Starlight Music...

10,780 Views | 64 Replies | Last: 8 yr ago by Scooley01
Tailgate88
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AG
Concert. Not series. One night, and no outside food or drink? We'll pass this year.

http://www2.cstx.gov/pc/starlight/2015/index.html
dfphotos
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Need to ****can that idea. It's not what it was not will it ever be.
rsa
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It is long past time to put this concept out to pasture.
The Original AG 76
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^^^^
Serious question:
Why? What's wrong with the concert?
Venue? artist? $$$ for concessions?
Never been to the venue so it's an actual question
BCStalk
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It's gone down hill every year. Very disorganized. I used to love going but stopped two years ago.
beefly95
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Not being allowed to being outside water and food to a city park event is ridiculous and greedy. Organizers and CS parks & recreation should be ashamed.
Mr. Griswold
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I went to one with an Eagles cover band a few years back. They weren't very good and we haven't been back since. I know good talent is expensive.
TXAG 05
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quote:
Not being allowed to being outside water and food to a city park event is ridiculous and greedy. Organizers and CS parks & recreation should be ashamed.

The concert is FREE. They have to make money somewhere.
D_Wag97
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From the site:

"Load up your picnic baskets, coolers, blankets and lawn chairs for rockin' entertainment under the stars at the City of College Station's Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater."

And then lower down on the site:

No glass, kegs, coolers, containers or outside food and drink allowed. Concessions and alcohol will be available for purchase.
O.G.
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The act on the 30th is actually a pretty good one, Cody Johnson has some good music.

However, not allowing outside food/drink is working towards killing the entire idea.

I know, lets take a good thing that people enjoy, over regulate it and make it something we can make money on....because you know, there's soooo much other family friendly stuff going on around here.
2468
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quote:
quote:
Not being allowed to being outside water and food to a city park event is ridiculous and greedy. Organizers and CS parks & recreation should be ashamed.

The concert is FREE. They have to make money somewhere
Your definition of FREE differs from mine.
AggiePirate
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Predicting it will be cancelled due to rain.

*Also nice "hill" pun BC Stalk
GoneGirl
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quote:
From the site:

"Load up your picnic baskets, coolers, blankets and lawn chairs for rockin' entertainment under the stars at the City of College Station's Wolf Pen Creek Amphitheater."

And then lower down on the site:

No glass, kegs, coolers, containers or outside food and drink allowed. Concessions and alcohol will be available for purchase.
That's too bad.

They used to allow you to bring outside food and drink - just no glass bottles (for obvious reasons), I wonder what changed.

I still have a t-shirt from years ago that had the whole summer line up on it.
PhiAggie
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Itd be funny if people just camped along the sidewalk outside the gate with their coolers and enjoyed the music from there. The park area along Dartmouth and Colgate would be a good spot.
TXAG 05
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quote:
quote:
quote:
Not being allowed to being outside water and food to a city park event is ridiculous and greedy. Organizers and CS parks & recreation should be ashamed.

The concert is FREE. They have to make money somewhere
Your definition of FREE differs from mine.
The concert is free, meaning admission to the show is free. How does your definition differ from that?
Scruffy
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Didn't several of the last few years concerts get shut down because people living nearby call CSPD for it being too loud??
isitjustme
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quote:
The concert is free, meaning admission to the show is free. How does your definition differ from that?
Free to attendees doesn't mean free. Some entity has to pay the band, staff, etc. That entity is the City of CS. Since I live in Bryan, that's no big deal with me (I get to focus on paying for Texas Reds). But if I lived in CS, I'd be paying albeit just a little bit.

When the starlight series started, they had a lot of really good acts and some cover bands. Ray Price even came, as did Marshall Tucker Band, Earl Thomas Conley, and Trout Fishing in America. About 4-5 nights per series. The crowds were large, and we were often part of them. Brought our food and beverages and had a great time.

Then they started reducing the number of nights and quality of the acts and we quit going. Now they're down to one night and no outside food and beverage. The "series" now is not very good. But at least CS taxpayers will be saving some money on this that now will likely be wasted elsewhere.
aggmaroon
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If this is there idea of a fun free family event, I'm out. I've gone for years, but I'm not interested in one night with no outside food or beverage. It's sad. I really enjoyed these in the past.
dave99ag
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quote:
Itd be funny if people just camped along the sidewalk outside the gate with their coolers and enjoyed the music from there.

People do that quite often for the shows in The Woodlands. Granted it's for artists like Dave Matthews Band and not the bands that cover them.
TxAgg07
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Geez, this board truly will ***** about anything.
isitjustme
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quote:
Geez, this board truly will ***** about anything.
People will even ***** about people *****ing about anything!!
Jimmy Valentine
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If I remember correctly this event is paid for out of Hotel Tax funds. That money is supposed to be used to bring more people from out of town. The way the event is now, there is little to no one coming in town for this, and staying in hotels, so this is a very poor use of these funds. They either need to make it a large attraction, or don't do it at all.
techno-ag
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Cheer up. Worse things could happen.
TexasAggie_02
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i saw the Bellamy Brothers there back when i was a student. I believe that was the only time i've been to a "free" starlight concert.
Tim Weaver
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The starlight series, and Wolf Pen events in general are entirely micro-managed by the parks department. That's why it's going down the drain.

Parks and Rec won't hire a real concert promoter to do this job, thinking they can do it themselves. Which of, course, they can't. They were watching attendance fall and then cutting down the amount they spend on acts to compensate, which of course means that fewer people will come and see these cheap cover bands. It's a cycle which has landed them here. One concert which should draw pretty well (CJB is hot right now) but they will charge for food and drink. Which will probably go over like a lead balloon. I'm guessing next year won't have anything.

Parks and Rec needs to charge a flat-rate for the venue and step back and watch what happens. Don't try to control ticket sales, and don't put your grubby hands in where it doesn't belong (concessions). Wolf Pen is a decent facility, and now that the fence is up and a promoter can control the gates. You would make money from this facility, and the Brazos Valley would probably see some great shows!
TexasAggie_02
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hell, couldn't they do a BBQ cookoff or something to compete with Texas Reds? You could have vendors/teams all over the damn park, and then you have a real amphitheater where you could have Music all day long, with marquee performers in the evening.
PhiAggie
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The hotel tax is the agreement the COCS made to A&M athletics to help pay for the new Kyle Field instead of playing a season away. Thats where the hotel tax is going for the next x number of years.

If not, every local would go out of business. Remember?
Anna Molly
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Every year - EVERY YEAR - since the beginning of Staright, people on this board have b*tched about Starlight, complaining about use of tax dollars, use of utility dollars (which haven't been used in years so please don't bring up that tired old trope again), too many concerts, too loud...and now the complaint is it's only one concert and no outside food/drink.

Meanwhile, this is happening
https://www.facebook.com/events/364718157070831/
and I can pretty much guarantee nobody will b*tch about that.

It's as regular as people complaining about Best of the Brazos, EVERY year. People on this board will complain about anything.
agnerd
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At this point, why is the City even involved? Just have a promoter book the band, rent the ampitheater, and pocket the profits from concessions. Or just have it at a bar with no cover. That's pretty much the same thing...

Or is this whole thing just a clever money-laundering scheme? Use the hotel/motel tax money to pay for the act and then count concessions revenue as income the city can spend without the strings that are attached to the motel tax.
Tim Weaver
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quote:
At this point, why is the City even involved? Just have a promoter book the band, rent the ampitheater, and pocket the profits from concessions. Or just have it at a bar with no cover. That's pretty much the same thing...

Or is this whole thing just a clever money-laundering scheme? Use the hotel/motel tax money to pay for the act and then count concessions revenue as income the city can spend without the strings that are attached to the motel tax.
That's what the local entertainment industry has been asking for years. Why is the city involved? Other than owning and renting the venue, I mean. Because that's where it should end, but no! The city wants to control ticket sales and concessions if you are an outside promoter. Just charge a flat fee for the venue rental and you will see real revenue coming off of this place! And stop trying to promote your own shows, because it just isn't working....
Tim Weaver
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Also, the the Palace Theater is cool and all, but it can not host the type of shows that Wolf Pen can.

It is also brutal to perform inside the old screen house. The reverberation is crazy inside there.
nashvilleaggie11
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I saw the newly printed City of CS Parks and Rec magazine today at Copy Corner. Looks like you can rent out use of the amphitheater. For a Friday or Saturday night commercial use, it's $1200. Not bad at all. Just need someone who knows what they are doing to rent it out and put on a show.
BCS-Ag
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Don't forget the venue has noise issues. You have to be done by 10:30p and keep the bass volume way down or you can hear it all over town due to the way it is designed. Makes booking decent acts a much harder proposition.
Mr. Griswold
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quote:
Don't forget the venue has noise issues. You have to be done by 10:30p and keep the bass volume way down or you can hear it all over town due to the way it is designed.
Jeez. In that case, I bet a Parks employee designed it too.
war hymn aggie
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FWIW....my family enjoyed the free concerts for many years. During those years, we heard some pretty dang-good groups, too. We never took these concerts for granted & were always appreciative that we lived in a community that allowed us the benefit to enjoy these little luxuries in our lives. During that late-spring / early summer, our family looked forward to attending these concerts, but not really because it was free.....it was because it was an event that the whole family could enjoy. Looking back, It wasn't something that was ever discussed, but these events probably helped solidify our family & our family values.

I realize that times have changed now, but I'll always fondly remember the family outings that we shared while relaxing under the stars while listening to some famous (& not-so-famous) groups.

As my daughter now has kids of her own, I would hope that the next generation could enjoy these events as well, but unfortunately it doesn't look like it's going to happen at the Amphitheater, and this makes me sad.
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