Sep 3 - 4, 2022 (2 years ago) Oak Hollow Festival Park High Point, North Carolina, United States
One day general admission $75 - need to bring your own chair. One day VIP $170 includes tax and ticketing fees. VIP provides separate parking near venue (while spaces available), one meal and two drinks per day - special seating in front of stage. Special VIP area and restrooms. General Admission parking $15.
Bebop, Free Jazz, Hard Bop, Jazz, Vocal Jazz, Jazz Saxophone, Contemporary Post-Bop, Spiritual Jazz, and Jazz Quartet.
Uploaded by Steve E
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The Music - Amazing, The Venue - needs major re-thinking on how this event should be organized and presented to the concert-goers.
Saturday we went General Admission- $75 minimum to get in. The only parking was the overflow since we arrived as late as we did. There are three shuttles to take you near the main entrance as there is no safe way to walk over to the entrance from the overflow area. Definitely oversold on this day - Patti Labelle was the top act. It was quite a moment when her act began.
Being near the large satellite tv screen provided for the general admission area was the best view of what you were hearing since the stage was so far away. A big fail was restrooms - there were simply not enough of them. Nothing like spending $75 to stand around in endless lines waiting for a chance to use the restroom. There was also no real signage or help on getting a return shuttle - it was a labor to get to the right spot to return after the show - more and more waiting. Again - the music was great.
Sunday went VIP (total $170 plus tax and endless fees). There is an office park next to the venue used for VIP parking. Problem is - perhaps not that shocking - more VIP tickets are sold than there are spaces! If you get there late (we were there around 3 and the VIP main parking was nearly gone) - there is an awkward adjacent lot that can be used or you can go to general admission for free not being charged the regular $15 fee.
The advantage of the main VIP parking is that it leads to a “back door” into the venue. That was a great perk - but it is all lost on you if there are no primary spaces available and you are not parking nearby.
VIPers enter into a sectioned off area and are validated for the seats. (Super VIP just gets you closer - the first 7 rows and a few minor perks). The seating here consists of actual chairs. Our seats were in a perfect place for viewing the stage.
There are of course fewer people in VIP and whoever worked out the restrooms had two portable units - one with 5 spots per gender the other just a single. The bonus here was NO WAITING. Plus were in the VIP area so it was easy to pop over from the seat and back.
VIPers also get a meal ticket and 2 drinks per day. One of the irritating surprises on both days was that the drink venues do not take cash or credit cards. You have to go to another tent and pay for what you want - your receipt becomes your order. Another line! Then back to the drink line…
One unfortunate VIP surprise was that while you were given a free meal - there was no meal service within the VIP area. Apparently this was not always the case in prior years. Your meal ticket is a $15 voucher good at any food truck. So wait - I have to stand in ANOTHER LINE? Well, it is a blues concert after all and I was singing the too many lines blues.
This event like many - was billed to go on rain or shine. And while there was the scorching Sunday afternoon sun - a little too much shine - there were also occasional welcome clouds.
But later there was a bit of rain. We had an umbrella as did many. We later saw people with plastic ponchos that were handed out at some location that was not advertised to the rest of us - but the organizers ran out of them. What? And this is the 11th year this has been done? Very poor planning - especially in the $170 + VIP section - that was not planned well at all - not feeling very VIP at that point.
And oh yes..let’s not forget the photographers. So many of them buzzing around with multiple cameras hanging on them apparently trying to get shots of the acts. Don’t these folks know you can get very credible telephoto lenses where from a location designated not to continually hover around and distract the VIPers - these folks could take all the pictures they want? Somebody like to work on that?
Despite the rain that cleared out some of the audience - Chris Botti was (and always is) a class act - showcasing not only his own formidable talents but also those of the amazing musicians that were with him. It was a mini-show within the greater show. A real treat. Larry McCray was and is - amazing - but the hosts really did a poor job introducing him - he has such an amazing background and never mentioned the album he did with Joe Bonamassa - it’s really not that difficult to get a bio together - maybe they can work on a higher level of artist intros all around. Kirk Whalum and Keiko Matsui were an amazingly dynamic combo…they were really powerful and the crowd unleashed the some of their most dramatic applause of the day when their act concluded.
After the incredible Sunday program completed we were heading out with the thought of perhaps one more bathroom trip - forget that - the doors were securely locked. Organizers - you need to really think out how this concert is organized from the concert-goers perspective. You have a lot of work to do - and some of the solutions are not that difficult - better signage, web site with actual venue information and oh yes - plenty of more general admission restrooms please!
Hard to know if we’ll attend next year…they almost need a larger more thought out venue as well as equipping the audience with all the information they need to really enjoy and get their monies worth from this unique event.
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