Topic: LazerFest 2010 Were You There?
This was in my town on Sunday. I did not go, heard LOUD & CLEAR all over town from 12 noon to 1 am. The lines of cars coming into town were unbelievable.....Woodstockian like-look.....Since the attendance was so high (25,000) I thought there might have been someone from the Forum here.
25,000 fans set record at
Lazerfest
By JOE LAWLER • joe@dmjuice.com • May 17,
2010
Overcast skies and chilly temperatures weren't
enough to keep out a sold-out crowd of more than
25,000 music fans from the 2010 Lazerfest at the
National Balloon Classic Field.
The crowd was as large as the last two Lazerfest
audiences combined. It was the largest festival
crowd in Iowa since the days of the Iowa Jam in the
1970s and 1980s and two Lollapalooza stops in the
1990s.
The record crowd made for a day filled with lines. At
one point, it was around a 45-minute wait on U.S.
Highway 65/69 to make it less than five miles to the
balloon grounds. There were long lines for tickets,
food vendors and portable restrooms. It seemed a
small price to pay to the energetic crowd.
"This is crazy. I did not think it was going to be this
crowded," said Melva Hankey, 22, of Des Moines,
who attended with her boyfriend, Michael Kuhns,
23.
Headliner Godsmack was the band the couple were
anticipating most, but they were impressed with the
other acts. Their response to whether they would
return next year was succinct and in unison: "Hell
yeah!"
Several acts paid tribute to former Black Sabbath
frontman Ronnie James Dio, who died Sunday. Papa
Roach frontman Jacoby Shaddix asked for a moment
of silence and the crowd raised their hands in Dio's
trademark metal horns.
The festival was organized by Des Moines radio
station KAZR-FM "Lazer" 103.3, and program
director Ryan Patrick said the grounds were
reconfigured just days before the festival to
accommodate more fans.
For the first time, Lazerfest featured two main stages,
allowing the festival to have 16 acts smoothly
alternating between stages.
The festival has grown each year since relaunching
in 2007, and the station hopes to find a way to
expand next year.
"Everyone leaves here with a Lazerfest story," Patrick
said. "People don't want to miss it because if they
do, they miss their story."
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Joe Bonamassa 05-03-12
JBLP CHILD #184