VEGOOSE LOOKS TO BUILD AN ANNUAL TRADITION IN SIN CITY

In just two short years, Vegoose has created what many hope will become an annual tradition, a pilgrimage if you will of fans and musicians alike who come to experience something nothing else can compare to. AC Entertainment and Superfly Productions, who have supplanted Bonnaroo at the fore front of American musical festivals, have brought not just a two day, four stage and tweleve hour outdoor festival but also hosted sold out night shows around Sin City that went well into the early morning hours.

Vegoose 2006 featured electric performances from Cat Power, The Raconteurs, The Mars Volta, The Killers, Jurassic 5, The Black Crowes, Tom Petty, Widespread Panic, Phil Lesh and Trey Anastasio, Fiona Apple and The Roots to name just a few. Once the festival closed down, fans flocked to a variety of incredible night shows at various venues like the kick off Friday night with Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds and also showcased night shows with Damian Marley, Trey and Robert Randolph, Trey and Phil, STS9, Keller Williams, String Cheese Incident and culminating with Widespread Panic and The Meters in another amazing Halloween show in a long list of historic shows by Panic. We caught up with the Ryhthm section of Widespread Panic, Todd Nance and Sunny Ortiz, drums and percussion respectively, to talk about the bands historic Halloween shows now being relocated to Vegoose, since New Orleans is still on the road to recovery.

“Unfortunately since New Orleans isn’t what it used to be, which is where we used to play a lot of Halloween shows I guess this was kind of our relocation point. But we’re going back to New Orleans! Vegoose is the off shoot of Bonnaroo and originally Bonnaroo is a Cajun Louisiana slang for ‘Have a good time.’ So it’s a good groove and when we first started doing Bonnaroo we thought it was the best thing happening and now it’s as you know it’s got to a bigger proportion now and they’re having a lot greater success with it.”

Every year at Bonnaroo or at Vegoose, fans are treated to many magical musical moments, many life long memories and there’s always a special surprise each year and this Halloween was no different as none other than Prince joined Maceo Parker and his bands late night performance, which happened to be early Sunday morning. While many fans had to choose between unbelievable performances it was a lot easier getting from stage to stage this year since all the stages were outside UNLV football stadium. All the stages were easily accessible for fans to enjoy many different sets by a wide range of musical genres on four stages, get married in the Vegoose Chapel, check out an impersonators tent and of course all the usual mayhem associated with Halloween in Vegas.

So as Vegoose concludes and the music still reverberates around Las Vegas, many people are already talking about and looking ahead to Bonnaroo 2007. After another successful festival year, the creators of Bonnaroo and Vegoose will look to continue to improve each year and if the last half decade is any indication, 2007 will surely be one to remember. Bonnaroo has already confirmed June for 2007, so mark your calenders now. For all of those that missed Vegoose this year or just want to relive a little piece of an incredible weekend we put together some montage footage of performances by Cat Power and The Memphis Rhythm Band, Medeski Martin and Wood with Maceo Parker, The Raconteurs, Dr. Octagon aka Kool Keith and Damian Marley. Montage clip two features performances from The Black Crowes, The Killers, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Phil and Trey and Widespread Panic. (Pictured Trey Anastasio photo Brian Miller)