For the third year in a row, the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival brings elements of a summer festival indoors for the Chicago winter. Over the course of three days from December 3-5, a diverse roster of artists will perform at a trifecta of Chi-town venues including the Double Door, the Congress Theater and Lincoln Hall.
The action kicks off on December 3 at the Double Door with a bill that includes Cory Chisel & the Wandering Sons, The Right Now and How Far to Austin. On the fourth, the festival takes over the Congress Theater with a lineup that features HT faves Grace Potter and the Nocturnals, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, Van Ghost and The Giving Tree Band. The Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival wraps up on December 5th with a show at Lincoln Hall headlined by The Skatalites. Three-day passes are available and will only run you $50 before fees.
For today’s installment of Everybody Wins When We Plug Something And In Return They Offer Us Free Shit To Give Away, we’ve got five pairs of three-day passes to the Chicago Bluegrass & Blues Festival up for grabs. All you have to do is leave a comment below answering this question – does bigger equal better when it comes to music festivals? Anyone found entering more than once will be disqualified and you must be 21 years of age or older to win. We’ll pick the winners randomly next week and let you know if you’ve won shortly thereafter. All entries must be received by Wednesday, November 17th at 11:59PM. Good luck!
9 Responses
that’s what she said.
Looks like a fun lineup.
Bigger is definitely NOT better when it comes to festivals. Went to NOLA Jazz Fest for years, but had to give it up after it got so big that you couldn’t get anywhere near the main stages. On the other hand, Doheny Blues fest in Dana Point, CA is AMAZING, because you can walk between stages and pretty much plunk yourself right in front of some awesome acts. Saw Solomon Burke from about 4 feet away-one of the high points of my LIFE.
No way. BETTER = better
quality is not the same as quantity.
Ask any one of the native Austin Music scene that question and the answer is bigger ain’t better when it comes to our music festivals (heard of ACL?) just because we have a big beautiful park doesn’t mean we have to fill it with herds of human flesh. love the music but we still haven’t figured out how to be in more than 1 place at a time. keep it reasonable and all will be well.
Bigger can be more fun at times as a 50,000+ person party can be quite a good time. And for a promoter to pull off a fest of that size, you know there will be some amazing talent from top to bottom on the lineup. But once you start having to deal with overlapping sets of artists you want to see because there are 100+ artists on the bill and on 5 different spread out stages, then bigger does not always mean better. My goal each year is to hit a handfull of smaller fests and try to throw one of the big guys in for good measure if I can work it out.
Bigger can be better, but rarely is. It takes a very talented performer to make bigger feel better. Would you rather see a band at soldie field, or at the empty bottle?
More, More, More! Yes, bigger is always better when it comes to music festivals (and wine festivals too, hiccup, but, that wasn’t the question). Democratizing a lineup by adding large, local or just budding band after band after band turns festival going into a musical safari. As long as the festival organizers are competent in providing strong logistical bones to support the music makers and music lovers, let’s all maximize the potential for good vibrations.