ALLEN CITY BLUES FESTIVAL Tickets

Music was ok, but venue sucked. They had a 9 hour blues festival with 2 stages, but didn't allow re-entry. When asked they said it was because in the past people were bringing in drinks from the 2 resteraunt/bars across the street. It seems like the "no outside food or drink" sign would cover that, but then they would have to hire a cop to enforce it instead of the senior citizen volunteers they had working the door. I think it was to make more money off their drinks and crappy food while you were stuck there. It didn't stop the guys a few seats from us from bringing in a BIG bottle of Jagermiester and chugging on it all night until one was falling down getting twisted up in the seats. Also saw lots of flasks with drinking in plain sight. The ushers (more senior volunteers) didn't care about drinking or cameras...one guy even had a video camera on a tripod set up on third row, it almost got knocked over by the drunk Jager guy. The inside venue was screwed up, with a half arena stage setup they only had 2 places selling food (one on each side) and during intermission only one person behind the counter to serve a very long line. Their soda mixture was totally screwed up and they had the worlds nastiest tasting $6 coke zero. My biggest complaint is they only had one men's room open for the whole place....both the bathrooms closest to the stage exits were curtained off and not opened. It was the first time I saw shorter lines at the ladies rooms than the mens...poor sound system and acoustics added to the list of failures for this venue. Of course I was sitting second row in front of some large amps so all I heard during Eric Johnson was him and a little drums, but even when heading to the back the sound didn't get much better...I will say it was a small venue and any seat in first level was close to the half arena stage. I moved up to empty seats on second row from my 4th row seats...lots of empty seats up front and no usher control on who sat in them....seats on floor were small and not very comfortable. I was glad to have empty ones next to me for elbow room.

We only arrived to see EJ and the Billy Cox Experience. We caught a bit of Wanda King and while she was very good, I'm just kind of burned out on the blues standards. When SRV made it big, you couldn't walk into a bar in Dallas without hearing the same damn blues songs over and over. The Billy Cox Experience was as close to Hendrix as you you could get! A wonderful performance and a great band. If you love Hendrix, you must see this show! Eric Johnson was amazing as usual. There were times when he and Chris Maresh (bass) weren't on the same page with progressions, but I'm probably one of the few that noticed. Eric's got his sound and it totally belongs to him. Just an incredible talent all around. The sound: rarely do I go to this large of a venue and hear such excellent mixing from the sound engineer. I give him a perfect 10. The venue: very long lines and wait times for beer, few food choices and no "in and out" passes which means you are held captive from the moment you enter to the moment you leave. That sucks! Also, for some inexplicable reason, the first four rows on the floor are contiguous. That means that you have approximately 50 seats together with no aisles in between. Think about how difficult that is if you're sitting in the middle! The person that came up with that brilliant seating scheme needs to have his head examined. We will probably never attend another show at this venue. The ticket prices are astronomical and the seating situation is ridiculous. Very disappointed.

Concert was great but stop shining the lights into people faces.

Well, I believe the rock and country genres were more prevalent than the jazz. I'm not taking anything away from the musicians' quality, but I thought there would be more jazz. The individual artists were good but the acoustics just don't do justice when a group performs. I don't enjoy loud music because everything gets lost in the volume. This event was no exception. The best way to listen was to plug one's ears. Only then could instruments and voices be distinguished. Bleacher seats were cramped and refreshment prices were exorbitant. $4.50 for water? Tickets were way over-priced. I would have enjoyed spending $100+ in another way.

Hope this event continues! Eric Johnson and Billy Cox rocked. Sound was great and seats were great and reasonably priced. Free parking - what more do you need? Interesting vendors too. I heard about this on LoneStar 92.5 and am so glad I did. They did interviews with Eric and Billy so I had some interesting background before heading to the concert. This event is well worth your time.

IF we learn from our mistakes, then next year might be better. Event Schedule was posted "old school", taped to windows at the event center. Nothing online. And how do you manage an indoor stage with reserved seats (for 9 hours), adjacent to an outdoor stage, and no IN/OUT privileges and people who want to see a headline act don't even know when to show up? This was a blues festival and even Eric Johnson, with all his talent, is not a headline blues act. This event needs a lot of work to gain a place in the festival arena. The guitarist who was allowed to share the stage with Billy Cox was woefully inadequate and obviously received a gracious nod of tolerance from the band. Scanner technology could scan for re-entry, or handstamps, to allow for free flowing festival envrionment between stages.

Billy Cox band stole the show for me. All the bands were great.

Overall a great show. Eric Johnson was a bit of a shredfest as opposed to a blues fest. But the guy clearly knows his scales. Malee Thomas Band on the Guitar Sanctuary stage was excellent. Lots of energy all around.

This was my first Allen City Blues Festival and their second annual event. They really put on a great show with 12 different acts on two stages throughout the afternoon and evening. Great Blues artists throughout the whole event topped off by an immaculate venue! One thing I noticed was how well kept the mens room was the whole time. There was always someone in the mens room keeping it totally spotless. Kudos to the cleaning staff at the event center, it really goes a long way to have such a clean facility to enjoy some great music in! Artists of note that I had never heard or seen live before and really found enjoyable were Griff Hamlin & the Circle City Horns; Wanda King & Billy Cox Band of Gypsies Experience. Keep up the great work Allen Event Center and bring these and other great artists back next year!

I can't say enough. The Allen event center is a great place and convenient to get to. Parking was free and close to the venue. Hard to believe such great talent can be seen in a suburb. I will definitely look forward to next year. Concert was all day but only went to see Wanda King, Billy Cox and Eric Johnson. Wanda King was good with their set of blues. Billy Cox cranked it up with many Hendrix tunes. Both guitarists were great. The audience rocked and rolled. Eric Johnson was a virtuoso and just amazing. I wish I would have arrived earlier to enjoy some of the outside music. There were bands playing inside and outside at the same time. There was plenty of food and drink available at the concession stands in the event center. Shirts and memorabilia (e.g. albums, DVD's) also being sold. Me and my family had a great time!!!