In case any Bonnaroo and/or jamband fans haven't heard about Vegoose this year:
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Halloween Music Festival "Vegoose" in the Works
May 20th, 2005 - Updated
By Kate Wesner
A large-scale music festival featuring Dave Matthews Band is currently in the planning stages. The event is to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada on and around Halloween this year. News of the event first broke on various music forums on the web.
Superfly, the same production company behind Bonnaroo, is expected to announce the Vegoose a three-day music festival in late June with tickets to be released mid-July. The final show is expected to be held at the Sam Boyd Silver Bowl, (the arena used by UNLV football), and the surrounding soccer fields of approximately 10 acres. As of now, there is no scheduled game on that date for the venue.
To follow up on this news, we spoke with a representative from the Thomas and Mack Center (Sam Boyd Stadium). We were able to confirm that the venue was indeed being held for a festival on Halloween. Our contact said, "I know that there's work to have a Halloween festival...they have a night held at Sam Boyd...nothing is confirmed." Apparently there is no fee to hold the venue for "this type of event," which indicates plans could change very quickly.
Vegoose and "Bonnaween" are rumored to be among the leading names for the festival. A user in the Pearl Jam Message Pit reported that the website
www.vegoose.com was registered by Superfly on 5/12/05 only to have the domain holder information subsequently changed to an anonymous registration company.
We spoke with a representative from Superfly, who said that there is "no confirmation" regarding the rumored festival, and that "If there's truth to it you'll damn well know about it."
Other bands speculated to be included in the festival include Jack Johnson, Ben Harper, MOE, String Cheese Incident, Mike Gordon and Leo Kottke,Govt Mule, The Allman Brothers Band, 311, Keller Williams, the Black Crowes, Umphreys McGee, The John Mayer Trio, Wilco, Ryan Adams, and Galactic.
The festival is believed to be based on a Jazzfest format with many bands playing many venues. There will be minimal onsite camping and activities, which is quite different from other festivals in the past. Although, the band will end at 7pm during the 3-day festival some of the bands will play in groups of two or three at various clubs and arenas in the area at night.
Much of the information surrounding the halloween vegas festival originates from a single block of text indicating that Dave Matthews Band & Trey Anastasio will be playing the Thomas & Mack Center for the first two nights. Umphreys McGee, Moe, Phil Lesh & Friends and others will be playing at the MGM Grand Garden Arena the last two nights. Pearl Jam & the Black Crowes will be playing at the Thomas & Mack Center and John Mayer will be playing at the House of Blues on the final night. This information is completely unconfirmed.
Rumors related to future DMB performances have a spotty history of confirmation. Last year DMB fans faced disappointment after following rumors of a festival planned for New York City's Governors Island. Like the las vegas halloween festival this particular event made well into the planning stages but was subsequentlycancelled due to logistical issues. However, rumors regarding DMB's recent performance on VH1's Storytellers were eventually confirmed. Rumors continue to persist regarding a DMB performance at Red Rocks this coming September 9th, 10th and 11th.
Regardless of the questionable status of a DMB appearance in Vegas this tour, the prospect of an implicit performance of "Halloween" has fans carefully listening for further confirmation on the event. "Halloween" hasn't been performed by DMB since the 12/21/02 show at Madison Square Garden which featured James Brown.
The Halloween vegas festival rumor has been cited and discussed on non-DMB boards such as phishhook.com, phantasy tour, Walfredo and Pearl Jam boards.
Update: 3:13PM 5/20/05
We have spoken with a representative at Las Vegas Events a company charged with producing and supporting "premier events that drive tourism and increase awareness of the Las Vegas area as the entertainment capital of the world." LVE confirmed that a "music festival concept" is in the works, and that planning for the event has been in progress for over a year.
