Who's going to be around for the IBMA fest this year? Either the ticketed events at Red Hat or the free street festival?

http://www.wideopenbluegrass.com for the schedule and lineups. I'm thinking about doing the free shows all day Friday and then getting a ticket for Red Hat for the Saturday closing shows.

9/17/2014 9:41:54 AM

Noam Pikelny is a god amongst men, and is on a level all to himself... even considering the honorable Bela Fleck. I saw him live a couple of times in Austin, and he is just unreal.



[Edited on September 17, 2014 at 9:48 AM. Reason : a]

9/17/2014 9:48:09 AM

We'll probably be hitting up the street festival.

9/17/2014 12:27:53 PM

I saw a bunch of the bands last weekend at the Outer Banks Bluegrass Festival. That said, I will probably still be going to the free show. I had a great time.

9/30/2014 7:04:34 AM

wanted to go to that, how was it? With FSU in town it just wasn't going to be an option for my bluegrass friends.

9/30/2014 8:24:01 AM

I had a really good time and it was a super laid back event. I have never gone to a festival that went on multiple days before, and I really have only gone to 1-2 bluegrass shows before. I was pleasantly surprised to find they had no camera policy (which has always pissed me off at other venues) and it was extremely friendly. Nobody acted like an asshole, people were all respectful, hell it was the first concert I have been to where I saw several women knitting/crocheting/cross-stitching during the show. They had quite a bit of good food and you could easily leave the park and walk across the bridge to downtown Manteo. We ate at Poor Richards. I even ran into an old classmate who owns a coffeeshop in downtown Manteo and had a trailer at the festival.

If you want to see any photos, I am going through them now. Only have about a dozen up so far, but here is the link:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152713690419547.1073741874.500029546&type=1&l=519c3785b7

9/30/2014 10:37:34 AM

I wish the Ramble headliners came on earlier than 1am. #thingsoldpeoplesay

9/30/2014 11:13:01 AM

i'm jealous of the ramble lineups. would be such a fun week just to blow off work and stay out late seeing great music.

9/30/2014 11:47:26 AM

Got tickets for Red Hat and the convention center

9/30/2014 7:17:57 PM

picked up an awesome Section 2 Row R reserved seat for Saturday's Red Hat shows. Only $55 too, compared to the 70-100 that people want on Stub Hub. Going to be an awesome closer with Skaggs and Hornsby.

10/1/2014 8:53:16 AM

Ricky was great Friday.

10/1/2014 10:05:03 AM

Bela Fleck sat in with Sierra Hull for a few songs tonight at the Lincoln, which was a pretty cool surprise

10/2/2014 1:52:02 AM

^Yea saw a photo posted on Sierra's FB page. Were you there? Lucky bastard.

10/2/2014 7:33:27 AM

oh i bet that was awesome. My buddy and his crew were there, but i haven't gotten his recap about the shows yet. My goal is to be up there Friday by 2:30 to see Frank Solivan & Dirty Kitchen.

10/2/2014 8:44:42 AM

What's the cheapest way to get into a Ramble show

10/2/2014 2:20:59 PM

you can pay covers at the door for the ramble shows. If you want to see the Del show tonight i'd just get there early.

my buddies missed the pass pickup window time and had to pay cover for the Tuesday night ramble. I think they said it was about $10 per place.

10/2/2014 4:06:01 PM

^^^,^^^^ - yeah, it was cool, but I kinda felt bad for her that everyone was (understandably) freaking out about Bela. after a while, some drunk dude kept yelling "Bela!" every ten seconds, which was a great addition to the music.

it's $10/venue, which is a bargain for the Lincoln tonight or last. since it's bluegrass, the time for set changes is usually pretty minimal too.

10/2/2014 4:17:30 PM

Anybody else watching the awards ceremony?

10/2/2014 8:10:59 PM

Watching at Memorial. Even weirder than last year...lights have been almost all the way up the whole time & there are several rows of empty seats

10/2/2014 10:20:41 PM

Just got back from Mipso. Love them so.

10/2/2014 10:55:20 PM

We like Mipso too. Going to see them tomorrow.

10/3/2014 6:11:00 AM

Mipso are great. Seeing them today and also in a couple weeks when they come to Charlotte with Steep Canyon Rangers.

10/3/2014 7:48:49 AM

One question for Wide Open Bluegrass. Should I bring chairs to post up at a stage? Not sure how much room they have available at the stages.

10/3/2014 8:17:04 AM

Saw some good stuff after the awards at the California Bluegrass suite last night, then caught the end of The Gibson Brothers (fine) and all of Hot Rize (awesome) at the Lincoln. Del still hadn't gone on when I left around 1:15.

^ There were aluminum bleachers at most of the stages last year IIRC, but I'm expecting the streets to be packed today (and even more so tomorrow) based on the weather alone.

^^ FYI Mipso's only other set, that I know of at least, is Saturday at 4.

10/3/2014 8:27:12 AM

Quote :

"One question for Wide Open Bluegrass. Should I bring chairs to post up at a stage? "

We, and a bunch of other people set up chairs in front of the main stage on Fayetteville St last year. Works out nicely because you protect your real estate and got a nice place to sit. I don't think there were many chairs at the other free stages, but with Kruger Brothers + CCL playing the main stage I didn't walk around too much. If you get there early though you can stake out some nice space. Got there @6 last year and was sitting right in front of the stage.

10/3/2014 8:40:45 AM

Quote :

"^^ FYI Mipso's only other set, that I know of at least, is Saturday at 4."

ah you're right. i didn't have my cheat sheet in front of me.



sounds like a decent TWW contingent this weekend. I'll be the guy in the "Hi, i'm EMCE" t-shirt. If you see me say hello

10/3/2014 8:46:15 AM

Once the kids get off the bus today my wife is coming to pick me up, so I'll be headed there around 3, I hope.

We posted chairs up at the OBX Bluegrass Festival and just left them, even overnight. Just was not sure what to expect from this event, as the name implies it is wide open. Also coming from Chapel Hill, what is the best parking location heading east into Raleigh?

Also since it has been brought up over the State Fair this week, is concealed carry allowed at Wide Open? No tickets being required, which is the usual sticking point means theoretically you could, right?

10/3/2014 9:45:03 AM

the ticket rule doesn't apply anymore, if you are just going to walk around i think concealed carry is fine but the various venues probably have signs prohibiting carry

10/3/2014 10:38:42 AM

I am just planning to hit the outdoor stages to see some of the bands, so I would probably be alright. I just thought about it after OBX because they had a couple of police officers at the lone gate and everybody was extremely relaxed, but I was never once searched or asked if I had anything on me. Usually get checked, especially if I am carrying my really big camera bag.

10/3/2014 11:36:51 AM

Any suggestions on parking? Heading out in about 30 minutes. Think I am going to park on City Center Deck. That one going to be jammed up or should be alright?

10/3/2014 2:36:35 PM

I usually park in the one on Salisbury for Fayetteville Street events

10/3/2014 2:45:46 PM

Parked by RedHat. Just saw Scythian and now waiting for Sierra at City Plaza.

10/3/2014 4:33:06 PM

Ran into Noam today at lunchtime at the Marriott lobby.

10/4/2014 10:38:01 PM

Ricky Skaggs was good, but I feel like Bruce was bringing him down.

10/4/2014 11:11:20 PM

no way, that set was pretty awesome. my buddies I was with have seen them play 3-4 sets together and said it was up there with the rest. In fact this was one of the lesser Bruce influenced sets they had seen.

what an awesome weekend though. I saw so many good sets and i'm so worn out. I've never been huge on Keller Williams, but his late show Saturday with the McCoury's at Lincoln was on fire. and his 30 minute set with them on Red Hat was at the top of its game too.

Balsam Range put on a great free set on Hargett St. Friday night. There were a few technical issues towards the end with the vocals dropping but overall it was great. That was probably the worst stage to see a show though. Big Boss was the main sponsor which pushed out all of the cheap beer vendors and you also had to fight with the Raleigh Times crowd that had zero interest and were just trying to get in the bar.

10/6/2014 7:52:39 AM

There were way too many people trying to crowd into the Hargett St stage when I was there, we left after about 5 minutes

10/6/2014 8:06:47 AM

yeah it was poorly set up.. They had a barrier funneling people in the middle through a checkpoint to make sure they were not bringing in any non-big boss beers in. It just created a needless bottle neck.

10/6/2014 8:24:12 AM

Saturday the Hargett Street stage was the worst. We tried to see Mipso at 4. The band had technical issues 30 seconds into their set when all audio died. After about 3 minutes, the tech found the issue and got it started back up. Then as was previously stated the place was way too crowded. Between people trying to enter and exit, people trying to lineup for The Pit & Big Boss (who were already out by 4) and people trying to get to the shops, restuarants and bars in the area, it was a fucking mess. We spent like 30 minutes standing their listening to the band without ever seeing them and then finally bailed.

Friday was a lot better, or at least the City Center Stage on Friday was a lot better.

[Edited on October 6, 2014 at 8:33 AM. Reason : ]

10/6/2014 8:32:25 AM

City Stage was fine...we got there too late Saturday to get anywhere close to "seeing" the Kruger Brothers so we just stood near Fire Wok and listened before heading back to Red Hat for the evening shows. But for everyone else it was pretty easy to get in close and have a good view. CCL played a fun set Friday night at City Plaza.

The cop directing traffic at Dawson and Cabarrus made fun of us for going back home and getting sweatshirts before Skaggs

10/6/2014 8:37:35 AM

[Edited on October 6, 2014 at 10:13 AM. Reason : ]

10/6/2014 10:12:43 AM

http://www.wideopenbluegrass.com/

8/21/2015 11:04:47 AM

still no street fest schedule.

8/21/2015 12:28:45 PM

Don't forget Live & Local Bluegrass on Hillsborough Street the week before!

8/21/2015 12:42:33 PM

Excited for this year. They just put up street fest schedule: http://www.wideopenbluegrass.com/music-schedule

8/28/2015 6:34:25 PM

[Edited on August 29, 2015 at 11:49 PM. Reason : -]

8/29/2015 11:49:13 PM

I saw the Kruger Brothers play a wedding on Salisbury Street once. Rippers.

8/29/2015 11:49:35 PM

cool story bro.

8/29/2015 11:59:08 PM

Then we all listened to HAIM a lot.

8/30/2015 2:39:01 AM

bttt...


free city plaza shows are a little weak this year.

9/28/2015 11:52:57 AM

I'm interested. I took off Friday, but might have to use that day to go settle some business with my realtor back east, or go Sunday instead. Either way not looking pretty for IBMA on both days with rain.

My coworkers band is playing Saturday. Additionally I really want to see Sierra's set as it should be stuff from her new album.

[Edited on September 29, 2015 at 8:32 AM. Reason : ]

9/29/2015 8:32:00 AM