Were the Caravans considered successful?

[EduardoEduardo]

Somewhat regretting not making it to the Chicago caravan last year.
Just wondering if this format will be back. I can see from the discussion I sifted through that there's nothing definitive known about 2012 but I figure some of you all know Stefan's dog groomer's cousin or Boyd's dentist's landscaper or someone who knows them and have maybe heard enough to form an impression.

Oddly I heard almost nothing about the Caravan at the time, and was surprised (and happy) to see from the concert vids that it seemed to be well-attended.

[Red&Black41]

I don't have numbers in front of me, but I would say they weren't as successful as full summer tours. Hopefully the caravans gave the band a chance to come up with some great music off the stage, as they had a lot of time off. I was at the NYC stop all for nights. The "second" night at RI was the busiest (and best). However, I can't see how the band, financially, did as well this year. In other words, it wasn't successful relative to past years. In my mind it was successful and fun, but only because geographically it was convenient for myself.

[jnovo22]

I guess it depends on your definition of successful. I went to AC all 3 nights. Did people show up? Sure. Did lots of people show up? yup. Was it less than they were expecting? you bet. at $200/ticket, subtract appearance fees for all bands (though most are run by RLM so I'm not sure what incentive they had to show up), renting of the land for 3 days, vendor costs, cleanup, etc, I wouldn't say it was a financial "success"..

But aside from some nit picky things (dirt..good god the dirt)... Everyone I came across had a good time, the sets were really well put together (IMHO), at $200/ticket, you had people who really wanted to be there, and not go just because, well its summer, and thats what they do (PNC Park comes to mind). AC had nothing but praise from all sides regarding the people/behaviour, traffic, income generated and all that. I thought parking was well thought out. I stayed about 2 miles inland in Absecon, so I drove in to the venue every day, and had no problems navigating out after the shows.

So as far as I'm and AC is concerned, I would call it a success. I can't speak for the other locations.

[spoot388]

from a fan perspective, i would say they were a success, especially AC. outside of the dirt and the need for more water stations, there really wasn't anything that i didn't like. i would love to do it again.

from a financial perspective, i dont think it was a failure, but it wasn't really a success either. i think the numbers of 70k at AC were the max possible attendance, not what was actually expected. and they can't really be compared to a regular summer tour because it was only 1/4 of the shows and a completely different format. i think putting the 4th in the southeast instead of NY would have helped the overall attendance. its still hard for a lot of people to do though. i was gone for 5 days to go to AC. not everybody can do that. i was also luck enough to live 3 hours away and be able to drive. other people, especially from the south, would have had to fly and spend A LOT more money. i think its a good format, but they did a poor job of giving people information about it and giving them time to prepare and plan to make the trip.

[dirtyjerz]

Originally Posted by spoot388

from a fan perspective, i would say they were a success, especially AC. outside of the dirt and the need for more water stations, there really wasn't anything that i didn't like. i would love to do it again.

AC was done flawlessly, everything was so seamless, awesome weekend for sure, would absolutely do it again.

[joshizzle3]

I'd be interested to see Governor's Island numbers. I remember hearing something like 7k people there, and of course most bands were cancelled. I can't imagine them making money there, with all of the work gone into setting up for just one lightly attended day.

[jas230314]

Randalls Night 1 only had 6K or so people show up. It was the smallest DMB show open to the public I've ever seen. It spoiled us all for the crowds that would come the next nights

[joshizzle3]

Originally Posted by jas230314

Randalls Night 1 only had 6K or so people show up. It was the smallest DMB show open to the public I've ever seen. It spoiled us all for the crowds that would come the next nights

Maybe that's what I was thinking of. But yeah, this show was really small. I was on the rail and I could see the end of the crowd behind me. An awesome show though.

[ExistenceNow]

Yea, no way GI was only 7k people.

With refunds and everything, I'm sure they still lost money on GI, but there were a shit ton of people there that day.

[Jsc6545]

don't have an actual number, but seemed like a shit ton at lakeside

[EduardoEduardo]

Too-late edit to initial post:
<Oddly I heard almost nothing about the Caravan at the time, and was surprised (and happy) to see from the concert vids that it seemed to be well-attended.>
Was referring specifically to Lakeside in terms of attendance. At some point I may try to dig out a thread or two and see how contentious the discussion about the location might have gotten when it was announced.

[wilsonjc]

According to Pollstar, it was pretty successful:

http://www.pollstarpro.com/charts/20...ricanTours.pdf

[Jsc6545]

Originally Posted by wilsonjc

According to Pollstar, it was pretty successful:

http://www.pollstarpro.com/charts/20...ricanTours.pdf

no kidding ... 30m from 13 shows...

[CrashTheStone41]

Given everything they had to do to get 2 of the locations in order, compete with Mother Nature, and the quality of artists and entertainment the fans experienced, I'd say they were complete successes.

[crashintonickdm]

N2 was in AC. you couldnt move.

[thehammer316]

I'm thinking they were a success. I love the festival format, though.

[Jsc6545]

I really didn't like the festival format. For dmb at least. Unfortunately, I cared more about having a decent spot for dmb than venturing away from the main stage to see other acts. If I didn't care as much about dmb, I would have loved the festival format

[bohazo]

Originally Posted by jas230314

Randalls Night 1 only had 6K or so people show up. It was the smallest DMB show open to the public I've ever seen. It spoiled us all for the crowds that would come the next nights

6 thousand? Wow, that is no one...

[beiler]

I do not have the numbers, but I would venture to guess that Lakeside was the most people that have been at a single-band's festival in the history of Chicago area festivals. Estimates are that every night had over 60,000 people, Saturday night approached 100,000 and the weekend as a whole easiliy surpassed $200,000 people (and VIP, which I shelled out about $825 for, was jam packed and got so crowded at points that I feared getting shut out (for fire hazard reasons) like I did for Dave & Tim's Saturday set).

I am from CHicago, and I know how much the mayor wants to develop that area, and I think it would be insane not to simply repeat Lakeside almost exactly as it was (minus some of the dust and mulch and plus a bit more grass).

I heard that Lakeside was significantly more profitable than Lollapallooza's 20th anniversary event the following month, but as Herman Cain would say, "I do not have the facts to back this up..."

Bottom Line: Chicago was such a huge success that I fear Alpine will not be an annual staple, but my hopes are that I get both this summer!!!

[gocubsgo3822]

I loved every single one...

Although Governors would have gotten annoying by the end of night three. In terms of overall experience.

[420th jimi]

Originally Posted by beiler

I do not have the numbers, but I would venture to guess that Lakeside was the most people that have been at a single-band's festival in the history of Chicago area festivals. Estimates are that every night had over 60,000 people, Saturday night approached 100,000 and the weekend as a whole easiliy surpassed $200,000 people (and VIP, which I shelled out about $825 for, was jam packed and got so crowded at points that I feared getting shut out (for fire hazard reasons) like I did for Dave & Tim's Saturday set).

I am from CHicago, and I know how much the mayor wants to develop that area, and I think it would be insane not to simply repeat Lakeside almost exactly as it was (minus some of the dust and mulch and plus a bit more grass).

I heard that Lakeside was significantly more profitable than Lollapallooza's 20th anniversary event the following month, but as Herman Cain would say, "I do not have the facts to back this up..."

Bottom Line: Chicago was such a huge success that I fear Alpine will not be an annual staple, but my hopes are that I get both this summer!!!

I believe your numbers for the Chicago Caravan to be rather high. More like 40k on Saturday night. There weren't close to 100k there...maybe for the whole weekend though. I remember reading they were expecting 100k for the weekend and got better numbers than they expected. So maybe 110k for the weekend?

[daveshookme]

Originally Posted by jas230314

Randalls Night 1 only had 6K or so people show up. It was the smallest DMB show open to the public I've ever seen. It spoiled us all for the crowds that would come the next nights

There were more than 6K there. I was working ticketing, I believe there were ~15K. I suppose many could have left before the DMB set resulting in a small DMB crowd, but I don't think that happened.

[s0628711]

I thought they executed flawlessly. I was honestly expecting a shit show but they were done really well. Love the fest format and ability to listen to new/different things. Makes the 200 ticket price even more justifiable.

[gocubsgo3822]

Originally Posted by daveshookme

There were more than 6K there. I was working ticketing, I believe there were ~15K. I suppose many could have left before the DMB set resulting in a small DMB crowd, but I don't think that happened.

How many were there day 2 then?

I would say no more than 8K night one. It was like a ghost town

[cpxc.]

Randalls N1 I would be shocked if there were more that 6,001 people there. When the lights went down and the band was about to come on stage you could walk up to the first few rows

I would say they were a success. AC was the most fun I ever had at a DMB show/event. I would love to do it again.

[daveshookme]

Originally Posted by gocubsgo3822

How many were there day 2 then?

I would say no more than 8K night one. It was like a ghost town

I think I heard ~17? But, this was 4 months ago too so my memory could be way off. I'll ask my friend who was also working and see what she remembers, her memory's always been better than mine. N1 might not have been that high, but I KNOW it was higher than 6K. That's just paltry.

[gocubsgo3822]

Originally Posted by daveshookme

I think I heard ~17? But, this was 4 months ago too so my memory could be way off. I'll ask my friend who was also working and see what she remembers, her memory's always been better than mine. N1 might not have been that high, but I KNOW it was higher than 6K. That's just paltry.

No way is it over 10.. Much closer to 6 IMO

[nieds05]

I know I was fairly close to the back of the crowd on N1 and it didn't seem bad at all, barely behind the VIP is when the crowd started getting very thin on N1.

[Rogue]

I'm a DMB fan, festival guy, and love to play poker so I loved the AC weekend. As far as how management thought they went I couldn't say but as a fan seeing DMB headline for 3 nights when they've gotten me to so many other weekends just to see them one night...well it was amazing. The music was great and I love some of the other acts that were there (Grace Potter, Bassnectar, Dawes, and some others).

[DMBzilla]

GI N1 was a normal attendance for a N1. According to security, Randall's N1 drew right around 9k, but the other two days were packed.

The Pollstar numbers don't lie -- DMB was 20th overall in 2011 with just 13 shows. I would say that qualifies as a success.