Hinterland 2020
- Thread starter Clonefan32
- Start date
Khruangbin and Leon was the perfect 1, 2 to finish off the weekend! I was super hyped for Mt. Joy and was not let down at all. Peck was a lot of fun too, such a unique guy. Overall today was pretty damn good.
I agree with the sentiments that Childers was not great. None of what we all really wanted to see. I will say he might’ve been sick as we saw the bottle of honey, and someone brought him tea or something. At least that’s what I’m hoping because that performance was just bleh. Especially right after the Black Pumas, who killed it!
Friday it was Yola and Caamp that did it for me. Fantastic. Anyway, just some still drunk ramblings still in the camper. Going to take one more dip in the pool we setup before we have to dump it somewhere in the morning.
I agree with the sentiments that Childers was not great. None of what we all really wanted to see. I will say he might’ve been sick as we saw the bottle of honey, and someone brought him tea or something. At least that’s what I’m hoping because that performance was just bleh. Especially right after the Black Pumas, who killed it!
Friday it was Yola and Caamp that did it for me. Fantastic. Anyway, just some still drunk ramblings still in the camper. Going to take one more dip in the pool we setup before we have to dump it somewhere in the morning.
We had the kids Sunday so we didn't make it to Leon. I was bummed. Mt. Joy was great and Khruangbin was alot of fun too. Otherwise, Caamp, Marcus King and the Black Pumas stuck out to me.
I wondered that as well with Childers maybe being sick. I saw the honey too, and some of his mannerisms when he was singing suggested he was really struggling to get his voice to do what he wanted it to. It was just a weird set because you could collectively feel the crowd waiting for it to pick up and it just never did. Even after he was done, I think there was an assumption a couple song encore was coming where maybe he played a few of his better known songs. But it just kind of ended, and the whole thing was awful blah.
I had to laugh on my way back to our car as someone drove by playing "Feathered Indians" and the guy next to me mumbled "at least someone played Feathered Indians" tonight. The mood in the crowd on the way out was far from impressed.
I'm still so very bummed I didn't make it after months of buildup - were Khruangbin and Leon fantastic? Did they do the whole set of his together, or just part? Looking at the crowd in the photos, it doesn't look like there was an abundance of distancing?
I hadn't had tickets to Saturday, only Sunday, but I have some huge FOMO about missing Black Pumas. They are amazing - was the show great? I'm living vicariously this morning.
The Black Pumas were awesome. Great sound, very charismatic stage presence. Not to continue to rag on Childers, but I do think part of the issue was him coming right after the Pumas. They were so awesome and so full of energy that it made things seem even more mailed-in by comparison.
A few things that stuck out from Saturday.
We should have gone earlier in the day. We showed up at 2:15 and ended up in the SW corner towards the top for the first few acts and the sound quality was absolute garbage. We moved down to an open spot before Marcus King and while the sound quality was way better, we spent the rest of the show watching people walk on the sidewalk.
That being said, the beer tents need to be on the outside, not the middle. There are way too many people walking through the middle of the seating area.
I really wanted to like Tyler Childers because I’m a big fan. I had about 6-8 songs in my head I wanted to hear and I heard one of them, Deadman’s Curve. You could tell the crowd wanted to be into it but nobody knew the songs they were playing. My wife was way ready to leave about an hour in and honestly I was too although we did stay to the end.
I was a Marcus King fan and his set only strengthened my fandom.
I feel like I would have liked Paul Cauthen if I could have actually heard him sitting in the back.
We should have gone earlier in the day. We showed up at 2:15 and ended up in the SW corner towards the top for the first few acts and the sound quality was absolute garbage. We moved down to an open spot before Marcus King and while the sound quality was way better, we spent the rest of the show watching people walk on the sidewalk.
That being said, the beer tents need to be on the outside, not the middle. There are way too many people walking through the middle of the seating area.
I really wanted to like Tyler Childers because I’m a big fan. I had about 6-8 songs in my head I wanted to hear and I heard one of them, Deadman’s Curve. You could tell the crowd wanted to be into it but nobody knew the songs they were playing. My wife was way ready to leave about an hour in and honestly I was too although we did stay to the end.
I was a Marcus King fan and his set only strengthened my fandom.
I feel like I would have liked Paul Cauthen if I could have actually heard him sitting in the back.
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I agree on the sound quality. It was really bad. On Saturday we finally found a spot where we couldn't see very well but the sound came through better.
It was clear to me the whole thing shifted from a fun, regional thing to a national festival. It was so busy, so crowded and I don't think Hinterland was prepared for the logistics of such a big shift. The acts were great and I'll probably go again next year, but the whole thing just felt alot different to me this year.
I was trying to judge how big the crowds were off of the photos, and it looked packed. If this year had limited tickets, I can't imagine what it would have been like full-capacity.
There were rumors of a large amount of counterfeit wristbands. Not sure if that's true or not or if that would even add substantially to the numbers. I mean, you'd have to have thousands of counterfeits to really impact crowd size. I think they just oversold.
I'm not sure you'd have to counterfeit them. Security was so overwhelmed you could have very, very easily snuck in.
Others probably agree but this was by far and away the busiest I have ever seen it. Not just increasing a little bit from last time in 2019 but way more people. Friday night really stood out to me because it's usually never that busy but it was slammed through the final act. Getting beer tokens was absurdly long, and it was a mess getting anywhere it seemed.
We are Des Moines residents and figured we would run into mostly people from around the area but it seemed like most we talked to were from out of state, and some quite a ways a way. Lots of Texas folks. I am not sure what happened but if this is how it is going to be then I'll surely miss the "little" old Hinterland. Still a great time with some amazing music.
We are Des Moines residents and figured we would run into mostly people from around the area but it seemed like most we talked to were from out of state, and some quite a ways a way. Lots of Texas folks. I am not sure what happened but if this is how it is going to be then I'll surely miss the "little" old Hinterland. Still a great time with some amazing music.
This was my exact experience. This may be slight hyperbole, but I think there was darn near double the people. I still had a blast but I'll have to rethink how I go about it next year because the days of strolling in around 3 PM and getting a good spot are over.
I do think some of it was just the depth on the lineup that drew in out-of-staters. We had some friends here from Denver who were telling their friends who all they were going to see for $140 bucks and they didn't believe them.
If you live in Des Moines go watch Animals As Leaders at Woolys in September
The good news is more people=more money=bigger acts.
Right. I understand how that concept works. Problem is the area is only so big. If they are strictly about size then they will need to add another stage or rethink how they have it setup because having only one section to pee when it’s that busy and then the beer tent taking up that much real estate smack dab in the middle is a problem. More money is nice but they need to upgrade their problems it caused because it was a mess for a lot of places.
I hate to break it to you, and I’m probably not,but beneath the veneer of an artificially created “community” with a dope logo, cleverly named camping areas, and 10 wristbands are some guys in suits smoking cigars around a board room table figuring out new ways to take more of your money so they make more money. That includes doing the most with the least. Upgrading problems hurts the bottom line. That isn’t a shot at Hinterland by the way.
They won’t change the set up, they will just create a new “VIP” line at the existing beer tent that requires an additional up charge to get in to that they know everyone will get. Mo’ money mo money mo (and no add’l cost).