Kanrocksas Music Festival - August 5th and 6th - Kansas Speedway

What a fun weekend. I had a blast and will definitely be back next year. They ran a really good festival and delivered on pretty much every aspect. My only feedback for them would be to invite more bands in the future and try not to have it when it is so damn hot. They had large gaps between acts playing on certain stages and I think it would have been better if they had more bands. They did a good job making sure people didn’t get overheated. They had mist tents everywhere, had water bottle refills stations at every turn and several shaded places for people to retreat from the sun.

We had a generator at our campsite which was fantatic. We got fans at night and was able to cook on electric skillets so we ate well.

As far as the music goes…

There were three stages inside with a tent for mainly electronic acts. They also had a stage in the campground. The sound on the main stage was one of the best I have ever heard. It was perfect.

Fitz and the Tantrums – a really fun show as the band played with a ton of energy. I would definitely watch them again if I had the chance.

Arctic Monkeys – it was a good show but I kind of felt like I was listening to a CD. They didn’t do anything special except for play their music.

Kid Cudi – one of my favorite acts of the entire festival. I don’t like a ton of hip hop but always enjoyed Kid Cudi and he definitely delivered.

Primus – they were what was expected and more. A good, funky show with all the old favorites.

Eminem – his show was very well produced and the crowd went crazy. He did all of his hits and even a little tribute to Nate Dogg. I had a lot of fun.
The music on Saturday was a lot better.

OK Go – this was fun show and they drew a lot of people to the third stage. They did a song where the entire band used a table of hand bells. It was one of the coolest things I have seen in awhile. Definitely a band to keep an eye on.

Flogging Molly – surprisingly this was the first time I have seen them and I was not disappointed. It was another one of my favorites of the festival. They drew one of the biggest crowds for a non-headliner. I will definitely be going to see them again.

A Perfect Circle – most disappointing part of the entire festival IMO. The show was flat and it was like I was listening to a CD. Maynard’s didn’t sound very good and the show just didn’t have any energy. After 20 minutes, I bailed to go see Girl Talk.

Girl Talk – this was probably the most fun show of the entire weekend and probably got the crowd more energized than anyone else. I went up closer for this show than any other and danced my ass off. I had to down 2 20 oz powerades after it was over to make up for how much I sweat. His set was a lot of fun and he had like 100 girls on the stage dancing. A damn good time.

The Black Keys – what a show. I was really hoping they would deliver life and they did. I watched the first 20 minutes of this show in the crowd and then watching the last hour of it laying on the track with my hands behind my head. It was probably my favorite part of the whole weekend. It was kind of surreal to be laying on a NASCAR track listening to a band of that caliber. If you have a chance to see the Black keys, do not miss out. They were awesome.

Muse – probably the best show I have ever seen. They alone were worth the cost of admission. They have been one of my favorite bands for awhile and after that, they may be my current favorite band. The music was incredible, the lights and setup was stellar, the sound was the best I have ever heard at a show, and their lead singer/guitarist is one of the most talented people I have ever seen on stage. He rarely stopped playing; as soon as one song was over, he was fill the gap with different songs such as Hendrix’s national anthem rendition and other classic songs. I just cannot describe how awesome their show was.

all i care about is that it messed up the parking at lsp in lot f. they blocked off a huge chunk of that lot (including our spot) for valet and vip.

They were using it for the festival? That's odd. I know the VIP section of the festival was like empty the whole time. I walked by it several times and there were maybe 10 people hanging out at most. VIP at a festival is rarely a good value because you get shut off from the rest of it.

No, but due to parking for the festival it seemed the VIP/valet lot got moved to the east third of Lot F.

I did see like 6 or 7 Portland Timbers jerseys at the festival and I kept questioning who we were playing yesterday. It was just weird to see that and it was different people at different times.

I agree with Felixx on most everything. The festival was well organized, I stayed as cool as could have possibly been hoped for with water stations and misters, and things stayed on schedule (a friend said they were a bit slow early friday, but I didn't get out there til like 6)

Regarding Muse. They put on an amazing show, and the sound was perfect. Everything was as crisp as could be. The best production I've ever seen/heard I think, and one of the best acts overall.

No one that I saw really disappointed me, but Eminem was probably the most underwhelming. I enjoyed it, but I guess I'm just not into the genre enough.

I was a bummed I missed Fitz and the Tantrums.

The Pitch did a nice little write up using the letters of the festival name and since we had a discussion about the cost earlier in this thread I thought this one was appropriate:

N is for nice people. Kanrocksas was generally full of good-looking, friendly, courteous people. I saw hardly any jail ink, stretchmarks, muffin tops or pervy old dudes. The festivalgoers were young, healthy and seemed to have enough money for multiple $7 beers. Definitely not the same crowd that one would find at Rockfest or Warped Tour. My friend and I even got a genuine apology from a dancing woman whose hula hoop hit us in the face during the Muse set.

http://www.pitch.com/wayward/archives/2011/08/08/kanrocksas-day-two-saturday-at-the-speedway

This is exactly why you charge nearly $200 a head. It keeps the trash out. The crowd was very middle to upper class and full of respectful, clean people.

lol, there's something hilarious about anything that is simply unabashed.

It is. I thought it was funny when I read it but it was spot on. The crowd you attract will make or break a festival. I was really surprised by the people that attended. They didnt really pull-in the type of crowd that causes problems. The cops were very relaxed because it was a really relaxed atmosphere and from what I hear, they didnt have any fights or anything. They did have that guy die but that kind of thing happens when you have two days of camping in heat with alcohol and drug consumption.

There were even a lot of kids there. The festival is getting really good reviews so I hope they do it again next year. I would highly recommend attending even if you dont camp and just attend the shows and leave. It is impressive that it was that well ran and it was a first year festival. It can only get better with age.

Yeah, terrbily worded in the article but still a good point. The atmosphere was pretty chill. I've never been to any other major festivals though so I can't really make any direct comparisons.

(well, I've been to the Country Stampede in Manhattan, but that's a totally different crowd)

Most of the festivals I have been too are pretty relaxed but the vibe is different depending on the crowd. A few bad seeds can ruin it for all though.

It appears that they are committed to continuing for another year and possibly working on a 10 year contract with the KS Speedway and city.

They had people from 47 states and 10 different countries travel to go to the festival. I thought that was kind of cool.

I was wondering if they had enough turn out for it to be a more than one time thing. Where'd you hear/read that?

Well, I think they had planned on continuing it regardless unless it was a complete dud. When you do something like that you have to plan on losing money the first year and hope that all goes well and word of mouth will increase the attendance the following year or two to even things out.

Maybe, but I wouldn't think they would start persuing a 10 year deal if it wasn't at least somewhat positive this year...can't hurt to have your options open though I suppose.

I will probably go again though, unless the lineup is not to my liking.

I would think that the deal would have some kind of option to get out if they dont hit certain revenue goals.

They set the date for next year - August 3rd and 4th. I hope we can avoid having a home game that weekend.

No home SKC game on the weekend of Kanrocksas this year. Radiohead & Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre were announced as Coachella headliners today. A lot of the festival headliners headline a lot of the major festivals that year so there is a fair chance we land one or both of those at Kanrocksas. It has been rumored for awhile that Radiohead was going to play festivals this summer.

I am not sure how I would feel about Radiohead being here twice in 6 months after having never been here...

Also, Radiohead is in Japan on July 29th, after having circled the world twice already, so, yeah... not sure about that prediction being viable...

I think they were here in 1995 or something. But, they can come here as many times as they want as long as they are touring right now and I will go see them.

Probably not likely then but Muse was all over the place last summer including playing France the week before, playing at Lolla on that Friday, Kanrocksas on Saturday, and then back in Reading, England the following weekend.

Radiohead doesn't excite me terribly much, nor does Snoop/Dre. Eminem, even though I like his albums, did not leave me in any way excited to see more rap concerts.

Honestly, I can't off the top of my head think of any "headline" status bands that I am in deep need of seeing. But, I wasn't over the top excited about Muse either (though I do enjoy them) and they far exceeded my expectations. Partly because I didn't realize just how many of their songs I knew, but didn't know it was them. Turned out I recognized almost everything they played.

I could list a ton of bands I would love to see headline Kanrocksas. It is just a matter of who is doing the festival circuit this summer. Most of the bands at festivals across the globe are usually much of the same. I could see Kanrocksas pulling in Snoop and Dre because they would draw pretty decent. I have seen Snoop twice but never as a headliner. I wouldnt be too excited about it but it would probably be a decent show. Dre is also suppose to be retiring after this album and subsequent tour so I wouldnt mind seeing him before he does.

A lot of people were like that about Muse. Pretty much none of the people I was with at the festival could even name a Muse song but knew a lot of what was played because they had heard it but never knew who it was. They might very well be the biggest band in the world over the last few years but it seems like a lot of people in KC arent that familiar. They are one of the best live bands out there though, those guys bring it every single time they play. I have probably watched 20 of their concerts on Youtube and they never fail to impress.

There's plenty of bands I would like to see, but I don't think any of them would really have the draw that a headliner should have, and a couple I get to see at other concerts coming up anyway (see: Awolnation, The Naked & The Famous. I know awol was at buzz beach ball but their set was short and the sound at that show was pretty mediocre IMO). I guess I just don't have that good of a grasp on who in the alternative rock scene would sell out an arena nowadays

I agree that while I wouldn't really care about Snoop/Dre too much that they would probably get a nice sized crowd. More than anything I want a successful event so I got no problem with that. And back to Muse, I have always liked Knights of Cydonia and Hysteria, and at the time was really into Undisclosed Desires, but the rest...had no idea it was them, but liked (and as said, knew) it all.

I just hope they stay away from pop acts like Lady Gaga and Black Eye Peas. I think they will, they dont seem like they want to go that way and seem set on creating a solid event. Whenever Lolla announces their line-up and whatever is happening at Red Rocks that same weekend we will have a taste of what is happening because they basically pulled acts from those shows.

You're right on alternate acts, a lot of them are not festival headliner level. But, a lot of them would be great sub acts. I wouldnt mind seeing Foster the People, Battles, the Dead Weather, the Kills, and other mid-level acts.

It would be nice to get like the Foo Fighters, the reunited Soundgarten, or Tool. Or some of the other re-united big acts that have been happening.

Check out their set from the Reading and Leeds festival which was like a week after Kanrocksas. The Full set is on Youtube and it is incredible. Their renditions of Super Massive Blackhole and Resistance were awesome in that show. They took every song and made it so much more. Undisclosed Desires is one of my favorite Muse songs. It is very Depeche Mode-ish. Next to Jack White, Matthew Bellamy might be the best guitarist of our generation. I would love to see those two collaborate on something. They have very contrasting styles and they could really make something incredible.

I think you might be confusing the ability to write really catchy songs with the ability to play guitar. Jack might have written the catchiest songs of this generation, but his playing is just adequate.