Rockfest blog – final entry (yea – I watched too much Star Trek) The first meeting for Rockfest 2010 was held in June of last year. All year long the staff of The Rock and our partner A.E.G. Live have been working hard to make Rockfest the best experience it can be. I thank the bands, the crews, and the hundred of workers that have pulled everything together. Most of all, thank you for making Rockfest what it is! The show has always belonged to our listeners, and that’s what makes it so special. Ready to party??? It’s time for Rockfest!!!!

I had a great day making final preparations for Rockfest 2010. Most of the time was spent on the phone working out final details with the bands. I know how excited you are to see the show. The listener phone calls and e-mails have been non-stop for weeks. The staff is bouncing off the walls. Rockfest is always our biggest day of the year. We love talking to you on the radio, but there’s just nothing like have a good time face-to-face with everyone. Today I was reminded about the perspective of the bands. The artist coming in to play for you are so excited to come in. Every band that has played Rockfest before say it’s the best show they’ve ever experienced. Why? – you! It’s not just the size of the crowd, it’s the vibe of the crowd. Kansas City loves live rock and really shows it every time. Your enthusiasm is something they experience in so few places. I had one artist tell me “Rockfest makes the grind of touring, playing half empty shows, and struggling to make it completely worth it”. As you have the time of your life Saturday, know the bands feel the same way.

Just got back from the site of Rockfest 2010. Nothing to builds the excitement more than watching The Liberty Memorial transform from a peaceful setting into festival grounds bigger than most cities in Kansas! The area is covered in tents to house all the food, Miller Lite, and every sort of vendor you can imagine. There’s got to be at least five miles of fencing surrounding the entire grounds. Yes, port-a-potties as far as the eye can see. What really stops you in your tracks is the view of the giant stage at one end of the park with a huge field of green grass and trees in front. You can visualize the crowd filling the park while 15 killer bands go non-stop all day. It’s the best time we have all year as a radio station. It looks like everyone else is having the time of their life as well. Rockfest is almost here and finishing touches are being done around the clock. See you Saturday!

If the forecast doesn’t change, the weather looks good for Rockfest this Saturday. Thursday and Friday look mostly sunny with only a 25% chance of showers. That should allow the lawn at Liberty Memorial two full days of drying. There is a slight chance of rain on Saturday. I suggest you grab a cheap plastic poncho and bring it with you to Rockfest. If we get a stray afternoon shower, you’re poncho will keep you dry. If the ground is a little damp, you can sit on your poncho or put it under your blanket. A dry butt is a happy butt! BTW – a trash bag works just as well! See you at Rockfest Saturday!

Rockfest is next Saturday at The Liberty Memorial! It’s the best day of the year for The Rock because it’s so fun to party with so many of our listeners at one time! Who doesn’t want to enjoy an ice cold Miller Lite with 50,000 close friends? The experience is hard to top. If you want to join us, get your tickets now. Only 2000 tickets are still available. I’m not sure when we’ll hit sell-out, but I feel confident there will not be any tickets at the gate.

If you have tickets in hand, we can’t wait to see you at Rockfest. If you’re feeling lucky, keep listening to win tickets on the air. If you’re like me, you never win anything and wouldn’t miss Rockfest, get your tickets while they last.

First of all, we can’t thank the Liberty Memorial enough for providing the perfect venue for Rockfest. You just can’t beat the Liberty Memorial for a big outdoor show. The grounds are beautiful, there’s plenty of shade, and the view of downtown is killer after dark.

As the Nation’s official WWI Memorial, and a truly distinctive piece of architecture, the Liberty Memorial has been a source of pride of Kansas City since the 1920’s. I’m amazed how many people are unaware of the stunning WWI Museum at the base of the Memorial. You owe it to yourself to check it out. It’s 80,000 square feet of WWI story telling with thousands of artifacts presented with hands-on interactive displays. You’ll see everything from original tanks to hand written letters from the soldiers.

The Liberty Memorial Museum is one of the three finalists for “Best Heritage / History Attraction” in the Midwest. Please take a moment to click this link to give Liberty Memorial your vote. Make plans to visit the Museum yourself. You will be blown away!

Probably the best thing about Rockfest is the free spirit of the show. You can sit wherever you like, move to the front for your favorite band, hang in the back when you want to take a break, or divide your time between stages. It’s totally up to you! In keeping with the free spirit of Rockfest, everybody has a chance to meet the bands and get an autograph. It’s an 18 year tradition at Rockfest to have each band spend 30 minutes in the autograph booth. After meeting so many fans up-close, the bands enjoy the experience more than anyone. To allow as many people as possible to get something signed, we do limit each person to one item. If there is a particular band you really want to meet, make sure to get to the booth little early. Click here for the Rockfest 2010 autograph booth schedule. Check the venue map for exact location.

We can’t thank you enough for making Rockfest the biggest one-day music festival in America! The only downside to the growth of Rockfest is the amount of fraud the event now attracts. Let me make this simple: ANY VIP PASSES OR BACKSTAGE PASSES FOR SALE ON-LINE ARE FAKE! For the Miller Lite VIP tent, contest winners are checked in at the event. If your name is not on the Miller Lite list, you will not be issued a pass. Passes are only given out the day of the show, anything being sold before the show is fake. There is no backstage at Rockfest. Since the show is in the park, the bands hang out on their bus before their set time. Last year, hundreds of people were turned away at the gate with fake passes. There’s nothing worse to let someone know at the gate the pass they paid hard-earned money for is a fake and won’t get them in. Don’t let that happen to you. ALL PASSES BEING SOLD ON-LINE ARE FAKE.

Speaking of fraud, official Rockfest and Band merchandise is ONLY sold at the merchandise tents INSIDE Rockfest. If you buy a shirt outside of the venue, it’s a bootleg. Bootleg shirts have one thing in common, low quality. Wash it once and it will fit your dog. Buying a bootleg shirt is your choice, just don’t blame us when it falls apart in two weeks.

Let’s face it, there’s room for improvement when it comes to Rockfest food. The food has always tasted good. We’ve always kept the five dollar and under food price promise. Getting the food lines shorter, that’s another story. When Rockfest moved back to The Liberty Memorial, local restaurants took care of the food. Because serving to such a large crowd wasn’t their specialty, most just didn’t have the people or equipment to keep up with demand. The food vendors we used the past few years did a better job, but still weren’t able to keep up with demand. After seeing the food lines last year and reading many emails on the subject, we knew the problem wasn’t solved.

For Rockfest 2010, we hope to have the problem solved. We’ve contracted a company that exclusively handles food vending for the biggest events in the country. In the concert world, one of their events is the Bonnaroo Festival in Manchester Tennessee, feeding 70,000 daily. When we first spoke, they were taking care of concessions for the Super Bowl in Miami. Very large events is what they do, very large events is all they do. After many conversations and reference checking, we think a food vendor with this level of expertise can serve quality food quickly. Don’t worry about the price, everything will remain five dollars or less. When you need that cheeseburger or slice of pizza at Rockfest, expect shorter lines!

I’ve been getting many questions from Rockfest virgins. Are there reserved seats? Will my ticket get me to both stages? Is Rockfest an all-ages show? The questions are endless. Rockfest is basically a giant party in the park with 15 killer bands. There are no reserved seats. You can move around the park as you wish. Go to the front of the stage for a favorite band. Hang out under a tree to have some food and shade when you like. Go to the back of the park to just to hang with friends when you want to take a break. It’s up to you. Make Rockfest the experience you want it to be. No security guards will be telling you when to go or where to sit. We have jumbo screens through the park so when you do decide to hang back, you can see the show perfectly. Yes, your ticket gets you to both stages, the front row, or the back of the park. YOU decide.

Rockfest is an all ages show. I’m not going to tell anyone how to be a parent, but I would not recommend bringing children. It’s a big rock show; loud, wild, and easy for a kid to get lost. My feeling is this, if you’re old enough to drive yourself to Rockfest, you’re ready for Rockfest.

After the Rockaholics scooped up 80% of the Rockfest tickets, the remaining 10,000 tickets are going fast! If you plan to go to the show, I wouldn’t wait too much longer to get tickets. Once we hit sell-out, we’ll have plenty of chances for you to win tickets. If you’re not feeling lucky, get your tickets this weekend through this web site or any Ticketmaster location. Tickets won’t last that much longer.

Hotel packages are also going fast. The Hyatt is just across the street from Rockfest, zero DUI danger or parking hassles. Hotel packages come with tickets and Rockfest T-shirts. They make the Rockfest experience easy.

Keep those questions and suggestions coming. Thanks so much for the support of Rockfest!

Our most loyal listeners, the registered Rockaholics, are ready for a party May 15th! Rockaholics grabbed the first 40,000 tickets during the $25 pre-sale. Good job – and thank you very much! If you want to join the party at Rockfest, tickets are now $35 plus service charge and on sale at all Ticketmaster locations and the tickets page of this web site. Only 10,000 tickets left until Rockfest will be sold-out. Thank you for your strong support of the show and we’ll see you at The Liberty Memorial May 15th with 15 bands that are just as excited as you to be at Rockfest 2010!

Rockaholics have now grabbed over half of the available Rockfest tickets! Over 25,000 have been sold and the pre-sale is still going strong. Friday is the last day for Rockaholics to get tickets for $25. When tickets go on sale Saturday, the price goes to $35. Over 20,000 tickets were sold last year on the final day of the pre-sale. Friday is not only your last chance to save $10 a ticket, it might be your last chance to buy a ticket. Thanks so much to our Rockaholics for the strong support of Rockfest. We truly appreciate it and promise to deliver one hell of a show!

Wow! What can I say? We’re so overwhelmed with your support of Rockfest! In the first five hours of the pre-sale, Rockaholics have already grabbed 15,000 tickets. Rockfest sold-out in just a week last year and sales are going even faster this year. 15,000 tickets in just five hours, looks like the Rockaholics might sell-out the show! Thanks so much for the support and we can’t wait to see you at Rockfest!

The entire Rock staff is very excited to announce Rockfest 2010! This is the event we look forward to all year. It’s an amazing experience to party with so many of our loyal listeners at one time! The Rockfest 2010 meetings started two weeks after last year’s show. We’ve been working hard all year to make sure Rockfest is as good as it can possibly be. The line-up is killer and the venue is perfect, The Liberty Memorial, in the heart of downtown KC. How can you beat it? 15 bands, 2 stages, 12 hours of non-stop rock, all for the price of a club show!

We’ve used many of your suggestions to keep improving, including a plan for shorter food lines, better parking access, and increased availability of free water. Rockfest is your show, keep sending in suggestions on how we can make it better. Send me a question anytime and I’ll be sure to respond.

To thank our loyal Rockaholics, you not only get the first chance at tickets, your tickets are cheaper than anyone else. If you plan to join the party, be sure to get your tickets early. Last year’s Rockfest sold-out in just a week. We hate to see our listeners wait, then pay a scalper a ton a of money just to see the show. The cheap tickets are for you, not for someone else to profit from.

Please check the blog a few times a week for the latest up-dates and answers to frequently asked questions. We can’t wait to party with you at the 18th edition of Rockfest! See you May 15th.