Mile High Music Festival
The 3rd annual Mile High Music Festival wrapped up on Sunday night with a nearly 3 hour set from the Dave Matthews Band. Dave and Co. capped off what was an amazing 2 days of music at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Commerce, CO, 9 miles east of downtown Denver. Clearly the organizers looked at the issues of the two previous years and made significant changes to make this year’s festival better. Now in its third year, the festival has evolved into one of the best day festivals in the United States.
The biggest change to the festival was the inception of the food and re-entry policy. Food and soft sided coolers were permitted in the festival grounds, and the re-entry policy meant you could come and go as you please. While many other festivals already allow for re-entry, this is the first year the Mile High Festival has adopted a similar policy.
There were noticeably more shade tents throughout the venue and an added water feature helped keep those in attendance cool under the Colorado sunshine. Additional drinking water stations were added as well making it more convenient to refill water bottles in much shorter lines. In an interview with KBCO, promoter Chuck Morris said the festival added 3 times more water filling stations than in previous years ,which was very evident.
Also new this year, organizers opened the adjacent Dick’s Sporting Goods Park Stadium, home of the Colorado Rapids professional soccer team. A handful of concession stands were open inside the stadium giving festival goers more food and beverage options. The stadium also provided plenty of shady spots for those looking to take a break from the sun. For those that didn’t want to carry around a backpack all day, there was also a bag check service available for free on the stadium concourse. Perhaps the biggest advantage to having the stadium open was the bathroom facilities. Very few festivals offer more than port-o-john’s to those in attendance so having the option of using a real bathroom with running water, to many, is worth the price of admission.
Aside from the music there were plenty of happenings throughout the festival grounds. Sponsors Kyocera and Cricket provided another escape from the sun in an air-conditioned tent complete with a Rock Band stage, an area where you could design and silk-screen a free souvenir bandanna, and free sno-cones. Outside the Kyocera and Cricket tent, volunteers were giving away cold-water soaked Mile High Music Festival bandannas which provided a great relief from the warm temps.
Next door at the Toyota Prius tent, they were also giving away sno-cones but only to those who either rode stationary bikes or a seesaw for 5 minutes, the time it took to power the pedal and teeter powered sno-cone machine. Donovan Frankenreiter was among those who rode for a free sno-cone. (Check out the video!) The Toyota tent was also giving away free custom silk screened reusable shopping bags.
Artists were spotted throughout the day roaming the festival grounds with many making stops at the Twist and Shout Tent to sign autographs. Other artists made appearances at a 2nd Toyota tent where they performed a couple songs on a small stage for the lucky few who happened to be nearby. The American Express sponsored Zync Zone tent which offered a free phone charging service was the setting for numerous artist interviews for Spin Magazine throughout the weekend, including Jack Johnson. See Jack’s Interview!
One blemish to the weekend was the absence of the hot-air balloon rides and the Ferris Wheel which appeared on the festival map. The hot air balloon did make a brief appearance early on Saturday but winds kept it grounded throughout the day. With more wind on Sunday, there was no sight of the balloon at all. No official word on why the Ferris Wheel was a no-show, but there were definitely some disappointed people who were looking forward to the view from the top of the ride.
Improvements were also made to the layout of the stages and the set-times so that the music from one stage didn’t overlap and overpower that of another stage. This is a substantial improvement from years past where music from one stage could be heard during another performance at another stage, often times drowning out the music. Not this year!
With all of the festival options throughout the summer, the Mile High Festival is clearly a festival for everyone. The festival continues to bring in headliners to appeal to the masses with enough variety in the supporting artists to appeal to the more versed music lovers. Since it’s inception, the Mile High Music Festival has also made vast improvements to make the experience more comfortable and enjoyable for all in attendance. With very little to change or improve upon for next year, the Mile High Music Festival will once again be a can’t miss festival of 2011.
