FairWell Fest Brings Indie Country Megafestival to Pacific Northwest
It was a rather ambitious plan by the Austin, TX-based C3 Presents and their parent company LiveNation. But seeing the swelling appeal for independent country and country-adjacent indie rock/Americana, they decided to launch the inaugural FairWell Fest in Deschutes County, Oregon, which is in the central part of the state, anchored by the population hub of Bend that is known for having the last Blockbuster Video location in the United States (among other things).
Held at the impressive Deschutes County Fairgrounds in Redmond just north of Bend, FairWell Fest saw a reported 60,000 individuals participate in the event over the three days, with an estimated 30,000 showing up for what turned out to be the biggest crowd of the event during Zach Bryan’s performance Saturday night (7-22). The Turnpike Troubadours headlined Friday, and Willie closed out the festivities on Sunday, with dozens of other national touring acts filling out the impressive roster.
For independent country fans throughout the region and well beyond, the lineup was too good to turn down, and many traveled great distances to take in FairWell Fest, as well as the outdoor and recreational opportunities Central Oregon offers. More of a destination Festival than a regional one, the lineup lived up to any and all expectations according to attendees. No cancellations or subpar sets were to be had on the weekend, and the festival offered ample opportunities for discovering new artists as well.
For those living in the Central Oregon region, appeal is not what they were concerned about as much as the logistics of bringing such a large event to the area. It was only a few years ago that Central Oregon was considered one of the most isolated locales in the United States. That was the appeal of it for many of it’s residents, including many who moved to Bend, Redmond, or nearby Sisters from bigger cities.
“Bendchella” and other euphemisms were bandied about by some Oregon residents when they saw the ambitious size of the event. As a very independent-minded and locally-oriented state, there was little grousing about who was selected for the lineup of FairWell Fest since they were mostly independent artists. It was more a concern about the strain on infrastructure, the encroachment on established country and roots festivals in the region (read a detailed report), as well as the lack of support for local talent on FairWell Fest’s big stages that levied the most concern.
Word is that representatives from C3 Presents had scoped out arguably the first independent country megafestical Under The Big Sky Fest in Whitefish, Montana during previous years. In 2023, Under The Big Sky occurred the weekend before FairWell. Though 10 hours apart and two states over may not exactly sound “close” to those living back east, in the great expanse of the West, the two fests might as well be neighbors.
FairWell Fest and Under The Big Sky shared very similar lineups in 2023, including Zach Bryan, Charles Wesley Godwin, Charley Crockett, Luke Grimes, Shane Smith and the Saints, 49 Winchester, Bella White, and Drayton Farley all performing at both. Other big artists such as the Turnpike Troubadours, The Band of Horses, Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats, and Stephen Wilson Jr. had played Under The Big Sky Fest previously and FairWell this year. Part of the calculus for FairWell Fest clearly was that some artists would already be routing through the region because of Under The Big Sky.
Where Under The Big Sky Fest only has two stages, FairWell Fest took it to three. Where getting between stages at Under The Big Sky is rather arduous due to the distance and a large hill in between, FairWell Fest was relatively easy on flat ground. However, with three stages, fans had to sometimes make tough decision about who to see. For example, on Sunday both 49 Winchester and Drayton Farley were booked at the same time. Instead of staggering the stage times, the smallest “Metolius” stage would run simultaneous with the main “Deschutes” stage. Then in between, artists would perform on the 2nd biggest “Crooked” stage.
The FairWell Fest stages were named after nearby rivers running through Central Oregon. The “Three Sisters” peaks as part of the Cascade range could be seen from the site. The Deschutes Stage was also oriented to where you could see the crescent moon each evening during the headlining set, making for some cool visuals.
Despite the beauty and ease of the setting, FairWell Fest was still a bit taxing on patrons with temperatures in the 90s, and virtually no cloud cover for shade. Though the fest did provide shade under some general use tents and other places, throughout the day, people lined up around fence lines, beneath the few trees, and even used a FairWell Fest archway to grab some respite from the scorching sun.
Shade was not the only logistical concern that presented itself. On Saturday during Zach Bryan’s set, the crowd swelled so big, people were forced to stand or sit at the extremities and far away from the main stage. Though a set of satellite speaker bays were positioned behind the sound booth to help boost the signal for those in back, people could barely hear the music at all to the sides, with ticket holders frustrated they had paid a premium to see Zach Bryan, but could not hear him, or find somewhere to stand where they could.
Afterwards, 30,000 people all trying to leave the Deschutes County Fairgrounds at once resulted in a logistical nightmare, with many accounts of it taking as much as three hours to leave being shared online, while the traffic snarl also caused headaches for some individuals living in the area. Though not responsible for parking and traffic control, according to the Deschutes County Sheriff Department, they declared a safety emergency due to the traffic issue, worried about ingress and egress for emergency vehicles, and eventually stepping in to help in the situation.
Angry patrons took to social media to complain about the traffic experience. FairWell Fest currently holds a 2.2 out of 5 rating on Facebook, with the vast majority of negative comments coming from the traffic issue. Otherwise, when it came to public safety and arrests, FairWell Fest was uncommonly peaceful, especially considering the size, the age, and some of the frustrations of attendees for the Zach Bryan performance Saturday night.
“There were three arrests affected over the weekend,” Sergeant Jason Wall of the Deschutes County Sheriff tells Saving Country Music. “That is absolutely amazing. I would never have guessed three. I would have guessed it would be north of 20 or 30, which wouldn’t have been unreasonable given the amount of people there. We also had zero force responses. Our deputies did not have to get into any use of force throughout the entire weekend. That’s unprecedented. The patrons ensured a seamless event for us as law enforcement.”
However, there was a pretty serious medical emergency during the set of Luke Grimes (Kayce Dutton from Yellowstone). A man passed out in the VIP section and the show was stopped. The VIP section was cleared out, and the man was eventually taken away in an ambulance. This wasn’t just the normal heat exhaustion or drunk patron case, and some witnesses said first responders performed CPR. Saving Country Music has tried to find the status of the individual, but has not been able to learn any further information.
Entry into the event was also relatively easy, with C3 Presents mailing out wristbands prior to the event, and making sure prohibited items were clearly communicated. And though shade was at a premium, water stations were prevalent and easy, big water-cooled fans were available, and for VIP or Platinum upgrades, air conditioned areas were accessible.
The suggestions for improvement would be:
1. Better traffic management or capping capacity.
2. More clearly marked and enforced walking paths, and “no chairs beyond this point” areas.
3. More speaker bays on the sides of the main stage.
4. More opportunities for shade, especially in areas where the stages can still be viewed, if not moving some performance indoors in the cavernous venues on the Deschutes County Fairgrounds site.
5. Include more local/regional bands and businesses.
The Music
The reason FairWell Fest drew some 60,000 people from around the country was due to the beefy once-in-a-lifetime lineup the organizers were able to assemble. Despite being considered a regional band from Oklahoma for much of their career, the Turnpike Troubadours proved that the appeal for Red Dirt has made it to the Pacific Northwest when they took the stage to an enthusiastic crowd that sang along to many of their songs, and listened intently when they featured a few new ones from their upcoming album A Cat in the Rain out August 25th.
Despite the logistical issues that persisted during and after Zach Bryan’s set, the viral star also from Oklahoma put on a great show. As anyone who has seen Zach Bryan live will attest, fans were singing every single word to every single song throughout the performance. An extra special moment happened when Zach invited a fan named Andrew up on the stage to sing “Heading South.”
@zachlanebryan thank you andrew and thank you to the fairwell festival
♬ original sound – Zach Bryan
The crowd was significantly different on Sunday night for Willie Nelson’s closing set, much older, but just as appreciative to see the 90-year-old country legend in the flesh. Willie performed on a stool flanked by his son Micah, who sang a couple of his own songs as well from his band Particle Kid. As is often the case, it took a bit for Willie to warm up. But by mid set, he was cracking jokes, and tearing it up on the guitar.
One thing Willie Nelson did not do was call out Jason Aldean from the stage due to the recent controversy over Aldean’s song “Try That Here in a Small Town,” despite a viral video alluding that he did. Instead, one of the highlights of the set is when Willie sang “Everything Is Bullshit” with son Micah, which takes on a special poignancy after the Jason Aldean falsehood spread online like wildfire. Willie was also wearing an “Everything Is Bullshit” Particle Kid T-shirt on stage.
Another one of the standout sets from the weekend was Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats. Though they’ve been around for years, they came out like they had something to prove. Whether it’s because they got put on the second stage, or because all drugs are legal in Oregon, they put on an uncommonly raucous and inspired set. It was one of those performances where you swear to yourself you’re going to get a tattoo of the band on your ass since they were so good.
The set of Molly Tuttle and Golden Highway took on special significance since it came on the day after the release of their new album City of Gold. Not all heroes wear capes, but Molly Tuttle did when she took the FairWell Fest stage. Leaping tall buildings in a single bound and blazing through impossible flat picking runs are Molly’s superpowers. Tuttle is saving bluegrass music by instilling it with a new enthusiasm and vigor that has the future of the genre in good hands.
Perhaps the biggest discovery of the fest was Wyatt Flores out of Oklahoma. Playing the smallest Metolius stage on Friday, he drew the biggest crowd on that stage of the fest. The crowd was filled with enthusiastic folks who knew every word to his songs, including his recent single “Holes.” After opening for 49 Winchester and others, Wyatt’s garnered a huge following, and Charles Wesley Godwin came out and sang with him too. Wyatt’s band is stellar as well, including his fiddle player Kenzie Sue Miracle.
Another great discovery on the bluegrass side is AJ Lee and Blue Summit. A supergroup of sorts, it’s not just about AJ, who is a kickass mandolin player and songwriter. Each player in the band could have their own bluegrass outfit and takes turns singing lead. The band also includes Sullivan “Sully” Tuttle, who is Molly Tuttle’s brother, and as inexplicable as it sounds, might be a better guitar player than even her. AJ Lee used to play in the Tuttle Family Band.
Though you had to get there early, songwriter Caitlin Rose also turned in a memorable set on the Metolius stage. It’s hard to convince someone who has just been in the audience of Caitlin that she doesn’t have one of the most sublime voices in music, with the songwriting acuity to activate that voice in ways that roil emotions often left dormant in everyday life. Though she disappeared for about a decade, she recently released a new album called CAZIMI.
FairWell Fest also included a little bit of soul and blues in the form of Gary Clark Jr. and Yola. Gary Clark Jr. is about the perfect guy to slide onto the lineup of a country fest for a little change of pace. He’s one blues-sligning bad mother from Austin. Though a could fan can be rendered a little frustrated that Yola has gone from being a country soul queen to more of a straight up soul singer these days, it’s still hard to not bow to the talent.
Though mostly a country music festival, the FairWell Fest lineup also had an ample amount of indie rock with bands like Mt. Joy, Band of Horses, and Lucius. Jess Wolf and Holly Laessig of Lucius have harmonies and a harmonious presentation that is incredibly soul-stirring and inspiring. They’ve collaborated with many alt-country/Americana acts, but you would love for them to throw their harmonies behind a straight up traditional country Gothic project at some point.
Shane Smith and the Saints, Charley Crockett, 49 Winchester, and Charles Wesley Godwin all did killer sets as some of the fastest rising independent country acts out there. The crowd for Crockett was incredible on the 2nd stage, even if it felt like he was dragging by about half a beat after finishing a run of 60 days on the road at FairWell Fest. But he’d earned a set where he could exhale as one of the hardest working men in country music.
Charles Wesley Godwin not only sang with Wyatt Flores, he had Zach Bryan step off a plane and come sing “Jamie” with him during his Friday afternoon set. The way Godwin gives it all in his music, you get the sense he’d jump on a grenade for his platoon, take a bullet for his friend, or ford a swollen river to rescue his kinfolk.
The quality of talent was never the concern about FairWell Fest, and the weekend was one killer set after another. The concern was always about a big out-of-town promoter coming into local-oriented Central Oregon and taking over. In some ways, FairWell Fest ingratiated themselves to the local community by bringing so much economic stimulus and importing so much talent to the region.
At the same time, overselling Saturday night and being ill-prepared for the traffic snarl that developed was exactly what naysayers were afraid of, and fed right into the hands of the critics of the fest. What didn’t happen was the widespread concerns over rowdy behavior, crime, arrests, and other issues that local residents had voiced going into the fest, which is a testament to the type of fans FairWell Fest attracted.
Whether FairWell Fest returns or not is yet to be determined, though Deschutes County Fairgrounds Director Geoff Hinds said, “I believe they had a fantastic first year experience. We’re certainly open to having that conversation and that’s the decision they need to make.”
It also remains up in the air if C3 Presents and FairWell Fest can be facilitators and good faith partners in the effort to expand independent country and roots music further into the Pacific Northwest, or if they will continue to impinge on the established festivals that helped open up Oregon to independent country music in the first place.
Independent country is no longer underground. Events like FairWell Fest and the 60,000 people it drew to a remote area illustrate this. Like anything, that is going to result in growing pains. But ultimately, if it remains about the music and helps support the artistry, it can still be a positive thing.
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All photos by Kyle “Trigger” Coroneos. Apologies to artists not pictured or mentioned. With three stages, not everything could be covered. For more photos and media, check out Saving Country Music on Instagram.
Ambulance.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:15 am
Great write-up. Any thoughts on Stephen Wilson Jr. live? CWG “Stage AE Documentary” out now on YouTube; enjoying it.
July 26, 2023 @ 11:11 am
The Stephen Wilson Jr. set was one that I made sure I was front and center for, and it wasn’t particularly hard because he was running opposite of Sheryl Crow. The hard opinion that I formed after watching Stephen Wilson Jr. live is that I still don’t have a hard opinion on him. I certainly understand the appeal, and I am definitely not saying that I don’t like his music. But having come from underground country and seeing other artists doing what he does now years in the past, I just don’t find him as novel as I think others do. At times his songwriting is great. At other times if feels very derivative. His leaning into Gen X nostalgia is both cool and a bit off-putting. I really just don’t know what to make of this guy. That is why I didn’t comment on him in the article.
July 28, 2023 @ 5:02 pm
i understand the dilemma, but sheryl has a killer band. i don’t know if they get/got to prove it, but audley freed (guitar) is unreal, as his the bassist robert kearns (audley’s bandmate in Cry Of Love from NC- again, unreal band) and keyboardist jen gunderman (audley’s wife). jen beat me out for a gig once, so she has to be good…that’s what i get for NOT going to berklee :)) not to mention fred eltringham on drums. i mean, come on!!
check her out if you get the chance, lots of fun. sheryl is sheryl.
July 26, 2023 @ 11:28 am
He’s a talented guitar player and good performer. He didn’t have a full band at FairWell (just a steel player) and got the stage with bad sound but it was a good hour of music.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:23 am
Attended all three days. By and large enjoyed ourselves. The only major criticism not listed by Trig: they gave terrific time slots to bands that most attendees really didn’t care about (Lucius, Mt Joy) on the main stage and relegated some bands that people were *actually* there to see (Charley, Shane, 49, Molly) to either a secondary stage or a too-early time slot. Why does a zoomer indie band like Mt. Joy get to open for Willie instead of 49 Winchester, who had to play at 4pm? There were often 2-3 hour blocks in the middle of the day with zero bands we cared about, while some favorites went back-to-back on opposing stages.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:57 am
I agree that the curation in regards to time slots and stages sometimes didn’t make a lot of sense. So many of these festivals really want to include indie rock on the lineup because they think it broadens the audience and helps sell tickets. FairWell Fest is not alone in this. They may be right about that. After all, they have all the research data to pull from. But I agree that it comes across as strange, and may not serve the best interest of either those bands, or the audience.
Mt. Joy is a huge act, and they may deserve to be on the main stage in the penultimate set at some festival. But at this one, Charley Crockett and Nathaniel Rateliff were clearly huge draws stuck on the second stage. There are also indie rock bands that interface better with country/roots bands. I think Lucius is one of them. I’m not sure about Mt. Joy.
Another factor is often promoters slot bands by how much they pay them as opposed to where they are in regards to popularity at that time, and at that place. Also, since C3 Presents also manages bands, sometimes they like to push their artists in certain slots.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:24 am
Great write up. I had an absolutely incredible time at FairWell Fest! So much awesome music! Amigo the Devil absolutely slayed it and Yola was amazing. It’s unfortunate to hear about the parking/leaving situation but I arrived early each day, so was able to get out with no issue at all.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:58 am
I personally had no parking issues either. But I talked to enough people and read enough stuff to understand it was a major issue for people, especially on Saturday night.
July 26, 2023 @ 11:32 am
My understanding was that Lot 11, a huge gravel pit that had only one exit, was where a lot of general parking was funneled and where basically all of the parking complaints stemmed from. My girlfriend and I got parked there Saturday, but left in the middle to move to a different lot and escape that disaster.
You were technically free to park anywhere, but all of the general parking signs directed everybody towards Lot 11, which I think made people feel like they weren’t allowed to move somewhere easier to get out of like we did. There’s a lot of room for improvement on that front for sure.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:29 am
Wyatt Flores is about to blow up big time.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:58 am
He’ll be at the Georgia Country Fest over Labor Day weekend and I am really looking forward to seeing him. Another guy that’s blowing up with the younger crowd is Nolan Taylor out of Cincinnati. Saw him open for a well known Texas band and half the crowd of 300 plus and under 30 left as soon as his set ended. They came to see him play acoustic for 35 minutes and could not have cared less about staying for the headliner. Zach Bryan really has changed the game for this type of artist.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:37 am
Stephen Wilson Jr. Abraham Alexander and Amigo the Devil turned in great sets as well. It was my first time seeing Turnpike and a concert experience I’ll remember for a long time. My girlfriend is more of an indie rock person than I am and she loved Brook and the Bluff and Mt. Joy too. Great music and for a first-time festival of this size, this was the best possible outcome.
I wasn’t a huge fan of the structural setup. The decision to run 3rd stage acts against main stage acts, instead of against second stage acts meant that basically all of them had tiny audiences and were drowned out by the main stage during midset breaks. If you’re going to do two stages at once, I’d rather it be second and third simultaneously, and it’s paramount that the stages are designed in such a way where you can’t hear one while intending to listen to the other. One of my favorite things about festivals is being introduces to smaller acts earlier in the day, but with this setup it’s much more difficult. The sound on the third stage also sucked compared to the other two.
You were out $16 for a Tall Boy and $25 for a double mixed drink from the bar, which was hilarious even for a festival. Though perhaps the prices contributed to keeping the rowdiness down.
The kiddo you photographed playing harmonica with Shane Smith was also in the front row at Turnpike sawing away on that thing. Really conscientious crowd near me helped him get a spot on the rail and gave him space during the show.
With the combination of parking, heat, and oversale on Saturday I am absolutely shocked nothing more went wrong. They were prepared and dealt with issues reasonably well, but there’s no getting around how unsafe that combination could have been.
Overall a good megafestival experience, but I can’t say it reached the level of Big Sky.
July 26, 2023 @ 11:02 am
I think they would have done better to stagger the set times as opposed to running the 3rd stage directly against the 1st. If you start things at different times, you may still have one act run directly up against another, but there will also be more opportunities to see one act on one stage for half an hour, and then go see the majority of another on another stage. Also, if you’re mixing in indie rock, but those bands on at the same time as a country one, so there is less opportunity for direct competition.
July 26, 2023 @ 10:43 am
Who is that Zach Bryan greaser? That festival was fun until the soc squad showed up.
July 26, 2023 @ 11:59 am
Although I am not a big festival kind of guy, the reports, photos, etc you write about them is truly amazing! You get the feel and the flavor with these in-depth articles. Thanks for sharing for those of us who don’t attend!
July 26, 2023 @ 2:20 pm
We had a large group in VIP, 3 1/2 generations of us from 14 to 74. Fairwell Festival got a lot of things rights for the attendance and being the inaugural event. They also predictably struggled with some things. Most of them were mentioned above or in Triggers write-up. One that wasn’t that goes along with the competing stages is the militant time clock. There was no wiggle room to wrap up an encore and go a few minutes over. None more evident than Turnpike who had two minutes on the clock and started to appear to roll into another when the band abruptly left. Kyle Nix had drawn his bow when he looked and saw everyone else was leaving so he did to. My daughter had a hard time with the ending. That and they had the sound screwed up the first few songs and you could not hear the fiddle…..odd hearing Ryan Engelman have to pick up the slack on the intro to Bird Hunters because you couldn’t hear Nixy at all. Rough night for Mr. Nix and he was barking at the sound people after that. But everything from there to the ending was solid gold.
Another thing they should have done to alleviate the traffic is shuttles to/from the Bend hotels & campgrounds. Major oversight.
The Thursday prior we were at Wild Ride Brewing/Food Carts when a patron came up to us and asked if we were headed to the festival. He and his daughter made habit of attending a Country Festival each summer. As he had hotel reservations next to the venue he offered us his Premium parking pass so Thank You Mike from Indiana! Best part, he was wearing a SCM T-shirt he got from Trigger at KOKEfest.
On the music. There was not one bad act except for maybe Luke Grimes. He’s unpolished and new as a music performer. I’ll give him another chance since his set was disrupted by the medical emergency. He really should have removed his shirt….that would have kept the ladies’ attention at least.
On that, a major fail was the delay in response from the festival staff. At first they asked for security……then they asked for any in the crowd who were first responders before finally a medic crew and ambulance reached him. We happened to be with an EMT trained Portland Fire guy when one of our group called to get him. By the time he got there, medical staff was there and the person was conscious. They really should have a first responder at each stage.
Charles Wesley Godwin was a bucket lister for me and he did not disappoint. He put his all into the show and so did his band. Wyatt Floors had a big following, even a local following and with a younger crowd. Morgan Wade was good, thought her Portland show was better. She got into a rut of slow tempo songs that lulled the crowd until her Rick Springfield/Outfield medley woke them back up.
Molly Tuttle was terrific as was 49 Winchester. Would loved to have stayed the whole time but needed to see the end of Drayton Farley and then right on to Shane Smith.
Shane Smith has no business being a 5:00 undercard on the second stage. Period. I think they took it as a slight and then blew the doors off their 1 hour abbreviated set. Never miss a chance to see SSS. They put everything into every set. SSS & Nathaniel Rateliff deserved the main stage for sure.
Ok, so I asked my kids, “Why Zach Bryan?” I mean, I enjoy his music. I think he’s a good songwriter. Navy Veteran, speaks about the right things even if a little young and myopic. But why him as opposed to any of the other talented artists to catch fire with the Zoomers, Y’s & Z’s?. Their response: “probably because of TikTok. Everyone knows him and likes his music and messages”. Fair enough. That makes some sense. Now having witnessed the enigma and all 30,000 (had some security tell me ‘North of 35K’ by the way) Beatle-manic like fans, he blew me away. Not only was his performance great, he brings energy to the crowd and is the only band outside of Turnpike where I see nearly everyone singing every word to every song. Bringing “Andrew” up on stage (who killed it on guitar and managed to get the lyrics right while all jacked up from the shock) was one of the most heartwarming things I’ve ever seen. We saw him in the parking lot with his gifted guitar still floating around on a cloud as every car honked and yelled “Andrew!” as they exited. If Zach Bryan is my kid’s generation’s Ragweed or Troubadours then I have faith in them.
I think I would attend again but I would attend differently…..focus on the undercards. I’m confident they will make some changes. I filled out my survey. Not much hope for cheaper drinks though.
July 27, 2023 @ 9:48 am
Count me in with your daughter on that clock business. I was distracted by it a few times during the set, and then started doing the math during the encore. I had fingers crossed for a “Long Drive Home” or something, and then felt cheated that they walked off with a few minutes left, but not enough for another song. I don’t know how many songs they played all in, the past few setlists were 20, not sure if they only hit 19 and there was another planned.
And very unfortunate that the most iconic fiddle riff in their catalog was absent due to technical issues. If you check the setlists from the NY shows, they moved “The Bird Hunters” to the #4 slot. But great mix of songs otherwise and fantastic evening overall.
Anyone else catch that random 49 Winchester pop up for “Russel County Line” on the Metolius Stage, very cool to toss out a song for the Friday crowd.
July 26, 2023 @ 2:32 pm
I went. Rented an Airbnb about 3 miles away and walked. If you drove, I’m sorry it sucked but what honestly did you expect regarding traffic?
It was a mega fest, both in quality of music and how many people. Tooooo many people, so don’t tell anyone about the smaller festivals, mm-Kay? Wyatt Flores and Dayton Farley were my awesome new picks, but everyone performed their hearts out. When you see Shane Smith from closer than 500yds, it’s much easier to get into their awesome energy. In this regard I preferred Key West.
Regardless- it was worth the 8 hr drive each way, and the 18 total miles of walking back and forth over three days. Even if you just get a hotel within a mile it is zero issue. I also loved that there was no line for almost anything- food was generally excellent, drinks easy to get if expensive, no line to get in, or leave. That’s some logistics that a lot of other festivals should be eager to copy.
July 26, 2023 @ 2:38 pm
Apologies for making a long post longer. I did not share about Willie Nelson. Let’s face it. Willie is well beyond his prime. I think due to his lung capacity he has to speed up lyrics and verses to match his exhale. If you expect polished performance, don’t. But he’s still an American Treasure and I liked this show more than one I saw 12 years ago. What is amazing is that he can still pick his guitar as well as ever. If son Lukas sang while Willie picked, you would never be able to tell the difference between that and his prime years. He had enough of a supporting cast that it worked and the setlist was near perfect……except for no Pancho & Lefty 🙁
July 26, 2023 @ 4:54 pm
Went all three days and would go back next year. All my complaints are same as most. I thought it was agreat time overall. Saturday night was definately oversold. All the acts we saw were great. First time seeing Charley, he was awesome. No mention of Trampled by Turtles yet, but their set was as good as any we saw. Thanks for the coverage of the event!
July 26, 2023 @ 5:46 pm
Hey it’s a festival folks, pack extra beer and water for after the show-and most definitely a 175 disc to throw while the masses sit in traffic, just saying
July 26, 2023 @ 8:50 pm
Zach Bryan is to country music like what Joe Bonamassa is to white blues performers.
July 27, 2023 @ 6:07 am
As a teen and young adult I loved attending these types of huge concert festivals. My first was metal day of the US Festival with over 200,000 people on a blistering hot day in California. In the Army I attended several Monsters of Rock festivals, and a Rock Am Ring in Germany. All of these were great experiences.
Now that I’m in my 50s I look at these pictures and just think how miserable I would be shuffling around with thousands of people in the heat lol. I’m glad though that there is this movement within independent country music to provide people the same type of lifetime remembering experiences I had as a young adult.
July 27, 2023 @ 9:45 am
I feel this comment, as a fellow 50s person. I live 30 min from Fairwell Festival but not interested — way too much for me. My 20-year-old son went and had the time of his life.
Saw James McMurtry last night in front of a sold-out crowd of 250 people and thought to myself that this is about as big of a show as I would like to attend. Hell of a show by the way.
July 28, 2023 @ 6:58 am
I saw McMurtry earlier this year at a small venue. Fabulous show. And as another 50s person, I appreciated that he was done by 11p on a worknight! I haven’t been to a full day festival in quite a while, although I’m not opposed to it . . . maybe just not in the middle of summer.
Thanks for the write-up and photos Trig!
July 28, 2023 @ 11:46 am
I’ve been to a ton of festivals in my years. Was also at the metal day of the US festival in 1983. I think there were 350,000 plus on that one day. For anyone commenting about the issues leaving the Fair Well festival….for the US festival you had to walk 5 miles in a river bed to make it to the parking lot which was just dirt field after dirt field. We did not get out of the parking lot until 10 am the next morning. There were no people directing traffic. Attendees got out of their cars to direct traffic. Everyone was just sleeping in their cars stuck in traffic. And to top it off people for day 3 were arriving while everyone from day 2 were still trying to get out. Good times !! Was still an awesome day of music.
July 28, 2023 @ 12:19 pm
I was just a teen for the US Festival. Drove to LA from Bakersfield with my friends without telling my parents. We arrived the day before and had nothing but our tickets. It was seriously hot, but luckily other concert goers gave us food and drinks. I slept on the hood of the car listening to the bands from punk rock night a couple miles away. I remember the walk back and forth to the concert area which was basically a fenced off area in the middle of nowhere. There was like an ocean of people in there, very few food and drink areas or bathrooms. At least a hundred degrees. At one point we went the back of the crowd and napped in the shade of a vendor tent during Judas Priest because we had just seen them, and couldn’t take the heat anymore.
It was crazy, miserable, and one of the most exciting and memorable times of my life.
July 27, 2023 @ 1:45 pm
Great write-up Trigger, I am glad you got to see it first hand. Looks like I made a mistake by missing Molly but I was very sunburned and wasn’t gonna brave it too early that day (Shame her set was at 3:15). Nathaniel Ratliff was awesome, certainly a highlight as I didn’t go there for him. Wyatt Flores was great and like you said he’s gonna get real popular very soon. The only thing I wish was more people were there to see someone other than Zach Bryan, Unless you wanted to brave the heat and people you were regulated to hear from a distance where most were just talking because they didn’t know the artist.
July 27, 2023 @ 6:40 pm
I drove down on Sunday morning to visit Mickey Newburys gravesite and to see Willie, neither of which I have ever done. For me, it was a life-changing trip. Funny thing, I easily found the cemetery where Mickey is buried but I walked all around the place for about an hour and never found it! I thought it probably would have seemed funny to him if he was looking down. I listened to his American Trilogy album the entire 6 hours down. When I got to the place I easily found parking on the street. As far as the event goes, my main concern was not overheating and seeing Willie. That said I sat in the shade where I could find it and listened to some good stuff. Snuck into the VIP hall which you kind of need to do. Willie was even cooler to see than I imagined. Funny thing is, the next day leaving I listened to Willie the whole 6 hours home and I put on his latest Family album. Seeing him with his old man voice and hearing him on record sounding that way are now super meaningful to me and I treasure the memory. Also I’m probably going to go on a big songwriting kick which feels great!
July 28, 2023 @ 2:02 pm
Thanks for sharing. I went to school with Mickey’s daughter and my grandparents are buried in the same cemetery. He doesn’t have a giant headstone or anything so I can see why you weren’t able to find it. Super thankful I got to see Willie, sounds like you had a similar experience.
July 28, 2023 @ 10:02 am
I worked 22/24 days and the two days off were due to weather/smoke and weren’t planned like today. For the first time, I’m behind on my SCM reading.
I saw your Instagram post earlier in the week about Wyatt Flores and I have been streaming his singles/EPS on Apple Music endlessly ever since. CWG posted a video last night on social media of him and Flores covering Chris Knight’s “The Jealous Kind” backstage. Incredible.
We have a music venue here in SW PA – The Pavilion at Star Lake. It’s in the middle of nowhere – 27 miles east of Pittsburgh, 11 miles west of Weirton, WV (the closest “city” to town). It opened in 1990 and has a capacity of 23k. I learned early in the mid 90’s to go early and tailgate and stay until the golf carts kick us out. When you go to a concert out there, it’s an all day/ night event.
Recently, traffic congestion/ gridlock/ nightmares – has reared its ugly head, again. Dead & Company played there June 5th and many people never made it into the show, others abandoned their cars along side the road and walked. There’s a story of a school bus being stranded on 22 and concert goers giving the kids bottled water from their tailgating coolers.
Everyone is asking, what changed? I think people changed. The same people who forced change on Major League Baseball, don’t have the patience or time to properly prepare to attend huge events held in the middle of nowhere. You can’t UBER last minute to these destination concerts and everyone’s attention span is too short to drink a beer and tailgate.
I’ve seen comments on social media that if people have to go 3 hours early/ stay 2 hours later, they don’t want to attend concerts at Star Lake anymore.I believe most of these comments are the city folk that live near or in Pittsburgh. The trucks with WV plates seem to have no complaints (or anywhere else to be after the show).
Is it me or have the Turnpike Troubadours lost steam heading into the release of their new album? Until this article, I don’t think I’ve heard their names since early Spring.
July 28, 2023 @ 3:47 pm
Wyatt Flores is a star waiting to be found!
Can’t say enough good things about this kid!
July 30, 2023 @ 5:12 pm
Although he vaguely resembles the Sith Lord Kylo Ren…the Wyatt Flores I just listened to is excellent, and yet another musical discovery that “Saving Country Music” has led me to.
So down with Jason Aldean (not because his politics are idiotic, which they are, but because his version of corporate country massively, massively sucks!) and off to Spotify for more Wyatt Flores!
July 31, 2023 @ 10:46 am
Glad to see AJ Lee on here.
Saw her band a few years ago at a small bluegrass festival and they are great. Sullivan Tuttle completely blew my mind, never saw anyone pick that fast, and he was pretty young then.