Riverbend is Irrelevant

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the machine

The machine was a pink floyd tribute band. So that line about riverbend booking its first tribute band on the coke stage is false.

Brad more than 11 years ago

I don't know why I'm defending Riverbend

First, it irks me to see misspellings and grammatical errors in a journalistic publication. It's "throes" not "throws" and "its website" not "it's website."

While I agree with your generalized loathing of Riverbend, I don't think it is fair to compare it to festivals of such a larger scale, like Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. It would make more sense to compare it to festivals hosted by similar cities, that are equally unknown outside of their localities, but perhaps draw better musicians and don't take over downtown for nine days, like LivFest in Wichita. They even include six complementary drinks with the price of a ticket. Now there's an idea.

And although you may be hip enough to have enjoyed the finest of Chattanooga's local band offerings as recently as last week, hundreds of people are not and having the local musicians play at Riverbend gives them more exposure to new fans. What could be wrong with that?

Kelly more than 11 years ago

You're right, but....

The problem here is that casual music fans keep showing up by the tens of thousands even when the main stage acts are a joke. There are Native American casinos that would be embarassed to book some of these acts, but Riverbenders either don't know or don't care that it's not Foreigner but "Foreigner." As long as those tiny people on that giant stage a 1/4 mile away play "Hot Blooded," everything is A-OK in their world.

If I were picking the acts I'd be tempted to see how low I could set the bar before people stop showing up (based on the pictures I've seen, FoF may have finally reached that level when they exchanged The Gap Band for "That Guy Who Was In The Gap Band's Other Band").

It used to be that the side stages made up for the lack of interesting Coke Stage content, but generally speaking that is not the case in 2012. You gotcher local cover bands and you gotcher regional bands that have played Rhythm & Brews a dozen times, and that's about it.

Noogerfooger more than 11 years ago

Downside

I think it is important to look at trends more often than current state. The best days of Riverbend are far behind Chattanooga. The festival continues to bring in the same types of acts without attracting new attendees. Add new, up-and-coming bands and more people will come.

Randy more than 11 years ago

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