VEGOOSE CREATES FOUNDATION FOR SUCCESSFUL VEGAS FESTIVAL

Building on the annual success of Bonnaroo, Vegoose in its inaugural year in Las Vegas can easily stand out in a list of growing festivals in America. With a wide range of musical talent, combining a multi stage music festival and a stunning list of midnight concerts held around the city at numerous venues, one can bet (no pun intended) this year will not be the last. With over 40,000 in festival attendance over two days and sold out nights shows around Sin City, Vegoose brought together the eclectic music range of Bonnaroo and the all night into the early morning jamming of Jazzfest. With full sets by Dave Matthews and Friends, Widespread Panic, Beck, String Cheese Incident, Phil Lesh and Friends, The Shins, Primus, Gov’t Mule, Talib Kweli, Blackalicious, Trey Anastasio, Jack Johnson, The Arcade Fire, The Flaming Lips just to name a few, Vegoose stands alone with Jazzfest in being able to offer midnight concerts around a city that never sleeps.

The inaugural Vegoose let people choose how they spent their nights with incredible musical choices like Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds, Trey Anastasio, Moe., Steel Train, Gov’t Mule, Umphrey’s McGee, Robert Randolph, String Cheese Incident, STS9 and the capper to the entire weekend, a special Halloween blowout with Widespread Panic and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band with a set from The Crystal Method. Not only did Vegoose share the collaboration vibe, as many artists were seen sitting in with each other but Vegas’ own Blue Man Group stopped by for a set of weirdness and mayhem all surrounded by a wedding chapel, an Elvis and Liza costume contest, a twisted cabaret circus tent, an impersonaters café and some intense late night activities. We caught up with Primus’ own Les Claypool who has been a part of so many ground breaking festivals in the past to discuss Vegoose.

“I think the whole notion of Vegoose and trying to get a destination festival going in Las Vegas is a pretty interesting concept. Back in the day The Dead used to come to Vegas and take over the town and it was an amazing thing. I know as a guy who comes here every once and a while that it’s a difficult nut to crack. Because a lot of the times you come in and you get some of the locals but it’s mostly tourists that come and see some these shows. So, for these guys to take this thing on, it’s different than Bonnaroo, you’re not going out and camping. You have to stay in some hotel somewhere and there’s a little gambling here and a little this there. There’s so much stuff to see it’s overwhelming to an extent. I think the notion of showing up in a place that’s designed to take people on and show them a good time for a couple of days and have a series of events that are somewhat like minded. I think it’s a very interesting notion

One of the sets that was most talked about at Vegoose is Beck who kept the crowd grooving with his intelligent mix of samples, rhythms and stage presence, dressed in Boy Scout coustume. Truly one of music’s freshest talents on the scene today. With many overtones of Halloween filling the Vegas weekend, perhaps one of the most classic moments in this inaugural year has to be Jack Johnson performing his set in complete Jimi Hendrix costume, backed by his version of the Band of Gypsys. Our cameras were fortunate to witness what has to be one of Jack’s most bizarre sets to date.

Another band that made a lot of attention, not only in Vegoose but has caught the eye of a growing number of fans is The Arcade Fire, who combines a wide range of instruments with a ferocious stage presence that will captivate even the casual listener. But Vegoose wouldn’t be the same without Jam band cornerstone, Trey Anastasio, who thrilled the crowd with his new band, minus the horns but with two guitars and two keyboards still packs a punchful of energy. Trey, currently touring in support of his latest release ‘Shine’ had quite a busy weekend, performing at Midnight on Friday, jamming with Dave Matthews and Friends on Saturday, his band on Sunday and Trey even joined Widespread Panic on Sunday Night for an extended jam that at times felt like it would never end. Check out a brief clip of Trey performing at Vegoose on Sunday.

So with only 7 months to prepare for Bonnaroo 2006 and year two of Vegoose looming in the distance, Superfly Productions seems to have figured out a formal for putting on amazingly diverse multi stage festivals in two incredibly different settings. Stay tuned for what promises to be a very busy 2006 year of music.