| rev:text
| - Full disclosure: I was angry at this festival before it even started. I was one of the unfortunate idiots who purchased full price weekend tickets during the special presale. I fell for the hype to the tune of $1,268.00. I firmly believe the concert planners purposely misled people by hinting at Bruce Springsteen, Beyonce and the Rolling Stones to get suckers like me to pre-purchase full price tickets. They promised no single day tickets would ever be sold (lie). They promised no discounts (another lie). They also promised six huge stages, 3 minor stages and a roulette shaped ferris wheel (all lies). So you can see why I was pretty upset before setting foot inside.
I purchased general admission wristbands for both rock and pop weekends. I ended up donating the pop weekend wristbands to a charity silent auction once I saw the lineup. I have to say that I am GLAD I did NOT purchase VIP because the VIP area was FAR AWAY from all the stages! VIP folks pretty much had to watch the show on the screens if they didn't want to leave the VIP area. I would've been more angry to be so far back.
While I was SUPER negative going into the festival, I do have to eat a few of my words. I'll give credit where credit is due. This was an extremely well run festival. I'll break down the good and bad here.
THE GOOD:
1. Plenty of Restroom Stalls.
I didn't have to wait ONCE for a restroom. That is unheard of at any major event.
2. Impeccable Crowd Control.
Maybe they were planning for a crowd five times the size, but the crowd control was truly amazing. Lines were minimal and the City of Rock never felt overly crowded. Security lines moved quickly. I admit that I was impressed. During the main shows, it was easy to get down front and still have plenty of room around to dance and move (we were super close for Metallica but had at least a few feet of space around us, we weren't packed in like sardines).
3. That Fake Lawn!
It was so nice to sit on and stand on. Looks great and was super fun.
4. Incredible Sound and Video.
Wow, the sound system here was first rate! I've never heard such CRYSTAL CLEAR vocals and guitar nuances, it was crazy for a rock concert. I am still amazed at the clarity of the sound. Unbelievable! Also the video screens broadcasting the live action in glorious HD. Perfect!
5. The Stages.
Yep, the lighting and design of the stages was fantastic. The best lighting I've ever seen at any concert in my entire life. The cool mini fireworks show before the main headliner every night was a fun spectacle.
6. Local Businesses as Food Vendors.
It was awesome to see local Vegas businesses (Nothing Bundt Cakes, Rolling Smoke BBQ and more) as the food vendors on site. Nice touch!
7. Metallica
Good lord, Metallica single handedly saved the entire festival for me. Their 2 hours plus set with double encore was easily one of the top 5 concert experiences of my entire life.
THE BAD:
1. Clean-Up Crews
The restrooms didn't have lines but they were out of toilet paper and paper towels and were pretty dirty. The trash cans outside were overflowing (see my photo). The fake lawn was covered in empty beer cans and plastic bottles. This is too nice of a venue to have it totally trashed like it was. They need to hire a professional Disneyland-like clean-up crew to keep things tidy.
2. The Line-Up
"Rock" weekend was absolutely pathetic. I'm sorry, but when does No Doubt or Foster the People qualify as "rock" music? The organizers should be ashamed! I will NEVER make the mistake of buying presale tickets for this event EVER again. Take note: WAIT UNTIL THE LINEUP IS ANNOUNCED before you buy, and wait until the last minute because people were literally giving away tickets on Craigslist starting the week before the concert.
3. No Barrier Fences
It irritated me quite a bit that people just walking by on the Strip could easily see right inside the festival grounds and pretty much listen to the bands AND SEE THE LIVE BROADCAST VIDEO just like we were all watching inside. I wish they'd put up some privacy fences because quite frankly, next year I probably would just go down and stand outside the venue and watch the same show for free.
4. Overpriced Concessions and a Cashless Wristband System
I'm proud to say that I was so angry about being ripped off on the presale tickets that we spent ZERO DOLLARS inside the festival. Organizers were quoted as saying that they hoped to "make up the lost money by overcharging" for concessions.
5. Awful Internet Coverage
There were signs encouraging attendees to Tweet & use social media but the internet coverage was so bad that I finally gave up Tweeting! Too bad because the crowd would've advertised for the festival, especially when we were all worked up from Metallica! EPIC FAIL on internet coverage.
Yelp limits the length of my review, but I've hit on the highlights here. I'd do Rock in Rio again for sure, but only for discounted tickets.
|
![[RDF Data]](/fct/images/sw-rdf-blue.png)
![[cxml]](/fct/images/cxml_doc.png)
![[csv]](/fct/images/csv_doc.png)
![[text]](/fct/images/ntriples_doc.png)
![[turtle]](/fct/images/n3turtle_doc.png)
![[ld+json]](/fct/images/jsonld_doc.png)
![[rdf+json]](/fct/images/json_doc.png)
![[rdf+xml]](/fct/images/xml_doc.png)
![[atom+xml]](/fct/images/atom_doc.png)
![[html]](/fct/images/html_doc.png)