Judging one year--THIS year, 2012--only...I don't see the point of using nostalgia as an implement to analysis...THE best concert that I've seen in decades was the show that Paul Rodgers put on at Sunfest on Fri. May 4. The venue is delightful. Outdoors, early May in South Florida, at waterside, bar barges docked along the promenade, plenty of room to enjoy. Tickets are EXTREMELY affordable considering what they've reached at nearly any other venue. Buy your admission ticket early at Publix, and you get every second ticket of a pair at half off. The concerts are @3 stages, only one with reserved seating, the other two are standing venues, but the $20 ticket price gets you a place to stand in a reserved section at the very front directly AT the stagefront.
You can still hear ANY of these shows for free, just by standing behind the paid-ticket concert-goers. Then all you pay is the price of general admission to the festival grounds. These take up about 3/4 mile directly on the promenade at the western shore of the Intracoastal. Yes there are abundant vendor stands in typical art-fair/flea-market style, with plenty of things being sold, including a decent choice of foods. Porto-potty supply was very adequate and clean...also a pleasant thing.
This year's line-up wasn't anemic, either, with Snoop, Wiz Khalifa, Creed, Foreigner, and other great musicians. I got to enjoy some of the Creed show by standing outside the grandstand area and watching the band clearly on the large video screens mounted above the wings of the stage, and I was in a place that was permitted to be...anyone could have stood there and enjoyed a great concert without purchasing a ticket for a reserved seat. Foreigner was at that same stage the next night, and could have been enjoyed the same way.
The Paul Rodgers show was just fantastic. I've been a devotee who thinks that he's properly and aptly called "the Voice" by many of his fellow rock singers of different generations. I've been to see him about 20 times in many venues since the first time, with "Free" in 1970, through "Bad Company," the "Paul Rodgers Band," his tour recently with "Queen," all of it. This show was magical. He was relaxed, as was the band, and having a great time. This was their only scheduled show between the end of March & mid June, I believe. They played for a FULL 100 Minutes...two encores and all. Need I say that NOTHING beats the acoustics at an outdoor show?
It was well worth the expense of paying for parking in advance, by the way. Overall, if there's music that you want to hear, performers that you'd like to see, you couldn't find a more pleasant way to experience them, at ANY price--except for a private show in your own backyard. read more