All photos by Craig Billow
ATLANTIC CITY — I was wrong.
Anyone who knows me understands I will offer a spirited and passionate argument to prove myself right. But they also know I’m willing to admit when I’m wrong.
And boy, was I wrong about last weekend’s Dave Matthews Band Caravan.
Dead wrong.
When the three-day Bader Field music festival was announced in March, my gut reaction was “right church, wrong pew.”
There wasn’t a shred of doubt the event would be huge. The DMB Caravan was never the issue. It was the location that concerned me.
At 143 acres, Bader Field — the dormant municipal airport that closed five years ago — was certainly big enough to accommodate the three stages and all the ancillary and entrepreneurial activities that surround such an event.
But access to Bader Field is limited primarily to the two-lane Black Horse Pike (U.S. 40/Rt. 322).
That’s where I figured the problems would lie, along with parking for the throngs that would attend.
Spread something like this out along the beach? No problem. Do it at Bader Field? There isn’t enough aspirin, Xanax or patience. Or so I thought.
I wasn’t alone on this island of doubt. Some of my media colleagues who have covered the town for years agreed the DMB Caravan would overwhelm the highway infrastructure, especially when concert organizers predicted 75,000 people a day would jam the field.
We made dark jokes about traffic backing up for miles, people abandoning their cars along the Atlantic City Expressway like a Minnesota blizzard and city streets hopelessly paralyzed by gridlock.
From that nightmarish situation, we extrapolated the catastrophic public relations hit Atlantic City would take when news helicopters hovering over Bader Field, their cameras pulled to wide shots, broadcast live shots of traffic Armageddon to millions of viewers who could be potential visitors.
But it never happened. There were aerial views, all right, and they showed tens of thousands of people at Bader Field having the times of their lives. With the exception of some brief tie-ups at the Albany Avenue monument — which jams up on a Tuesday night in January — there was no traffic purgatory.
Now in fairness to my critical colleagues and me, our predictions were based on their predictions. A week before the caravan, organizers halved their attendance estimates. Yet we remained skeptical.
Our fears proved unfounded. Based on the average 25,000 who showed up each day, Atlantic City showed it could handle an event of this magnitude, and possibly bigger, with minimal disruptions and inconveniences to residents and visitors.
Had the original estimates been realized, though, that could have been a game changer. I’m still convinced a crowd double the size would have been a massive problem. It would have also helped if the traffic and parking plan had been announced earlier than just a week before the event, but that’s a discussion for another time.
"[Atlantic City's] location was really central. You’ve got good facilities, it’s not, you know, like 39 miles on some two-lane country road — that kind of vibe, you know, so it’s just the fact that it’s practical, there’s a lot of facilities and since we’re not doing like a camping thing we thought it would be good to be close to infrastructure so the fans do have like the backbone of a place like Atlantic City at their disposal."
After the city’s July 4th weekend celebration, including a fireworks display at the 9th St. Beach on Monday, the city settles into its summer routine.
The food varies from Cajun po’ boys and ice cream to American-Thai and authentic Atlantic City grub. Many of the items for sale include recycled, organic and fair-trade products.
The city has committed to a one-year deal with Starr Hill Presents to put on this festival in June at Bader Field, the city's old municipal airport (and the first one in the world). However, said Mayor Langford, "We've signed a one-year contract with the hope of a long-term relationship." The mayor added that he thinks this is a great use of Bader Field, a large stretch of city-owned land that has been on the market since it closed a few years ago.
Thousands of people — from all over the region and country, and some from abroad — trickled into Bader Field throughout the day on Friday, from when doors opened at 1pm till close to 9pm.
Atlantic City Weekly will be bringing you live photos, blogs and more from the DMBC festival this weekend at Bader Field in Atlantic City.
Back in 1969, a decade after the launch of the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island (and nearly 15 years after the Newport Jazz Festival was established in 1964) and just a couple weeks before Woodstock took place in upstate New York (Aug. 15-18), Atlantic City had its own big rock and pop festival. Held Aug. 1-3, 1969, at the Atlantic City Race Course, the Atlantic City Pop Festival featured ...
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1. Stacey said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 12:44PM
“I too was nervous about the logistics of the festival this weekend. How would people get to and from the venue? Where would we park? Where would we stay? Since this was the first event at Bader Field and possibly the first music festival in Atlantic City during my lifetime, the odds seemed high that the city would be unprepared to handle all the crazy curve balls that come along when tens of thousands of people descend for one weekend. However, I too was pleasantly surprised about how smoothly the event was run. The Jitneys were running constantly, moving people to and from Albany Ave. Cabs were even available. The cops successfully directed tens of thousands of people into the venue, then got them right back out again. It's Monday morning and my feet ache from walking and I'm tired from lack of sleep and I probably still have some dirt in my hair, but it was an absolute pleasure to be in Atlantic City this weekend. Oh, and the music phenomenal, too.”
2. Happy Camper said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 01:14PM
“Dave, completely agree with your instincts. Obviously, a lot of people did as well, which is why 20-25K people attended on Sat-Sun, as opposed to the original 75K estimates. If 75K people showed up for this, your (and my) vision of a traffic meltdown would have proved correct. In addition, if it rained, BHP would have been shut down @ West End Ave! In the end, props to the mayor and the city for a job well done, along with the weather gods. One other thing: the BIG police presence was effective, and the cops were friendly, helpful and outstanding.”
3. Ashley said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 01:27PM
“I agree with Stacey! Not only was the festival organized, but you could tell everyone involved in the planning process was well versed on the "what-ifs". The Police and Event Staff were very pleasant, and the cab and Jitney drivers seemed to feed off the feel good vibe of the weekend. We had a blast, and the essentials were not ridiculously overpriced (the FREE Brita Water Filling Stations---totally awesome). I wish there was a 4th night added...but all good things must come to an end. I suppose I'll come out of my concert coma soon :) Thank you to Atlantic City and to the Dave Matthews Band Caravan for getting my summer off to an incredible start! You've given my sister and I many memories to last a lifetime! <3”
4. Anonymous said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 01:35PM
“Are there going to be pictures posted of all 3 days? or just the first one”
5. jake glassey jr said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 02:14PM
“Never been so happy about being so wrong before!”
6. Art M said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 03:33PM
“Right on, Camper. The reson this thing succeded is b/c the crowds were lower than expected. 75,000 woulda been a disaster. I heard only 15,000 showed up Fri. Would be nice to know paid attendance figures...”
7. Jenn Rutledge said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 06:03PM
“This was an amazing experience, one which I will remember for many years to come. DMB's jam band experiences are why I always spend the extra money to do them. Always a good time, with good friends new and old. No repeats, no drama, just awesome memeories to be had.”
8. Pittsboy said... on Jun 27, 2011 at 09:46PM
“I will be coming back to AC! I never knew it was so nice. Flagship hotel was in a nice neighborhood with awesome jitney bus service even at 2am. Nice people in a nice town. Never saw anything negative. Even your cops are cool.”
9. timmahhh said... on Jun 28, 2011 at 08:03AM
“My wife and I came from CT. It was our first time in AC, and definitely won't be the last. We were impressed with the beaches, boardwalk, restaurants, etc... not too mention the awesome concert. It was a great weekend!”
10. timmahhh said... on Jun 28, 2011 at 08:03AM
“My wife and I came from CT. It was our first time in AC, and definitely won't be the last. We were impressed with the beaches, boardwalk, restaurants, etc... not too mention the awesome concert. It was a great weekend!”
11. Anonymous said... on Jun 29, 2011 at 04:15PM
“DMB Caravan will most likely not be back as this should be only a one time gig as the band decided not to do a yearly tour as the have the past two decades. Hopefully AC will be able to get other festivals interested in the venue at Baders Field and the city can begin working on the traffic issues that would come with larger crowds.”