Top Seven Reasons That The Arizona Edge Fest 2008 Could Have Been Better
Written by Michael Lazar - Tuesday, 30 September 2008
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(4 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
 If you were not in attendance at the Arizona Edge Fest 2008, you actually fared better than I did my friends. And with this write-up it is hard to find a good place to start because there were so many different issues that made this event a lot worse than it could have been.
When it comes to concerts, especially outdoor concerts, organization is absolutely essential to the success of the given event. That being said, organization was virtually non-existent at Edge Fest 2008 in Queen Creek, Arizona. And while there were some positives that surrounded the event, the negatives, or the pros, certainly far outweighed any positives, making this event a toss in the pail—so to speak.
I was in attendance with several others, and I spent a good deal of time interacting with other members of the audience so I could garner a good perspective of just what was pissing everybody off, myself included. As I began to get pink skin from the sun’s daft glare, and as I passed from attendee to attendee, one thing became ever so clear in my mind: the Arizona Edge Fest 2008 could have been a million and one times better, a whole lot freaking better if you ask me and nearly everybody else who attended; I know I spoke with well over a hundred different people that day.
Poor organization of the event:
The event itself was as poorly organized as they come. Upon arrival, cars were directed down a shoddy and bumpy dirt road that sat adjacent to the sprawling and open fields of Schnepf Farms in Queen Creek, Arizona. From the moment that you arrived, you had to wait in a line of cars—over thousands long and two lanes wide. There were only a few security personnel directing the traffic, telling us (so-called VIP’s) were we needed to go to park. At this point nobody even checked out tickets to assure that we were VIP’s and therefore deserving of the lauded parking spaces close to the main stage which we had tendered payment for.
So as a result of this loose organization, hundreds of non-VIP members decided to park closer as well—hey nobody is checking right? This caused the VIP lot to become overflowing and pointless. Parking in it was not the ‘Dream’ that they lauded on their website and certainly was no more special than any other parking space that could be found. Upon leaving the event, we were directed to go out a different route, to avoid congestion. This direction led us to be sitting in the car for nearly an hour waiting to leave the farm—another result of loose and poor organization.
Live sound had massive problems:
Where to start here? I decided to hang out near the main stage for the majority of the event, in the VIP tent—we will go into what a big sham that was later on. But for now, let’s focus on the main stage. I am well familiar with the rules regarding the production of live sound at any major event. Those rules being: what can go wrong will, so fix it and go on. However, this notion is a vast and gross understatement of what actually occurred during this live musical event.
The main stage sound was fraught with difficulty from the get-go. As the band ‘Alkaline Trio’ finished their last set, the sound on the main stage was already wavering in and out as the generators reached their peak. Once ‘Pennywise’ got on stage, several of the monitors blew and there were points where you could see the lead singer singing but not hear a damn thing. This continued through all of the bands, eventually leading to the entire stage being shut off during the ‘Rise Against’ set for twenty minutes—they said due to a storm warning, but the sky was clear. Bring on the headliner ‘Flogging Molly’ and you even had the lead guitarists and singer complaining to the crowd about how lousy the sound was.
The location was awful:
You could not have picked a worse location for this event than the geniuses who loosely organized had. The farm is located in the butt-end of the state, and when you have many of the attendees traveling from as far as Glendale, or even further in some cases, it was a few hours journey for those who wished to attend. While the farm itself is pretty, it is not a concert hall, it is a farm.
So why the organizers choose to disregard other ‘concert halls’ that are already outfitted with a built in stage, like Mesa Amphitheatre, Cricket Pavilion or Firebird Raceway in Phoenix, or the AZ State Fair grounds, they instead choose the worst location they could have. And all things considered, they could have gone with another larger venue that would have already had a fancy stage included.
The set times were misconstrued: What were they thinking as far as set times? Bands that have far more notoriety like Pennywise or NOFX, were placed on stage during the sun peak at around 3pm—when the main stage was at about half capacity. But then other bands like Rise Against got an 8pm slot before the headliner, Flogging Molly. And to tie it all up in a bow nicely, superstar DJ Paul Oakenfold was placed as the closer for the main stage, where his set was cut short about thirty minutes.
What were they thinking mixing up such diverse acts on a main stage, and then closing with techno act that most people there had never even heard of? This is all just testament to how terrible the organization and planning of this event was: shoddy! At the end of the show the few remaining audience members were filled with boos and other negative fanfare.
The Glaceau VIP Experience was a sham:
This was the biggest sham of the day. VIP members—like myself—shelled out $166 per ticket. This was supposed to garner you several things and I will list them.
- VIP Admittance to the event
- VIP grab bag
- VIP t-shirt
- VIP laminate with necklace
- VIP tent admittance
- Food buffet served all day long with finger foods
- Free beer
- Free vitamin water
- Free water
- Close view of the stage
- Air conditioning in the tent
- Private and air condition bathroom trailers
Here is what happened.
They did not even scan your tickets upon entry. The VIP tent was crammed like sardines in a can. Many people snuck in because there was virtually no security at the front of the tent. You could barely see the main stage. The food was awful and there were not two buffets, barely one. They started charging $5 per drink, even though you had paid hundreds just to get in and drinks were supposedly free! Then they realized people were sneaking in and they began to harass us all, every time we would enter, even though we were supposed VIPs.
So to sum it up:
I did not get a grab bag, I did not get a t-shirt, I did not get a necklace, and there was horrible food that was nearly gone and never refilled, the air conditioning, what air conditioning? Close view of the stage, yeah right! No free beer, no free food, and the bathroom trailer I used had fresh blood spilled all over it. Then add up the harassment and factor the ticket prices and you have the biggest rip-off ever!
The security team was lackluster:
One of the worst factors of the show was the horrid security team which seemed to do everything but their job. People were getting harassed all over the place by them, for doing nothing, while others smoked pot in full view and got smiles? I saw multiple people getting assaulted by security members who were poorly trained, aggressive and vulgar: entirely out of the line.
There were police strolling who would further harass people for just standing. One even came up and asked me what I was doing: I responded, “I am at a freaking concert what the hell does it look like I am doing?” The cop did not like this and told me I had an attitude, I told him, “Yeah well I just got ripped of by these people for about $500, you would be pissed too!” He smiled and said, “Yep, I would!”
The weather made it nearly unbearable: Finally, what they were thinking hosting this show in full view of the sun when it is still a hundred plus degrees outside in Arizona is beyond me. You could not bear the sun and they knew it so they happily charged five bucks for a tiny bottle of water, telling you, “Stay hydrated we care about your health!”
Yeah right! What you really care about is your $5 per water. I got sunburned, everybody I went with got sunburned, regardless of sunscreen. I saw at least six people pass out and get hauled away in medical ATVs from dehydration. And this was just the smooth cherry topping on the rotten cake that was Edge Fest 2008 in Arizona. Needless to say, I shall not be attending next year.
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