Riverbend draws local, big-name artists

Every summer downtown Chattanooga is transformed into an outdoor concert extravaganza for nine nights for the music festival known as Riverbend. Students have scoffed at previous attempts for Riverbend to provide entertainment students can relate to.

Past notable attempts include Kid Rock, American idol winner Chris Daughtry and Everclear.

Once can wonder if the planners of Riverbend have been purposefully clueless or they really do not know what college kids want to hear.

Yet this year for whatever reason the Riverbend line-up has announced gem after gem of bands that I am personally very excited about. The nineties favorite Train will appear along with, the Wailers, the B52's, the Commadores, Three Dog Night, Steven Curtis Chapman, Little Richard, Willie Nelson, Montgomery Gentry and Adrian Belew, who has played with King Crimson, Nine Inch Nails, Peter Gabriel and David Bowie.

The Riverbend team known as, the Friends of the Festival began planning for this years line-up last August right after the previous Riverbend festival ended.

Susan Baker, director of public relations at Friends of the Festival, said this year the considerations for picking the acts were driven by the budget, the touring schedule of artists and if the artists were routed in this area of their tour.

Attendance at the Riverbend festival is 85 percent local. Baker said the exciting part of this year's festival for her was the new up-and-coming artist Jake Owen who was booked before he gained notoriety.

One thing that can not be said about this lineup is a lack of variety. The appeal for me for the Riverbend festival is the diversity all jam-packed into one night and how vastly different the next night of the festival will be.

Joe "Dixie" Fuller, who selects and books the lineup for the Riverbend festival said this year's budget was shortened but is very glad that the pin price for the festival did not increase. "We did our job in finding unique things for the festival at a good price," Fuller said.

New additions to this years festival will include singer/songwriter forums at the Tennessee Valley Stage where the artists will interact with festival goers about their music.

At the Unum stage on closing night a Riverdance like act called Barrage, comprised of Irish dancers and musicians, will perform.

In the "Music of Cole" musicians from the Appalachia will perform and bring an art exhibit with them. The standard street performers of the festival will return along with their visits to assisted living facilities in an outreach program.

The eat and greet with the artist program will continue as well. One of the best things about Riverbend is the true local feel of the festival. Fifty percent of the lineup for the festival is local acts, and this year the Soddy Daisy High School marching band, whom has been invited to the Rose bowl this year, will officially open up Riverbend.

Pins for the festival that allow access to every night and all entertainment go on sale April 27 at Mapco Marts for $28 and online. At the gate they are $37. I will most certainly be there.