Buzzfest was a FAIL

Greetings and salutations, wonderful Shinedown family.

I've been getting a lot of people questioning my tweets from last night at the Buzzfest. For those who were there and in VIP, or General Admission for that matter, you know what the fuss was about. For those of you who were not there, I'm about to fill you in.

First off, I want it cleared that SHINEDOWN IS IN NO WAY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE SHITTY NIGHT WE HAD. NO BLAME IS BEING SENT THEIR WAY WHATSOEVER.

Now that I've cleared the air, allow me to elaborate. We paid $140 a piece for VIP tickets and were promised reserved, covered seating with "excellent" view of the stage along with other fancy things. No such deal was acted on. We get to LP Field and its pouring rain (no big deal...I'd stand in a blizzard for these guys!) But upon entering the gate, the employees are making people THROW AWAY their umbrellas. Now, for those of you who have never paid for an umbrella, let me tell you, they aren't cheap. So we toss our umbrella (it had stopped raining by that time, luckily) and walk to the VIP gate. We get inside and, much to our surprise, its a tiny fenced in area with a couple of metal folding chairs out on the lawn to the side of the stage. So we try to figure out what the deal is (allow me to, at this time, inform everyone that one of the people in my party are disabled and cannot stand for long periods of time. Therefore, it was imperitive that we have covered reserved seating...again, as was printed on the tickets that cost $140). This asshole from 102.9 The Buzz basically informed us that we got screwed over and thats just how it goes. He said "its all General Admission here. Everybody stands". If thats the case, don't sell General Admission/VIP tickets that cost $140!!! Anyway, he was a big jerk to deal with.

So we scout out the area a little more and come to find that we can BARELY see the stage at all, even while standing. If that was the "excellent" view, I believe 102.9 The Buzz desperately needs to look up the meaning of the word "excellent" because they seem to have confused it with "shitty". So we were more than a little upset about this.

While sitting in the bullpen of a VIP area, we began to notice herds of people being taken backstage for Meet and Greets with Shinedown (none of which paid $140 for VIP tickets). When asked what they did to get there, we were all told that they "won a contest over the radio". So basically, these people got VIP treatment for listening to 102.9 and making a fuckin phonecall while those of us who spent time (6hrs one way in a car for me) and money ($140 not including the hotel room and gas) to be there under the title VIP got fucked over.

Now, let me clear up that I DID get to meet with Shinedown. However, it was nothing close to a reserved VIP Meet and Greet. We stood in the rain and the first 30 people got to go up and say a VERY quick hello and get a picture signed. I will say that was the HIGHLIGHT of my entire day. The guys were so sweet, as always. They recognized my sister and I immediately and gave us hugs. Jake was also a doll and so was Teresa, who I had caught up with earlier that day. They were all incredible as always.

Well, as the night continued, tensions rose (if not from dealing with the shitty accomodations, dealing with the obnoxious slobbering drunks falling all over the place....ah....festival shows...). Well, among all things, the bathroom accomodations were 2 port-a-potties for well over 100 people (thats just counting VIP). I'm sure that I don't have to go into graphic detail as to HOW disgusting that is. When it came time for nature to call, that presented a bit of an issue cause, lets be honest, I would rather pee on myself than enter a dark port-a-potty thats been baking in the sun for 9hrs full of that many peoples' fecal matter and other fluids, keep in mind most of them were so drunk they could hardly stand so God only knows how well they can aim. Not happening. Also an issue, the disabled individual in my party was unable to use such a disgusting device. I went to the Event Staff and asked where a handicapped individual could go to the bathroom and I was told the Port-a-Potties were the only bathroom on site. I wasn't having that. So I explained myself again. Magically, they came up with a solution and that was to take us inside the stadium (you know...LP Field....where the concert was supposed to be held....not the parking lot OUTSIDE of LP Field....yeah, that place). While going to the bathroom (fully escorted, mind you...) the guy told us the reason the concert is being held in such poor accomodations is because there is to be a football game in the Field on Sunday and plus the Field is more expensive to rent. Allow me to debunk that, bit by bit.

1.If the football game is Sunday and the concert is Friday, I believe that leaves an entire fucking day to clean that stadium

2. In the subject of cleaning the stadium, what exactly is there a custodial staff for???

3. the cost of renting the Field shouldn't be an issue since they charged $140 for over 100 tickets, not including general admission fees, merch profits, beer and food stand profits, etc.

So the lame excuses were a no-go. At the end of the night, Shinedown came onstage. This is the band that I traveled 6hrs in a car one way for. The band that means the world to me. The band that I paid $140 to see. I wound up standing off to the side, looking through a hole in the fence and watching the show from sidestage where I could only see the tops of the guys' heads. The sound systems were terrible so Brent's mic was cutting out a lot. So, while its bad enough that I couldn't see them, I could hardly hear them.

I missed the most important part of the entire evening. The one thing that I spent the time and money to see.

Again, I am clearing the air that I in NO way hold Shinedown responsible. I do, however, hold Buzzfest responisble. For those who went and had a nice time, bless you...you deserve it, and I'm glad you enjoyed yourselves.

I am still, and always will be, a Shinedown lover. Nothing could take that from me. I just hope the people who screwed over Shinedown's fans get whats coming to them.

So there you have it, friends. The night of my misery. Hope it answers the questions.

xo

Vigilante