How was the VIP stuff?

Please give us input on if the VIP ticket was worth the money.

Yeah, I went VIP, and I couldn't be more glad. The whole time I was downing sunshine wheat and fat tire for free. The camping was more than I could even ask for because you could hear all of the bands from the campsite just perfectly. There was also like a 10-15 foot area right by the front of every stage just for vips. The only problem i had with it the whole time was when they served gumbo the second day of the festival.

[thehometeam2]

The VIP price was well worth the money. Couple of key items to point out:
Private campsite literally right outside maingate...no trekking up and down the road or no-waka shuttle. When we wanted to go chill at our campsite and listen to the music from there, it was a 5 min walk...not an option for non-VIP, they had a journey.
Secondly, only VIP's had access to the front of each of the three stages. This was key because we could arrive at any time. We didn't have to make sure we got to a stage early to get a good spot up front. Incredible photos!
Thirdly, free FAT TIRE for 4 days...need more explaining?
Fourth, free catered lunch & dinner for 4 days. In fact, we never even took advantage of the lunch, only dinner. Food quality at dinner got better with each day, Sunday night being the best.
Lastly, we had Waka representatives each day come by our campsite, see how we were doing, what we thought of the festival so far, what could be done better, etc...nice touch.
After returning home from the festival, we can't imagine not doing Wakarusa the VIP route. It is a definite calendar date for next year!

Hope this helps,

The Home Team

[Metalhead]

yeah, VIP is definitely the way to go.

The VIP section was definately worth it. It was so nice not to have to dig out a fistful of cash every time I needed a beer or something to eat. It was also nice being so close to camp. If I needed anything, it would take me like 10 minutes roundtrip. Very convienient. I got some sweet pics up front. Hope it is available next year.

Ya, VIP was really cool. The only time it was really crowded that I can remember was for Keller. I got some good pics too and I must have drank a keg of fat tire myself. I only hit up the food a couple times but it was some good BBQ and I got to meet some bands like Barefoot Manner.

[Randall]

We thought about the VIP seriously and then decided that because we drink liquor rather than beer and don't eat tons that we would save the cash. Put liquor in the VIP section and you will sell two more of them next year! In any regards, perhaps I'll put on my beer drinking shoes if I have to - I really wanted to get into the VIP viewing areas.

We found an Own Grown VIP pass and I tried to get into viewing area at one of the sun stages and was told that I couldn't. It was worth a try I guess. It was too late to do anything with it at the Own Grown stage.

If any of you are going to say that I should have returned it or not tried to go to the sun stage for some free beers, food, and good viewing, you're lying - you'd have tried too... :D

Take it slow friends,

Randall

[JustBob]

Randall and I think alike, its all about the liquor. I don't drink beer at all and that was the real reason for VIP.

BTW, we had to make a liquor run on Saturday morning as we drank everything we had in 2 nights. Cousin and I dropped over $120 on liquor for the weekend. It was a lot to drink and we almost had nothing to give away on Monday.

JustDrunkBob

Right on JustDrunkBob. The dude selling me booze at the liquor store I was at Thursday afternoon was going to Waka on Sat. only. When he saw all of the booze I was buying he looked at me like this -> :shock: and he asked me how many people I was camping with. I said 6 when it was really 2. :) We've still got plenty for the weekend though.

Now, for all of you anti-alcohol - booze bashing - brothers and sisters out there; While I know that many are - Not everyone is a sloppy, loud, mean, emotional drunk. Some of us can handle our liquor and handle it really well. I'm a chillin happy groovin drunk and I'm sure Bob is too so don't hurt our feelings with your stereotyping.

:D Take it slow all :D

Randall <--- JustDrunkToo

[JustBob]

ok, me and especially my cousin are loud, but we try to keep that in the back beyond the sound board. When we go up front, its all about the music.

I'm very melow when drinking. Always smiling and ready to have a good time.

Haha, 6 people. The 1st liquor store the guy wanted to sell us more. I thought he was crazy. Then I woke up Saturday moring and had no more rum. The second was right down the road from the fest and they were very happy to get all the business.

Bob

[Rob]

Worth it if you like to drink a lot of beer and can't cook. $500 is steep for most folks.

Everything about vip was great. Well, everything but the food.
It was if 75th St. Brewery had never catered anything before. In fact, it was pretty low quality. The \"salad\" consisted of a bowl of lettuce with a few slices of tomato. How hard is it to put out a bowl of croutons? Slice up a carrot or two man!
Also, have they heard of a new discover called pepper? You gotta put out some pepper!
Some of the vegetarians I was with were pissed--enjoy that dinner of bread buddy! (that is assuming you don't favor undercooked rice that is crunchy ?yes, crunchy rice was served.)
Also, if I?m ranting, I?ve got to mention the cooler for the soda/water. Dumping warm cases of drinks on top of a bed of ice in a container that leaks doesn?t make for cold drinks. The only saving grace was an infrequent appearance by some cold pizza that someone else brought randomly. Keep your fingers crossed for some cold pizza from a different vendor cause you never know when it?s coming!

Sorry had to vent. Will get VIP again. Thank you Wakarusa.

[Coop]

i think those that camped in the VIP area did have an easy walk to the festival grounds. Although, i would rather walk the hill and camp with all the folks in the campground, IMO. Much more life and activity out there. Plus we had music at our stage til the wee hours every night.

The whole VIP area in front of the stage was good to see the bands from, but it creates a division that i'm not fond of. a seperation of people in front, based on money spent. just seems kind of wierd to me in this community.

As far as the food & beer goes, i think this could be a big money saver for big drinkers, but not for myself. i just wouldn't drink enough or eat enough gumbo to justify a $300 ticket.

It may be a good deal for those who dont like to deal with these things or the more pampered type of campers. I would rather just work the festival like i did, and receive all that and more...go ahead VIP'ers, flame me if you want, just my view on the topic...

I scored free VIP's but campedin the upgraded down in nelly tucklehead and just drove right up front evertime we went to the concert grounds. The beer was excellent and food mediocre.

[galacticfreak]

I thought vip was totally worth it except for the food- I thought the food SUCKED
Other than that, I liked being right up front especially for Galactic, sts9 and Particle-Definatly doing it again next year!

[shuntalicious]

I loved the VIP, definately worth the money, the only complaint I had was lack of a fire...though it rained, they seemed very unorganized getting a fire going...next time hook up the fire, so we can get some unplugged sets going.

[jojo0420]

I want to start off by saying, don't hate me because we VIP'ed it. This was our only festival of the year and our vacation, so we wanted to live it up. The beer and camping were great, and although we weren't impressed by the food, we did meet one of the backstage cooks (Maggie) who was very kind and apologetic about the lack of vegetarian fare. But that was O.K. because the Irie Kitchen's BBQ tofu was incredible. My favorite part of the VIP as a music lover was the view from the front. I'm certainly not over the hill yet, but I'm not a 20-something anymore, and clawing my way to the front of a crowd so that I can get squashed and groped is not my ideal good time anymore. I appreciated the chance to have space to dance and have a great view of the musicians. Thanks for the opportunity and we'll definately do the same next year.

[CharlieTheCosmicTuna]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


First off Wakarusa was AMAZING! My Girl Amber and I were fortunate enough to be invited backstage on the sun-down for all 3 nights, affording us photo and autograph opputunities. Sorry it took so long to get these pics up. Many of these are backstage shots and others are from the front row.
The lighting situation was challenging as is usually the case @ shows. And the pics were taken on an ol'skool Nikon.
I did not bring a tripod or a zoom, as I did not realize how cool the good folk @ waka would be about takin pics. So, while I got some great shots there were many that although had potential to be great were slightly blurred or Jazzed up in some way. I did not have the heart to leave these out.
Soo rather than Post a bunch of blurred fuzzy nonsense, I took some of my Favorites and Doctored them up in a Photo rendering & publishing program and with some light adjustments and effects...Biggity-Bam!
THese are just the first wave of pics...I have a bunch more.
I am hard @ work on the PARTICLE pics which should turn out sweet.
One Love, Blessed Be. Jacob

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/rhythmphish

drop me a line @ rhythmphish@yahoo.com

P.S !! there is a folder next to the Wakarusa one that has a pic of the back of my girl's high school yearbook picture...here's why.
I went to se the Allman brothers sat, july 19th 2004 ( this past weekend as I write this) It was Amazing!! Layla was the encore and when the band was done Duane Allman's final recording Little Martha Filled the small minor league baseball stadium from the p.a and an amazing fireworks display filled the sky directly over head. Afterwards I went out towards the tour buses where I spotted Warren I of course stuck my fist towards the sky and spouted \"Warren! You ****in; Rock!\" He smiled ..Waved back and ducked between the buses. Oh, but who should happen to sidle over to the security rail but Greg Allman! Damn Right. Now my girl had plans for that evening that kept her from going to the show even though she really wanted to..So, I gave Greg My girl's high school pic ( which I keep in my wallet, close to my heart...well technically closer to my Butt as I keep my wallet in my rear pocket) Handing him the pic I explained that she could not be there....He plucked the pic from my hand studied it a moment and said in his distinctive drawl \" Well, that's too bad..We'd a told her to lose you an come with us\" an obvious chuckle from the small group gathered bubbled up and he signed the picture for her...When she heard the stroy and saw the pic she was needles to say excited...
So that was 2 Allmans (Derek & Greg) I met in 1 month in 2 totally diffrent places..sweet!
THanks for indulging me...one love

http://briefcase.yahoo.com/rhythmphish

drop me a line @ rhythmphish@yahoo.com

[tourman]

what does this have to do with this thread?

Great pictures by the way.