Updated Monday, August 29
After seeing “Jaws” at Veterans Park Thursday night, the crowd lined up with camp chairs, sunscreen, water bottles, and sunglasses Friday morning, ready for the music to begin. Opening day of Beach Road Weekend got off to a stellar start with the National Reserve, Clem Snide, Aoife O’Donovan, Bully, Shovels & Rope, and Khruangbin, with Lord Huron and the Avett Brothers to follow.
The beats got cooking in midafternoon with the cool tunes of Mt. Joy and the dancing jam band warriors of Khruangbin. Khruangbin bassist Laura Lee Ochoa posted a picture of herself in a dinghy on Instagram in a nod to the Vineyard, with the caption, “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”
Lord Huron rocked out before the banjo- and guitar-picking heroes of the Avett Brothers closed out the night with some folk rock fuego. Playing some of their biggest hits, like “Laundry Room” and “Live and Die,” along with a broken-down cover of “Operator (That’s Not the Way It Feels)” in honor of the legendary Jim Croce.
Festivalgoers had a bevy of food and drink options to choose from, like gyros, potstickers, cheeseburgers, doughnuts, hot dogs, smoothies, IPAs, and more.
Friday’s crowd forecast a busy weekend. Joe Chambers of CK Communications Group said Friday’s opening turnout had more people than the festival’s first summer. “It’s rolling,” he said.
Friday’s festivities ended right before heavy rains and lightning lit up the skies over the Island.
Beach Road Weekend organizers announced Saturday morning that they would open the gates at 1:30 pm, with music starting at 2:15 pm. The concert venue at Veterans Park was waterlogged after Friday night’s thunderstorm. Music is usually scheduled to begin at 10:45 am.
Despite the delay, eight-piece funk/jam band Lettuce opened the day of performances Saturday with the grass still damp from the downpour the night before. But the rain didn’t dampen people’s spirits, as American folk rock band Dawes played some of their California classics in order to lead the audience into a very special surprise. Even with their already truncated set, Dawes introduced indie folk artist virtuoso Afie (“Bahamas”) Jurvanen and the rest of the band after an engaging singalong of “When My Time Comes.” Bahamas wasn’t slated to play Saturday, due to the shortened lineup caused by the heavy rains.
Following a fun and gripping performance by Bahamas, the heat of the day began to subside and a cool breeze blew through the venue. Bahamas’ energetic set was followed by American alternative rock group Guster. Lead singer, frontman, and multi-instrumentalist for Guster Ryan Miller donned a white suit with bright floral patterns as he pirouetted around the stage. After recognizing the amazing performance by Bahamas, Miller hopped off the stage and began romping through the audience, sending the crowd into a delirium. Giant beach balls were spiked and kicked around by folks in the audience as the rousing performance continued.
As the evening light began to wane, the entire event space was gilded with twilight while the legendary Billy Strings and the rest of his band filled the air with strumming, plucking, and picking. After a full set filled with hits, Billy closed his act with popular tunes like “Dust in a Baggie” and “Away from the Mire” before handing the stage over to inter-genre music god Beck. Beck worked his way through a number of beloved tracks, making his way toward his most incontrovertibly popular song, “Loser.” He thanked the people of Martha’s Vineyard before exiting the stage and handing the remainder of the evening off to local musicians, who took the smaller Martha’s Vineyard stage to show their stuff after the main lineup concluded.
There wasn’t a cloud in the sky Sunday as festivalgoers stretched out on blankets, hung out by the Lighthouse and Black Dog stages, and reveled in the concert’s last day.
Sunday’s acts opened with Jeremie Albino and Dalton & the Sheriffs. Livingston Taylor opened up the afternoon set, followed by Brett Dennen and Neighbor.
Folk master Emmylou Harris belted out the classics, and had her entire band join her to sing a capella.
Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit kicked it into overdrive with their set, playing hits like “If We Were Vampires,” “Cover Me Up,” and “Alabama Pines.”
In a moment between songs, Isbell told the crowd this year’s lineup of Wilco, Emmylou Harris, and others was particularly strong, adding that when he plays at music festivals, he often doesn’t recognize other acts, and sits in his trailer eating Funyuns. “No Funyuns today,” Isbell said.
Americana singer songwriter Lucinda Williams was unable to perform in her afternoon slot due to three members of the band’s touring party testing positive for COVID-19, according to a post on the festival’s Instagram.
Wilco closed out Sunday’s lineup with an hour-and-a-half set featuring songs from their nearly two-decade career like “Impossible Germany,” “Jesus, Etc.,” and “California Stars.”
Updated to include coverage of Sunday’s performances. —Ed.
Did they invite the tribe to open the festival with a drumming performance? That would be nice.
great idea Zeb. They could get Rick Bausman in there also.
We know that Mr. Epstein reads the comments here..
What do you think Adam ?
Great job by the way–
Love love love this! It should be a mandate!!
Can someone explain to me again how this thing benefits the island? Other then all the cops working overtime.
We were told concert goers would be going to main street businesses for food and drink. Yet, all that is available inside the gates.
We were told that concert goers would be staying at local hotels and motels. We all know about the promoters efforts to change boat schedules and secure buses, which came from off island, to get concert goers back to their off island hotels. And if island hotels are full, how many reservations are concert related and not just regular summer business?
Maybe a few islanders get hired temporarily to help with set up and take down. Local tent rental places probably get some business, but the professional companies that do the work of outdoor concerts tend to have their own tents and stages.
Do the promoters pay the town to close off a public space for 2+ weeks? And if so, how much?
Those of us who are still here in January and February deserve answers to these questions.
It benefits Adam Epstein’s ego. Is there anything more important (to him) than that? I don’t know if he takes a cut out of the proceeds for himself.
No Jackie. I do not. Not a single executive or manager receives a penny of compensation. The only people paid are those that physically work on site, who are mostly Vineyard residents.
We also have many fundraising programs where people work and donate their pay to specific charities, like the Animal Rescue, and the Edgartown Schools Washington DC trip.
We also donated tickets to local causes to raise funds like the MV CS Impossible Dreams auction.
We raised around $50,000 for local concerns.
“Don’t be no cloud on a sunny day mahn..
Perhaps a conversation best had at a town hall? You make some valid points.
That’s the trouble, with the state ruling that Covid still allows towns to conduct their meetings in secret, I mean online. We will never get the BOS from selling us out
Jim, gimme a break!! It’s a great event at the end of the summer to bring everyone together. You are one sour grape. People are at businesses… how about all the hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, gas stations, and small businesses that people go to while here. You need to have food and drink inside, who the heck is going to want to leave and walk to a place to eat and possibly miss their favorite band. Haters always gonna hate. I saw pictures of hundreds of local families having a blast!!
Can’t miss a “favorite band” with a lineup like this! This concert is the antithesis of what the island is supposedly about.
Please elaborate on this notion of what the island is about?
The lineup was pretty eclectic and featured bands that are pretty current for the most part. Would you rather see the same old tired 70s acts that were played out here long ago?
It is a vast improvement over the event back in 2019 when the two headliners were ancient and boring.
How much money will the average off Island concertgoer spend on Island beyond tickets?
How much will SSA income increase due to the concert.
How much will the concert gross will go to pay for accomodations and sustenance for the concert organizers, performers and staff?
Would your view change if the organizers and performers were Islanders?
Then the disruptions would be tolerable?
No offense, but we don’t “deserve” answers to these questions. I didn’t go to BRW and don’t necessarily like the craze it creates. But, if they are putting this festival on, presumably they are doing so within the rules set forth, and they don’t owe anyone an answer on how many people staying at island hotels are doing so for the festival.
Wah, wah, wah… crybaby.
This backwards 1950’s stuck up island needs Exactly this.
You’re exactly right, Paul. Some people live to bitch or their life isn’t worth living (not that it’s worth much now)
It certainly benefited our retail shop in OB. We easily sold over $1,000 in merchandise to folks that were only on MV for Beach Road Weekend.
As long as enough pockets are stuffed full of off-island money, that’s all that matters. These money makers that ruin the island way of life for many are all about greed. It couldn’t be any more clear, expressed more simply, and justified more obviously. Milking the island for all it can get may feel like easy money, too hard to pass up, but the island is sinking. This sort of greed is certainly easier to satisfy than what it takes to be a teacher or nurse or any of the other areas that contribute to the island’s infrastructure and next generations coming up.
Glad you made and extra grand. How much do you think the thrift store or Island Color lost due to road closings? Or any of the businesses in Tisbury Marketplace?
IDJ Jim, I was responding to your uninformed impression that BRW weekend didn’t benefit island businesses.
It benefited some, but it also hurt some. I’d call it a wash. No real benefit.
I would like to know how much money came to the town after the costs, and if the selectmen think it is appropriate to close off all the parking near Chicken Alley during two of the best weeks at the end of the summer? It is particularly upsetting to those of us who remember the annual Art Show, which was started by Olga Hirshhorn to benefit MVCS and was the single biggest fundraising event for Chicken Alley before this concert series took over the town.
it seems like no one else noticed it absolutely POURED rain for a good 3 1/2 hours last night! i left a series of questions on Facebook for the BRW people to try and answer, now i am curious about the town of Tisbury and its selectmen that had to have known this was something that could happen. what is the town’s responsibility in this potentially very dangerous, and damaging situation? was there a plan of action for this eventuality? on whose shoulders, assuming there was a plan, does the responsibility lie? i’m a native islander, and i know that field is very important to and for our children here, as there isn’t another one on the island. i have tickets for the show, but i’m more concerned with the field getting damaged by a large population of people that are not concerned with that at all. it’s only about a week and a half until school starts and we need that field. when can the town step in and say (as i think you are required to by law, due to the fact that Vet’s field is part of a protected marshland environment) that’s it, game over? there is also the fact that everyone who has a kid on this island knows just how much that field floods, and does so quickly, but is agonizingly slow to drain. is the town worried about the significant damage that WILL be caused? that is presents numerous safety issues? that people aren’t going to be able to throw blankets down for the rest of the weekend, which will likely cause stress and strife and more danger to everyone involved? were these issues discussed with Adam and crew prior to this much larger endeavor this year? what strategies if any, were discussed? was there a limit to the madness and damage to our (year-round islanders) field that is/was acceptable? will there be extra security, medical personel, and fire fighters available due to the increased overall risks? and lastly, is it worth it? thank you. i look forward to the town’s insight.
Azi- Iv was there on Saturday afternoon at around 4 pm. the field was dry– people were laying on blankets and towels and sheets. Apparently. the promoters of the concert had a plan and successfully executed it
I was there again today for the 3 pm performance of Emmylou Harris ( great performance)
No problems with water– they dealt with it.
Your comment “that people aren’t going to be able to throw blankets down for the rest of the weekend, which will likely cause stress and strife and more danger to everyone involved?”
was and is ridiculous..
Emmylou? Damn, I remain sometimes jealous of what y’all get to experience in the summer.
hey Don–go check out those recent pics of what BRW did to Vet’s Field and then tell me how ridiculous i am again. glad you had a great time! because it might be the last one EVERRRRRR.
Solution: turf field. Problem solved!
In Festival Info on the Beach Road Weekend website states clearly that “Music ends at 8pm”. This is simply not true. The Festival Schedule has a total of 6 Island bands on stage from 8:00pm – 9:45pm from Friday through Sunday night. Very dissappointed to see this oversite restated repeatedly in news articles relating to the festival.
The scheduled “Post Headliner Jams featuring your favorite local bands” and times may be found down the page under the headliners at: https://www.beachroadweekend.com/daypass
I went to the V.H post office yesterday, (on my bike of course) got my mail, and observed the scene for a few minutes.
I liked the vibe– everyone seemed happy, And traffic didn’t seem any worse than it usually is. The police were doing a great job of interacting with the public, answering questions, directing traffic as lightly as possible and generally providing the sense of organization and that this was a safe place to be.
The deep base lines of the music filled the air and reminded me of Jamaica.
I hope the concert goers have a great time.
I am not a single-issue voter. But last night, as I lay in bed, I changed my mind. When it comes to the next three select board elections, I am going to be a single-issue voter. When I moved here over 30 years ago, the Island was still rather rural (compared to my hometown of Washington, DC, which, in the ’40s when I was born, was a quiet Southern town). I do not believe that many would disagree with the statement that the quality of life on-Island has decreased in the last 30 years. My single issue is the Beach Road Weekend concert.
Last night I learned that the select board has signed a three-year contract for three more Beach Road Weekends. Please note: Nowhere have I said whether the music festival has (or will) improve or degrade the quality of life for voting residents in Tisbury. But I ask that those of you who can vote will take that question into consideration when you cast your vote. Down what path do you want the Island to go?
The results of the next select board elections may well determine whether Tisbury and, by extension, the Island can return to what it once was and may still be able to be.
It is time to get rid of all this festival nonsense.
Start with Illumination.
We don’t want the crowds.
The Derby disrupts our shoulder season.
We all know when the Island was perfect.
The day we arrived.
It has gone down hill ever since.
Cause and effect.
Horrible crowd management! Line to get in is backed up past Mainstreet at Educomp, barely moving…..Bottleneck at exit in the evening with only ONE lane open. This is embarrassing for the organizers.
Worse than the bottle necks from the OB fire works?
It was due to the late start from the rain delay pushing everyone arriving at a single time instead of progressively throughout the day. Our magnetometers were damaged by the water and we needed to resort to pat down and bag checks.
It was complicated but necessary to ensure a safe environment for ever.
Not clear to me how this bash benefits any Islander, or any resident of Tisbury, including Island businesses (BTW most Main Street businesses are owned by nonresidents).
Lagoon Pond Road closed, increasing traffic on other thoroughfares.
Thrift Shop closed. They lose a huge amount of money if closed for two days, including Saturday. I heard the sum of $15,000. Not sure whether that is per day.
Vineyard Haven is becoming increasingly rowdy, congested, and unlivable.
The Beach Road Festival adds NOTHING to the quality of life here.
The Islanders who attended the concert disagree.
The future of the Island.
The under forty crowd.
I think you’ll find that local businesses will see a significant uptick in sales as they did in 2019. We tried to rent the local school busses for our transportation routes but were quickly shot down. If you notice the school busses from Falmouth and Sandwich it’s because we had to bring them over to make it happen. The number of local people working from the beginning of the build to the end of the load out is pretty large. The reason we are working on shuttling people off island is because we basically bought every hotel room left the be had. I think it’s pretty short sighted to think the island isn’t benefiting financially and artistically. The logistical nightmare of getting something of the size onto an island is staggering. I work for the promoter and couldn’t understand why he just didn’t do it at the Barnstable fair grounds. It would be about 1000 times easier and about half the price. He does it because he cares about this place. Thinking that he comes here and walks out with bags of money is just plain false. Haters are gonna hate no matter what. And yes we pay for the field and post a bond to return it it’s state when we got there.
“The logistical nightmare of getting something of the size onto an island is staggering. I work for the promoter and couldn’t understand why he just didn’t do it at the Barnstable fair grounds. It would be about 1000 times easier and about half the price.”
Poor Mr. Sawyer! Obviously, the “logistical nightmare” that Mr. Sawyer complains of is what makes this show a “logistical nightmare” for the Island, too, but Mr. Sawyer seems to miss that point. The obvious question: What are the reasons for saddling the Island—including public agencies such as the SSA, law enforcement, and security—with this “logistical nightmare”?
Mr. Sawyer seeks to convince readers that he and his boss are doing the Island a favor, and so the island should put up with the mess. You know, Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.
Not only the logistics but the logic here make no sense. Mr. Sawyer is quite right re Barnstable: As he says, it would make more sense to hold the festival on the Barnstable Fair Ground and use buses to ferry (ha ha) Islanders who want to attend that festival to the venue. Those Vineyarders who get a job of some kind at the BRF could also be ferried to their jobs in Barnstable and back to the Island. Especially if the party ends at 8 p.m., as announced. Falmouth and Sandwich school buses would not have to brought over here to clog valuable space in the United States Post Office parking lot (but Mr. Epstein feels entitled to tap town, state, and federal resources for his private project).
So, why doesn’t Mr. Epstein listen to Mr. Sawyer?
It couldn’t be, could it, that the name and location are chosen to exploit the Vineyard “brand” to draw acts and audience here and shake the dollar tree??
Mr. Sawyer’s comments sound totally disingenuous—unless he has been dwelling on a distant planet for the past 30 years.
And as for “we basically bought every hotel room left the be had. ”
Huh. Really.
The public, and the hospitality industry, need to know how many hotel rooms were booked by the Beach Road Festival, and under what terms these were sold to festival attendees, and how many hotel rooms have already been booked for next summer.
So, for the last big summer weekend on Martha’s Vineyard, blocks of rooms are controlled by one entity?
I’m glad most think it was a financial boom for MV But let’s follow the $$ on the pledged 5% net profit donation to VH Community Services or whatever
As a Non profit filing biz Mr Epstein’s concert may not be all that profitable
The blocks of rooms are controlled by the room owners not the concert promoters.
Why do they have to answer any of these arbitrary questions that you are posing? Its an arts festival that provides joy and music to an island that has been starved of live music over the course of 30 years due to miserable people projecting their misery on others. In the 1980s and 90s there it was such a joyous place for the music scene, now you can’t even get a permit to have a food truck never mind live music due to all these dinosaurs running the island. It promotes the island and brings people here that wouldn’t normally get here. To say that the island didn’t benefit from this economically is not based in reality and no data or any real knowledge.
To summarize Peter Sawyer: “Pockets were stuffed from off-islanders and that’s all that matters, so shut up you folks who care about the island. Adam wants people to believe HE cares about the island. That’s his story and he’s stickin’ to it. And I work for the guy so I have something to gain by spreading this tale.”
It’s either all about the money or it isn’t. It’s all about the money.
Can hear the sound system (mostly booming bass and percussion) from my home nearly two miles away…
I feel for you David. No one cared when Obama’s birthday bass was frightening my daughter at 2am last Summer. Sorry!
Hey Mike – Genuine question for you. Have you ever posted on an MV Times article where it was not abundantly clear where your political allegiance lies? It is…very tired.
But Obama……
David– I live about a mile away and could hear those booming base lines also.
I was really upset about it also , as it was drowning out the lovely sound of my neighbors leaf blower.
Don, absolute classic line about the leaf blower. Actually laighed out loud. And this coming from a guy who proudly owns two very loud backpacks. But as I said the alternative would be to start up my very loud chainsaw to cut my trees down cause I ain’t rakin no leaves!
We had a bunch of sales to concert people in our retail shop in OB yesterday. Just sayin’.
The Island can never return to what it once was.
But there are still plenty of forks in the road.
For starters, this three-year contract was foolish.
The down sides of this bash are becoming obvious.
Not least, significant revenue lost by Thrift Shop: both customers and donations denied access to Lagoon Pond Road at Five Corners, so, doors closed . . .
You’ve mentioned “the thrift shop” a few times Katherine. Do you work there? From what I’ve seen over the years, Chicken Alley is a busy and successful venture. They limit donations, and they contribute to Community Services. When I go there, to donate or to shop it is always in the “off” season; the parking remains atrocious yet the store is always humming. You’re genuinely suggesting that the staff mind a weekend off, that the revenue loss is critical, that there is a negative benefit for islanders and visitors alike to enjoy a music event like BRW?
You are correct: The island will never return to what it what once was. Christopher Knowles observes that he moved to the island 30 years ago, and the quality of MV life has declined ever since his ferry hit the slip. 60 years for me, seasonal, now never in the ‘prime’ months. But there are still wildly popular events, large (Fair) and small (Pinkeltinks, library presentations, sunsets, a fish caught, the Perseids, the marvelous music) that energize young and old who love, love Martha’s Vineyard. I will be forced to sell because of the usual economic reasons, not because of the sourness of “not in MY back yard”.
Like most of the commenters on here I think the Island has gone downhill since the day I arrived?
Cause and effect?
Katherine– I couldn’t donate at chicken alley today. I decided that rather than go to the dump (which was closed) and pay to throw it away, I will wait until Monday–
katherine– Do you think the people who would have donated something to the thrift shop this weekend would have taken their items to the dump. which was for the most part closed ?
And do you think that items on the shelves at the thrift store will not be available for purchase on Monday ?
Sorry Katherine– think again—
Nothing ever returns to what it once was.
Do you want the Island to return to pre SSA days, or just to the day you got here?
I couldn’t help notice that all the busses shuttling people to various towns were from off island.
I did not see as ingle bus with vineyard markings at this event. . Can anyone tell me why scores of busses came over on the ferry and will have to return during one of the most busy weekends of the year rather than use the vineyard school busses that sat idle this weekend ?
You should ask the island bus companies….
We tried. The MV school committee would have no part of it.
Peter –That school committee is certainly firing on all cylinders these days..
Thanks for pointing out who was responsible for that brilliant decision.
Where is the publicly stated complete financial accounting for the Beach Road Weekend — a “Non-Profit” 301C music festival — for the years 2019, 2021, and 2022? As this 3 day Martha’s Vineyard music festival is in fact COSTING the Island residents money, the financial benefit for their expenditures must be explicitly enumerated for all actual Vineyard residents immediate perusal. That was the original sales pitch to acquire authorization for this festival. So, how much money has BRW made each year, 2019, 2021, and 2022? Where is the money now? Exactly.
Hi Jesse, as a 501-c3 established in march 2020, there are no financials to report yet.
As most people know, 2019 did not generate a profit, as it was the year we built our foundation. But, it was like building a hotel. You don’t recover the buildout in year one. You establish it and hopefully people come for a long enough period of time that you can pay for the cost to run it and also pay back the costs you’ve incurred to build it. It is incredibly rare for any business to recover its start up costs in year one.
We were over a million $ underwater after year one. Then in 2020 we cancelled due to Covid but still had spent $500,000 in marketing and production costs.
Last year, with Tedeschi Trucks, broke even, but we got live music going again after the pandemic.
This year, the first where the non-profit really manages everything, escalating costs from supply chain challenges, insane amounts of money spent housing staff, and increased labor costs have left us $1.6 million over budget.
Thanks to some donations, we are cutting that down, but not by enough to break even.
All of this will be published on Guidestar when the tax returns are filed for non-profits.
But, in the meantime, if you’d like to see the books, connect with me and I’ll show you.
Nothing to hide.
Try not to waste too much time on the naysayers. Troy if you walked on water they would say it’s because you cannot swim.!! It is a losing battle trying to appease everyone. at least 10,000 of us want your back stronger than ever.
Spot on Bob- I really like the walk on water analogy.
Is there a better word than analogy to describe that ?
This was my first time attending, and I loved it– Looking forward to next year. Thanks Adam..
I worked the event this year for the first time.I’ve lived here 40 years year round and have many years in the bar business, I was blown away by everything! It was a fabulous and well organized event., never mind the packed schedule of a truly unreal lineup. The island needs this and should promote it. Music is such a positive force and brings people together in a positive light, LIVE ON BEACH ROAD!!!
“Every party has some poopers, that’s why we invited you…. party poopers!” Ridiculous if anyone thinks their precious island of yore is going to return. I worked this venue all three days. There are logistical problems. There are hiccups. There are many many moving parts and I’d say it turned out pretty well. Improvements can be made and I’m sure they will. If you went to the festival and tried to enjoy the music, you would have seen a lot of smiling people enjoying and dancing to top notch entertainment in a happy, mix of ages, cultures and tastes. VH needs a LOT of help so let’s all try to make this work, okay? It’s three days. Go to Aquinnah or Edgartown for some beach time if you can’t deal with three days of music. Go visit your off island family instead of stewing over what else you can find to gripe about. Quit complaining; you’ll feel better!
What a great successful event for the island! It is great to see the island embrace live music again!! Its sad that the people that always complain about everything will complain about such a nice occasion.
Losing use of a public park for several days before, during, and after the concert, and booming base all over town, and totally disrupting local wildlife in the adjacent marsh… so we are supposed to abandon our homes and go up to Aquinnah??? …and be happy?
Here’s my top ten reasons for loving the Festival
1.$99. 3 day package bought back in Janurary
( My wife and I bought 4 packages each/with our kids in mind)
2.Reasobale prices for food and drink at the concert
3.Friendly vibes – shades of Woodstock
4. Walking around with a nice buzz and recalling so many festivals and concerts
I’ve attended since the early 70’s
5.Such great music – such a wonderful divergence of performances
6. Sunny skies – welcomming evening breeeze
7.Great and helpful staff
8.Easy access
9.Seeing old friends
10. Sitting, groooving, dancing with our kids and their partners and relishing those
moments of joy and exuberance.
Amazing event and very well organized, yet still improving year to year. Really appreciate the effort musicians took to regal us on MV and the kind employees of the event who made this event super positive and fun.
Beach Road weekend was so much fun. Well organized. Good crowds. Great performances. Some people live to complain. They will never be satisfied. If the island is really that bad for you, there is a solution. Move. Far enough where we can’t hear you anymore would be good.
Beach Road Forever! All you haters never!
breaking news— I went down to the park on my bike today (Monday at about 3 pm.) and took a look around. I specifically went to check out the damage to the fields . For those of you who thought the rain on Friday night would turn it into an unusable mud pit for the next year were wrong. For those of you who thought all the grass would be totally destroyed, you were wrong. As I watched the deconstruction of everything, I noticed they had put plywood paths down that the heavy equipment was for the most part driving on.
I did not get to see how the area under and around the stages fared, as the stages were still there. To me, it was obvious that the promoters here were doing what they could to protect the field. Of course there will be some spots that will require attention, and the beach road promoters are on the hook for that.
I am sure that some people will go down there and find a few blades of grass out of place, and will have hissy fits about it. —
This is the fourth event . If you listen to the same people who tell us every year the field will be irrecoverably harmed, it should by now be back to the swamp it naturally is.
I also went down there just before they started setting up.. Whoever takes care of that field should give the high school groundskeepers some advice.
It’s been a very dry year– perhaps the next time the water department decides to flush the system, they could turn a hose or 2 on that field. It could use a little water.
A refreshingly positive observation. Thanks.
Gene– well, I went down there again today. ( Tuesday 2 pm) .
The news is not quite as good toady. As more stuff is being removed. More damage is occurring, especially around the edge of the bike path.
But I have to say, they are making a very good effort. It appears, for instance ,that if a truck is going to be stationary for a period of time while it is loaded, there is plywood under the wheels. I saw plywood under the wheels of every truck being loaded. there are also plywood “roads” where traffic is the heaviest. It seems there is a crew constantly moving plywood around to where it is needed.
Of course there will be some damage and they seem to be making a real effort to mitigate it.
When I turned my computer on to write this, I was alerted to this message on islanders talk from the organizers about the field:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/423873044326032/permalink/5551566864889932/
I would opine that given what the landscaping crews are going to do (smooth it out, fill in low spots aerate and seed as well as other things, the field is getting much needed maintenance that will make it a better field in the future.
A little pain now, a little gain later.
hahahaha!!! NO damage, NO this, NO that, everything is JUST FINE!! the field looks EPIC!! better than it ever has! those Vineyard kids don’t need GRASS! that’s just spoiling them! I NEEDED MY JAMAICAN RHYTHMS!! sorry! patently..wait for it..RIDICULOUS.
Attended my first BRW. Our house is in OB, which is admittedly away from the crush), but my wife and I hosted 5 friends who came to the island just for the festival. Despite the hiccups (caught in the rain for 1 hour waiting for the #13), we couldn’t have had a better time. So many of the performers commented on how beautiful the setting was and how great the lineup was. This was a truly memorable experience for us and we hope to be there next year!
Show me the money. How much revenue, expenses, etc did this promoter make. Did the Island get the promised return $ on the event? Do the residents get a full accounting in order to determine that this return was justified to experience the noise, congestion, inconvenience. Residents should demand a referendum to validate that three year contract extension.
Why don’t you focus on building a school, instead? Town of Downers.
The contract has been extended.
That ship sailed.
I spent the past three days at the Beach Road Weekend. It was brilliantly organized and run, and I think Adam Epstein can better speak to the finances of how this benefits the island, and particularly the Town of Tisbury. I’ve known Adam for four years. This man is one of the hardest working people that I’ve met in my life, and one of the most competent businessmen that I’ve ever known. He knows what he is doing, and does it well. The snarky comments here are incredibly annoying and he doesn’t deserve it. If this concert event isn’t for you, then fine, don’t go. But to knock someone who works so hard is needless. There are plenty of other events on island that don’t get this kind of criticism. Thank you Adam Epstein for an amazingly wonderful three day event. I can’t remember that last time I had this much fun.
I’m sure anyone involved with beach road and all who attended can agree – it was like going to rock and roll heaven for 3 days
Yes, it was fabulous, and so well run. Only torrential downpours messed things up for a little bit. Everyone that I spoke to who was there was happy and ready to come again next year. The music was wonderful. People were happy. Photographer Jeremy Driesen has some terrific photos included as part of this article, and it’s evident how much everyone was enjoying themselves.
Quit complaining you will feel better is true! Try it, you’ll like it. The Vineyard is still here if you want it to be. Everyone here is minutes away from beautiful beaches, bike paths, walking paths, fun stores and restaurants, quiet places everywhere, parks, baseball diamonds, wildlife sanctuaries, osprey nests, Gus Bendavid is still here. Libraries and even a museum. Maybe turn off your computer now and at least go out in the back yard, the flowers need some water.
This was an amazing event. We went and we enjoyed ourselves. I will only speak from my point of view and respond to some questions. We have an inn in VH. This is normally NOT a busy weekend or it’s with wedding guests that don’t return and never go out for dinner as it’s all part of the wedding weekend. We blocked and sold all our rooms for Beach Rd Weekend. Some stayed 5 nights others 4. They went out to dinner every night in VH, I know as I made them reservations. And the amount of shopping bags I saw was unbelievable. This event added to our business. Every event is not going to benefit the whole island and every business always but this did for us in VH for a change.
Year-round Island resident, softball player on the Veteran’s Memorial Park fields, new business owner at the Tisbury Marketplace, and I worked 3 shifts setting up the festival in exchange for a 3-day festival pass. As a first time BRW concert-goer, with all the aforementioned allegiances, I was super skeptical of the event. I couldn’t help but ask myself “who asked for an event of this magnitude on the island? can our infrastructure handle something like this? what’s the real benefit?”
And then I attended the festival on Saturday and was reminded of one important thing: live music is magical!
I was floored by the performances. Everyone rocked. I was thrilled that this caliber of music was happening live on MV! That said, I have 3 examples of specific improvements that the organizers can take into consideration if they survive the NIMBYism and get another shot at 2023:
1. Recycling – Please for the love of god, recycle. I took so many pictures of the dumpsters during set-up and the toters during the festival. I understand that there are challenges with the island waste haulers but that’s no excuse. Waste management should be a priority and not an afterthought.
2. Communication – Do it early and often. Especially with abutting residents and businesses. Proactive communication and public relations could have saved a lot of heartache and backlash. Park closures, set-up/tear down schedule, potential road closure plans, sound check schedules, etc.
3. Chairs – Let people bring in their own low seating beach chairs instead of having to buy the crappy BRW branded ones which both sold out and ripped within 1 day. Again, I took so many pictures of abandoned beach chairs at the gates (which were supposed to be permissible according to the website!) and busted BRW branded beach chairs.
I recognize that this event is still relatively new and there are plenty of kinks to be worked out. I want this event to succeed because nothing compares to the magic of live music.
My partner (84) and I (83) went on Sunday. The staff, in particular, couldn’t have been more helpful to us, helping us to find shade, suggesting we wear “handicapped” bracelets to achieve a shady spot (we declined, but thanks!), finding us cool water. The music was great, particularly Jason and Wilco. Gotta wonder why people spend $150/day to stand around yelling at each other (talking, I guess), rather than listening to the music. Yes, recycling would be very good. And let’s figure out why the green chairs couldn’t come in but the blue chairs seemed to be unavailable. Gotta find better seating next year, because these old bones don’t take to sitting on the ground (and particularly, getting up) lightly. But all in all, a great experience and we’ll be there next year, god willing and the creek don’t rise, for at least some of it, if not all.
What if it was the Boston Pops?
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