Waiting for Godot
September 2nd, 2008 at 09:15am Chuck Sweeny
This will get me in trouble, but On the Waterfront is getting very stale. It’s too big, too spread out, too expensive, and the bands for the most part are people you can hear around the Rock River Valley in more intimate and less expensive venues.
The festival should be re-purposed. And, as I’ve advocated for years, Rockford should take a cue from Milwaukee and build a festival grounds for future Waterfronts. Permanent stages, concessions and restroom buildings are now a hallmark of Summerfest. The perfect place for this is the old railroad yard south of downtown, largely a ghost town of inactivity and falling down buildings.
Of course, it would require heavy lifting from a mayoral administration that believes in downtown, to transform this piece of nothing into a beautiful fairgrounds and permanent home for OTW and other festivals.
I’m waiting for one of those administrations to show up. Any day now, Godot, eh?
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2 Comments Add your own
1. the dude abides | September 2nd, 2008 at 2:28 pm
I’m with you Chuckles. A permanent, public concert grounds-type area could be used for myriad purposes — “movie in the park” events, farmer’s markets, etc etc.
And as far as OTW music, which is supposed to be the central focus of the event; the bands are either has-beens, or have-not-yet beens. For the last 5 years, it’s increasingly seeming like the OTW staff is avoiding anything that’s been popular within… well, the past 5 years.
Being that hip-hop and metal are the highest rated Rockford radio formats, doesn’t it seem logical to have some of those acts perform? It seems that OTW always settles for the “safe bets” — country and/or old 70s rock (usually missing at least one of the major band members) — instead of trying to attract a younger concert-going audience.
OTW followed Fonzie over the shark many years ago.
2. the dude abides | September 2nd, 2008 at 3:15 pm
btw:
This is a much better review than your entertainment staff provided.
At least you took the time to use complete sentences and actually provided some criticism, instead of the usual praise atop praise.
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