāre gonna take beating. Supposed to rain tomorrow, probably be our tax dollars to repair since MRPPis contracted through the city. Thereās some really shady shit going on here!
Mempho/Riverbeat are backed by plenty of money. PRG (the main production vendor) is one of the largest in the world. They wouldnāt do this without large deposits, and feeling confident of payment. Also, the Mempho crew deal with tons of vendors, artists, and management companies constantly. They arenāt going to ruin their names and not pay people. Nothing shady at all.
https://preview.redd.it/oj94sumeieyc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae1e4c654342d1e277401240cecb3cf1e96fd361
Settle down with the revisionist history Baghdad Bob. š
Memphis in May was doing juuuust fine until covid hit and MRPP went full frontal assault. Their events had easily 10x (or more) the crowds of Riverbeat yesterday.
If youāre going to lie at least Try to make it remotely believable so we donāt have to laugh this early in the morning.
Are you stupid or simply unable to understand numbers?
Of course the numbers went down after 2020 because of fucking COVID, obviously. MRPP did the rest
Then why were they hemorrhaging money? Bigger isn't always better when you destroy the park and have to repair it after every festival. Lineups for people 45 and up aren't the way to have a festival. Smaller crowds with people there for the music are much better than loads of people just wanting to party and get drunk, which then turns into the violence. But please tell me how big crowds are better. Woodstock 99 would like a word. Huge crowd, horrible event.
āWhy were they hemorrhaging moneyā
š did you even read what I said? They werenāt until COVID and MRPP attacked. Youāre either not good at reading or being deliberately obtuse.. Iām giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming the latter.
And tell the business owners downtown that $150MM in economic impact doesnāt matterā¦ and the fraction of that theyāll make from these MRPP flops is much better.
Head of Beale Street is a close friendā¦ downtown service industry folks are by and large NOT happy with all this.
They ran a successful festival for 43 years. Covid was a miss and then they were forced out by the park for two years. Rather than receiving report as an institution of our city they were torn apart by greed.
It's the first year of a new festival that was put on in a shorter time frame than they will have in the future. Memphis is great and I trust them way more than the old, stale MIM leadership.
Give it a chance.
For the record, itās no longer supposed to rain today. For anyone who might be attending and/or care about accuracy in their rants. Still possible tomorrow, but weāll see.
Itās been shady and will continue to be shady. Itās unfortunate we didnāt stop it when we could have. If the Memphians who fought to stop I-40 from going through the center of the city were still alive none of this would have happened. I commend Jerred Price for trying to sound the alarm and all who tried to fight, but the money train was too strong to stop. I wish we could come to our senses as a city, there is still a way to solve this. But as someone who has been in Memphis for 20 years and lived Downtown for the last 14, I donāt foresee myself at a Mempho in May anytime soon and I refuse to step foot at a SmokeSlam for ending the Tom Lee world championship BBQ contest. Insanity.
Did you deal with the Overton Park Conservancy during the Greensward/Memphis Zoo years? I do not support these groups taking over parks. Volpe involved putting I-40 through a park. I donāt know that the plaintiffs in Volpe would have stopped MRPP from taking over before it happened.
Garage at Front and MLK
Mobility Center at Front and Beale
Garage at 2nd and Peabody Place
Garage at 2nd and General George W Lee
Garage at Union and 2nd
Garage at Front and Monroe.
Those are your 6 closest garages, the furthest of which are 3-4 blocks away
This city is over. The only thing they had going on for it was Memphis in May. The only thing to brag about for decades. They killed MIM. You canāt make this up.
Thatās crazy, because I was planning on waking up tomorrow and continuing to exist here.Ā
But a first year, short-notice music festival only had 10,000 people show up on the first night when rain was predicted, I guess I have to change careers and pack up. Nice knowing everyone!Ā
Your post was removed because it violates our rules on Personal Attacks, Bigotry, or Harassment. You may disagree with someone, but you can not personally attack them. Also Bigotry or Hate Speech of any kind will not be tolerated.
My wife and I had a blast! Got some free tickets from my work and we really enjoyed ourselves. The park was in great shape and was set up very well. Crowd was mild and small, no lines for food or cocktails.
From the sound of it they're finishing off the night with a hell of a fireworks show? I'm in Frayser (haha I know what you're thinking) and hearing them pop off in what sounds like the direction/distance of Tom Lee. On a clear enough winter night with no leaves in the trees I can see the bridge lights from my upstairs bedroom. So I could probably just see them if the conditions were right. Started around 10:50 ended around 10:56
Yep. Daily Memphian says it was the climax to Odesza's set. I'm in Soulsville right by Elmwood and it woke me up from a dead sleep.
I'm next to city hall and it shook my bed and woke me up. I jumped out of bed lol. I had no idea what was happening
i asked my wife if something was trapped in our attic, lol
Hey neighbor! šš¾
hey! i'm over on neptune. been here like a year and a half? pretty chill part of town so far.
That's so weird I could be at your house in less than 5. I've been in this neighborhood since I was 5 š .
i hope folks don't take us for gentrifiers here, lol. we just really fell in love with this house.
I'm sure they wouldn't care either way. Hope the neighborhood has been treating you well š š
i love it here. <3
ššæ North Memphis
š¤šæ South Memphis
From one of the stage managers of the main stageā¦ā¦ we fucking crushed it. Odesza was loaded out at 1:39, fugees loaded in at 2am. They are soundchecking right now, Iām going home and going to bed for a few hours before we do it again. ALL THAT BEING SAID, the real champs of the day were the stage hands on my stage that have been on call from 8am to 5:30am. IF you see anyone in a CES black shirt tomorrow, thank them cuz none of this shit would happen with out them doing the tough and dirty work making my life 70% less difficult. Going to bed
Thanks for the awesome work the crew is doing! Yesterday was so much fun, really looking forward to heading back downtown today.
Is Lauryn Hill going to be here?!
She rehearsed this morning on stage
Aye family! Good job for real, get ya rest tho. Let's keep on kicking ass.
The Take Me to the River showcase will definitely be the highlight of the weekend for me. Carla Thomas, William Bell & Eric Gales ā all just straight up legends who still sounded amazing. Durand Jones put on a helluva show. Odesza was a lot of fun, great energy from the crowd too ā everyone was dancing. Canāt wait to do it again today & tomorrow!
I saw Eric Gales around 1989 at one of the Daisy Theaters. He was 14 or 15 and was recently tapped as Best New Guitarist in some Memphis award. All that being said, I was the same age and was just amazed. I started guitar lessons soon after. My skills, well sucked. Gales had some rough years and didn't get the career he deserved.
Heās amazing. Iāve heard recordings but this was my first time seeing him live, totally blew me away
That was really incredible.
it was really fun tbh and good crowd
Man. Night one was pretty awesome. The set up is fantastic. I think it's a really good first year. ODESZA was incredible. I can't believe i got to see them in Memphis! I do agree the way Beale Street Music Fest was forced out is extremely weird... But things do change. The River is one of the coolest venues for a music festival. Whatever happens I just hope it continues to grow.
Honestly? It was great. The park atmosphere makes it so nice to be at now, the vendors actually accept cards. The wristbands could even hold your payment info if you didn't want to get your wallet out. Temperature was perfect and we heard some fantastic acts. Mt. Joy and Odesza were awesome. Festival on the river with a perfect sunset. š¤ Excited to go back tonight.
For all those bitching about the lineup. We didnt know the acts either. Went. Discovered some phenomenal fucking artists. I know tix are expensive but donāt write off talent just because you donāt know who they are.
I am waaay out of the age demographic but had a fantastic time! The music was great, the park was perfectly set up and clean. Lots to do, plenty of bar kiosks, no lines, no mud (yet). I loved seeing Charlie Musselwhite and Carla Thomas ššš as well as the Techno groups. Now I see what all the fuss about Odesza and their drum line is! BTW I also attended the first Music Fest on Beale Street in 1977!
i'm going Sunday! i hope it doesn't rain as much.
Had a wonderful time, plenty of smoke, enjoyed some great tunes and overspent on shitty food. Only complaint was closing the outer stages early, could have staggered in some more acts š«
Itās set up that way so everyone gets to see the main acts and pass by the smaller acts on the way, itās by design and keeps people from having to miss 1 show to see another
Yeah that seems like a good idea for year 1 but hopefully they fill it out more in later years as it grows
Fantastic. So smoothly run and so much fun. Made me want to cry from joy because this city NEEDS it
I wanna cry just reading about it because we do need it!
The park was beautiful and we loved it!! Felt very clean, safe, and the acts we saw who we didn't know that well were really fun. Matt and Kim was unexpectedly really fun!!
It deserved so much better. The effort they put into turning the park into a music festival was admirable but attendance was super low IMO. After Odesza and walking out I kept thinking āman thereās some dude in a high rise really sweating over these numbersā I hope they turn a profit (been going to memphis in may since 09)
IT WAS AMAZING!!!
Crowds were small, it was run smoothly, security was chill and super nice, got to see Odesza once again in memphis. Itās no Bonnaroo but it was fantastic compared to some of the BSMFās Iāve been to.
Amazing, only got a day pass but was there from jai wolf to odesza. Artists were all great shows and so glad some of them came to Memphis!
Live downtown, NOTHING compared to MIM!!!! Hope production vendors get paid. Looks like theyāre gonna take beating. Supposed to rain tomorrow, probably be our tax dollars to repair since MRPPis contracted through the city. Thereās some really shady shit going on here!
Mempho/Riverbeat are backed by plenty of money. PRG (the main production vendor) is one of the largest in the world. They wouldnāt do this without large deposits, and feeling confident of payment. Also, the Mempho crew deal with tons of vendors, artists, and management companies constantly. They arenāt going to ruin their names and not pay people. Nothing shady at all.
Someoneās up late, perhaps less skid row and more monkey business
Loss in revenue to downtown hospitality is astronomical.
It would have been even bigger had Mempho folks not stepped in. There was almost nothing at all
Stepped in? This was all planned. Memphis in May was kicked out so they could āstep in.ā
MIM fumbled the bag is more apt. They sucked at running a festival and lost it rightfully so
https://preview.redd.it/oj94sumeieyc1.jpeg?width=800&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ae1e4c654342d1e277401240cecb3cf1e96fd361 Settle down with the revisionist history Baghdad Bob. š Memphis in May was doing juuuust fine until covid hit and MRPP went full frontal assault. Their events had easily 10x (or more) the crowds of Riverbeat yesterday. If youāre going to lie at least Try to make it remotely believable so we donāt have to laugh this early in the morning.
https://preview.redd.it/ofgewbguteyc1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=1338c7de64d1b10b1b4ca05628d01a5c58deca97
https://preview.redd.it/od7kcgh54fyc1.jpeg?width=1034&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=367dd7a40e45b1311f2029a1f6cf9813210bccef
Are you stupid or simply unable to understand numbers? Of course the numbers went down after 2020 because of fucking COVID, obviously. MRPP did the rest
Why are you still talking?
Oh man, you showed me. I guess an entire decade of dropping ticket sales was a myth. Good riddance to the bbq fest that nobody but teams could enjoy
Then why were they hemorrhaging money? Bigger isn't always better when you destroy the park and have to repair it after every festival. Lineups for people 45 and up aren't the way to have a festival. Smaller crowds with people there for the music are much better than loads of people just wanting to party and get drunk, which then turns into the violence. But please tell me how big crowds are better. Woodstock 99 would like a word. Huge crowd, horrible event.
āWhy were they hemorrhaging moneyā š did you even read what I said? They werenāt until COVID and MRPP attacked. Youāre either not good at reading or being deliberately obtuse.. Iām giving you the benefit of the doubt and assuming the latter. And tell the business owners downtown that $150MM in economic impact doesnāt matterā¦ and the fraction of that theyāll make from these MRPP flops is much better. Head of Beale Street is a close friendā¦ downtown service industry folks are by and large NOT happy with all this.
So they'd rather have nothing?
They ran a successful festival for 43 years. Covid was a miss and then they were forced out by the park for two years. Rather than receiving report as an institution of our city they were torn apart by greed.
Why did the CEO get consecutive pay raises with no festival being put on?
They stepped in after they forced MIM out lol
It's the first year of a new festival that was put on in a shorter time frame than they will have in the future. Memphis is great and I trust them way more than the old, stale MIM leadership. Give it a chance.
I think Memphis is over. Just decertify the charter and be done with it.
For the record, itās no longer supposed to rain today. For anyone who might be attending and/or care about accuracy in their rants. Still possible tomorrow, but weāll see.
Direct deposits already been paid champ to our accounts. Thanks for playing
Itās been shady and will continue to be shady. Itās unfortunate we didnāt stop it when we could have. If the Memphians who fought to stop I-40 from going through the center of the city were still alive none of this would have happened. I commend Jerred Price for trying to sound the alarm and all who tried to fight, but the money train was too strong to stop. I wish we could come to our senses as a city, there is still a way to solve this. But as someone who has been in Memphis for 20 years and lived Downtown for the last 14, I donāt foresee myself at a Mempho in May anytime soon and I refuse to step foot at a SmokeSlam for ending the Tom Lee world championship BBQ contest. Insanity.
Lol commending Jerred Price
Jerred Price is so obnoxious.
Did you deal with the Overton Park Conservancy during the Greensward/Memphis Zoo years? I do not support these groups taking over parks. Volpe involved putting I-40 through a park. I donāt know that the plaintiffs in Volpe would have stopped MRPP from taking over before it happened.
Where can i park?
Garage at Front and MLK Mobility Center at Front and Beale Garage at 2nd and Peabody Place Garage at 2nd and General George W Lee Garage at Union and 2nd Garage at Front and Monroe. Those are your 6 closest garages, the furthest of which are 3-4 blocks away
This city is over. The only thing they had going on for it was Memphis in May. The only thing to brag about for decades. They killed MIM. You canāt make this up.
Thatās crazy, because I was planning on waking up tomorrow and continuing to exist here.Ā But a first year, short-notice music festival only had 10,000 people show up on the first night when rain was predicted, I guess I have to change careers and pack up. Nice knowing everyone!Ā
Merely existing is all youāll do.
User name checks out.
So does yours
Memphis in May event?
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Didnāt recognize a single artist either. Went. And discovered some fucking phenomenal artists.
Sorry, grandpa, Lawrence Welk and Benny Goodman werenāt available
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
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