Casey Frey Virginia Beach Concert reviews
Honestly Won't Be Back
THE GOOD: small crowd, good selection of beer & food, stages right next to each other, super-friendly staff, nice vendors, easy entry.
THE BAD:
The ferry schedules are inefficient given the timing of the festival each day and the number of people traveling to/from the mainland. Due to parking restrictions on the mainland, we had to leave our accommodations in Falmouth 2 hours and 15 minutes before we wanted to be inside the grounds. This was nuts! Each night after, it took us 2 hours and 45 minutes to get back. Our place was only a 15-min drive from the Woods Hole ferry. This festival is complicated unless you have the $$$$$$ to throw down for digs on the island. $450 for a 3-day ticket given the number of bands compared to other festivals is quite steep.
The audience was the worst I've experienced ever. I felt terrible for the musicians. So many people being so disrespectful (primarily 20-something douchey males yelling disrespectful things at the bands, singing made up lyrics loudly to be obnoxious, and talking intentionally loud when an artist decided to play a slower song)...and 50-something Trumpers needing to make their unpopular voices heard if a band mentioned raising money for a cause like voter registration. Thank you again, Jason Isbell and band for your efforts - we will see you again at a better experience! My festival days started in 2004.
The sound crew did not fix the sound for the Avett Brothers once realized. People in the audience were yelling for the mics of Scott, Joe, and Elizabeth to be turned up, and they never were. This definitely put a little damper on the show. Lighthouse stage sound was bad. How does that happen? We noticed the same off and on for bands playing that stage Friday and Sunday.
Martha's Vineyard outside the festival has mediocre food, insane prices, excessive wait times, and ferries do not run often enough for "high season." Why do people even pay for this?
So many lessons learned, but the biggest was that we will not be adding this one to our festival circuit again in the future.