Tickets go on sale to the public March 25 for a three-day music festival slated for Atlantic City’s Bader Field this June 24-26 — The Dave Matthews Band Caravan.
Philadelphia's Dr. Dog will play at the Atlantic City festival in June.
There had been a buzz about a three-day music festival coming to Atlantic City’s Bader Field this June ever since Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford alluded to it briefly at the Metropolitan Business & Citizens Association’s annual Winter Luncheon, held at Resorts in mid January.
The buzz grew and grew with the help of the Internet as blogs and jam-band oriented Web sites chimed in on the possibilities.
Then the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) announced it would be holding four special multi-day, multi-artist festivals in 2011 titled, “The Dave Matthews Band Caravan.”
Finally, on Wednesday, March 9, a press conference was held at Atlantic City’s historic Boardwalk Hall, featuring Mayor Langford; Maureen Siman, VP of marketing, Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority (ACCVA); Joe Kelly, president of the Atlantic City Chamber of Commerce and Ken MacDonald, of Starr Hill Presents, the promoter of the three-day festival.
The foursome revealed that, after months of hard work and planning, one of the four slated “Caravan” events — each a series of three-day, multi-artist and multi-stage music festivals — will indeed be coming to Atlantic City’s vacant but large Bader Field June 24-26.
Tickets to the three-day festival, which will include dozens of artists from many different genres, including the Flaming Lips, O.A.R., Dr. Dog, David Gray, Damian Marley, along with closing sets each night by the Dave Matthews Band — the DMB’s only live shows this year — go on sale to the public on March 25 at 10am (EST). Tickets went on sale earlier for Dave Matthews Band fan club members (March 14); the event sponsor Citi’s Private Pass customers will have second dibs at A.C. Caravan tickets on March 21 at noon.
The price for a three-day pass is $195. And that is the only ticket package available. The three-day festival will be standing room only, general admission, meaning there will be no fixed seating.
There will be some sort of V.I.P. packages utilizing the old A.C. Surf stadium, along with a huge video screen showing what’s happening on the stages. “We will use the entire footprint of Bader Field,” promoter MacDonald said at the press conference. When asked why Atlantic City was chosen as one of the four Caravan stops this year, MacDonald said that he felt the “skill level” and “execution level” with regard to the city was strong after he pitched the idea to the city. “We’re here today,” he said, because the city has been working hard with his company and with a “positive, can-do attitude.”
MacDonald added that the close proximity of major cities such as New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington DC, etc., was also a factor in choosing Atlantic City for one of the festival sites.
Since the official announcement, some folks have wondered why camping out will not be permitted at the three-day festival.
According to MacDonald, reached earlier this week, “We will not be permitting camping at the Bader Field event site.”
When asked why, MacDonald says, “The area taken up by all the festival components does not allow for space for camping.”
Langford tells Atlantic City Weekly that the issue of no camping was not a decision made by the city. “The city leaves that to the promoter,” says Langford. “We just want to make use of this viable asset [Bader Field], which lends itself to concerts [and such events]. But then we leave it to the promoter to fashion it however he or she sees fit.”
Despite the no-camping rule, there are a plethora of hotels and motels in the region — as well as RV and campground sites — and Atlantic City casinos have put aside 20,000 rooms for the festival, it was revealed at the press conference.
With city and festival officials expecting an estimated 70,000 people each day of the three-day festival, there will be a lot of opportunities for local businesses to cash in on the Caravan.
Applications for vendors — as well as interested local bands — can be found on the official Web site dmbcaravan.com.
Scott Bernstein, 33, has run the Hidden Track music news Web site since 2006. His music site deals with several genres, including the popular jam-band genre, which acts like Phish — whom Starr Hill Presents brought to Atlantic City over Halloween weekend 2010 for three sold-out shows — and the DMB fall into.
Click here for the Hidden Track blog
Bernstein tells Atlantic City Weekly that readers of his site “were very impressed with the lineup for the Atlantic City Caravan [show]. The producers didn’t seem to base their booking decisions strictly on who could sell tickets and have offered a lineup filled with talented acts from the jam, indie and singer/songwriter scenes. Even those who don’t like the Dave Matthews Band are debating going because they want to see all of the other groups on the bill.”
Bernstein doesn’t think that the no-camping policy is that big of a deal. He says it’s actually not the “norm” at outdoor concerts anymore as it once was.
“Ten years ago I would have answered with a resounding ‘yes,’ [that camping is the norm at outdoor, multi-day music festivals], but each year new festivals based in urban settings — or in the case of Jam Cruise, on a cruise ship — have debuted. Many fans don’t want to go the weekend without showering or worry about waking up at 8am because they are boiling in the sun. Personally, there’s nothing better than sleeping in a comfortable bed in between two high-impact days attending a music festival.”
Bernstein says he thinks the Phish concerts held in A.C. last fall left a good impression on both jam-band fans and city officials.
“Music fans are generally well behaved and typically spend lots of money,” says Bernstein. “Why wouldn’t you want them coming to your city? Many Phish fans had good experiences in Atlantic City and were happy with the reception they got from the community. It was very nice to know ‘we’ were wanted and I’m sure DMB fans will feel similarly.”
Before tickets go on sale to the public next Friday, both city officials and Starr Hill Presents officials can only wonder how many $195 passes will be sold. Again, they are expecting 70,000 people a day.
“You’ve got two main groups of people that the event will draw,” says Bernstein. “The first are the hardcore Dave Matthews Band fans. Since these festivals are the only shows DMB is playing this year, many of the group’s fans will travel from far and wide for the rare opportunity to see the band in 2011. The second set is music fans that are enamored with the lineup and the opportunity to see a festival of this size relatively close to home. I think the event will draw fans that fit into that second group from around the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast and diehard [DMB] fans from around the country.
“Besides the lineup, the best thing this festival has going for it is the location. There are so many hotel/casinos, nightlife options and amazing restaurants within a few miles of Bader Field, not to mention the beach and the Boardwalk.”
In Bernstein’s estimation, however, there is something the three-day festival is missing. “I wish promoters would sell single-day tickets for those who don’t want to commit to three days of music at over $200 per ticket when you include fees,” he says.
The updated lineup for Bader Field is:
Dave Matthews Band
David Gray
Ray Lamontagne
Thievery Corporation
Michael Franti & Spearhead
O.A.R.
Warren Haynes Band
Damian Marley
Bassnectar
Dr. Dog
Amos Lee
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
Guster
Lotus
Rebelution
Fitz & The Tantrums
Carolina Chocolate Drops
Lisa Hannigan
Punch Brothers
From Good Homes
Delta Spirit
Big Gigantic
Alberta Cross
Mariachi El Bronx
TR3
Vusi Mahalasela
The Budos Band
Bobby Long
"[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."
Plus African-American Heritage Museum of Southern NJ hosts African basket exhibit; the Album of the Week; and Drew Toonz
If you are driving, plan your route accordingly. Exit 2 off the Atlantic City Expressway will be closed to traffic so those going Downbeach or to Tropicana and Hilton casinos are recommended to use Exit 5 and follow Route 322/40/Black Horse Pike into the city....
'For the Dave Matthews Band Caravan, we’re doing Pink Floyd’s album The Dark Side of the Moon. It should be pretty absurd.'
We understand that a three-day hullabaloo like the Dave Matthews Band Caravan may bring folks to town who have never been here before, and may not have a clue as to what to do before and after the bands perform — or perhaps may want to take a break from the Bader Field confines to see or do something else.
Weinberg is as known for his charitable work as he is for his playing and will headline two days of performances and appearances Saturday and Sunday (March 26 and 27) in support of Seashore Gardens Living Center in Galloway Township.
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.
Ever since Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford stated in early January that his office was working on a deal with a "big-time" national promoter to bring a three-day music festival to Atlantic City this June, the Web has been bubbling with rumors about the possibilities. Will Phish return? Could the Dave Matthews Band make its Atlantic City debut? How about Robert Plant and his Band of Joy? Will it be along the lines of an Atlantic City version of Memphis' Bonaroo or Chicago's Lollapalooza, where there are multiple bands, stages and performance areas, and fans camping out? Web sites and blogs such as Hidden Track, Jambands.com and the Dave Matthews fan site, DMBNews.net, have been following the story closely as their users are very interested in any jam-band festival news that is revealed throughout the year, throughout the country. Many fans of certain jam-bands — a moniker that has become popular since the death of Jerry Garcia and the end of the orginal Grateful Dead more than 15 years ago — such as Phish heads, follow the bands across the country and see every show they can get into. This would mean that Bader Field, the intended site of the three-day music festival, could...
There could be a link with the success of that Phish residency in Atlantic City — where the band's Trey Anastasio recorded a live album a few years back at the House of Blues at Showboat — and the three-day music festival that is expected to take place in June 2011 at Bader Field in Atlantic City.
As in previous years, the Metropolitan Business & Citizens Association (MBCA) Winter luncheon kickoff event at Resorts in Atlantic City featured a keynote address — an unofficial state of the city address — by Atlantic City Mayor Lorenzo Langford.
The primary focus includes leading the city into her future. It seems everyone is moving in the same direction, and it’s up to us to all get on the same page.
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1. reggaebetty said... on May 23, 2011 at 07:44PM
“this festival is going to be amazing. i hope that they put some local acts on the bill like Tsunami Rising or Cheezy and the Crackers, it would make it more of a homegrown experience.”
2. DIANE said... on Jun 22, 2011 at 10:32PM
“wHY NOT CONTACT SOME OF THE MANY CAMP SITES IN ATLANTIC CO TO SEE IF THEY WANT TO OFFER SPECIAL RATES FOR CONCERT GOERS AND USE JITNEYS TO PICK UP THE CAMP SITE CONCERT GOERS AND BRING THEM INTO BADER FIELD. KEEPS PARKING DOWN, AND LETS CAMPERS HAVE CAMPING COMPOUNDS.
I KNOW LOT'S OF FARMERS WHO WOULD PROBABLY ALLOW FOR CAMPERS TO SQUAT....FOR A FEE. ALSO, WHY NOT USE THE AC RACE TRACK FOR HOUSING CAMPERS???? MAKING THIS CONCERT A SUCCESS, OPENS THE DOOR FOR ALOT OF OTHER NONE CASINO RREASONS FOR BRINGING VISITORS TO OUR AREA....AT ALL DIFFERENT TIMES OF THE YEAR. LET'S MAKE THE MOST OF IT!!!
609-625-2080”