Blue Ridge Rockfest Take A-ways and Learning Experiences

Blue Ridge Rockfest Ended Suddenly And Sadly For 2023, But Not Without Some Positive Experiences.

I  was excited to be back to doing a festival.  I’ve been sticking to single tour shows for the last couple of years. It’s hard to properly cover these types of grueling schedules. Festivals are hard work. For crew, for media, for bands, and yes even fans. Much of the work is done years in advance to coordinate everything needed to pull off these shows. So, when cancellations happened everyone was heartbroken.

It wasn’t’t even supposed to rain on Thursday, September 7th. In fact record heat drove many fans to the brink of exhaustion promoting many to have to inundate the Medical Tent or be carried out by the mobile medical golf carts.  I took multiple breaks and I wasn’t standing up front under the blazing sun.  So the relief of an unexpected light shower that came up was palpable. 

Cheers came from everywhere as the cooling rain started. Checking the weather, I noted it said rain for about ten minutes.  No one had any idea what was coming until it was upon us.  As soon as the lightning began, the evacuation was ordered. Campers were ordered to their campsite and advised find shelter, daily drivers were ordered to their cars. Problem was, that shuttle bus service which has been decent from parking to the venue and back as fans trickled in and out at their leisure, was suddenly and unexpectedly inundated with everyone clearing the venue at once. Walking to my car in the media parking, the hail began to pelt us.  Campsites were destroyed, and shuttle times were incredibly long.  According to promoters the difficulty of the logistics of reopening for the day, which would have been at 9:45 PM for the remaining bands were cancelled.

Friday, which had been predicted to be slightly cooler but also riddled with inclement weather, started off strong. Bands saw the growing and reinvigorated crowds meander about and pack the performances.  Vendors were busy, but there were enough of them to keep many of the lines reasonable. Once the afternoon heat hit, the convection current started creating another round of potentially dangerous storms. 

Front gates were closed in order to keep patrons from filing in during the time of the threat.  Gates were slow reopening, and, thankfully the entire line up was allowed to play through.  Sleep Token, Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm, Motionless In White kept building the energy of the day.  Finally, Friday’s headliner, Slipknot, tied it all together with an incredible and much anticipated performance.

I was looking forward to keeping a later schedule for Saturday night to see the Club Experience and a performance by Insane Clown Posse. I stayed in bed a little later planning to get to the venue around 4 PM. Before I headed out, we received word the venue would not be opening and additional information In regards to Sunday would be available by 5 PM. It has rained much of the morning where I was staying and additional rain was expected for much of Sunday.  At approximately 5:35 PM we were informed via the media contacts and the general information sites that Sunday was indeed cancelled.

One bright spot reported was an impromptu acoustic show by Oliver Anthony, Papa Roach and Shinedown for campers who managed to hang on until Saturday evening. Rumors, stories, and anecdotal evidence in regards to what else may have led to the cancellation remain circulating as fans are continuing to wait for more concrete evidence. As of this writing the current statement from Blue Ridge Rockfest is pictured below.

We will continue to update as information is received.

Update 09/23/2023