Blue Ridge Rock Festival Diaries – The Build Up.
Flashback to early April and the world is starting to shake off some of the pandemic blues. I’m scouring the internet and Facebook for events to cover. As a music photojournalist it has been a truly brutal time. But things are starting to look up. Actual concerts are being announced. Then I see it as I’m scrolling through Facebook. An announcement that absolutely intrigues me. Blue Ridge Rock Festival has announced that they will be holding the festival in the fall, and they will be expanding it to four days. I mean, for not only a music fan but someone that goes out and covers music events it just doesn’t get any better than this.
So, I hop on over to the website to see who is handling publicity for the festival. Armed with the appropriate information, I let my editor/business partner in on this. Needless to say, he tells me that if I don’t apply, he will. So, I start the process and fire off an email. Now starts all the nail biting. This is going to be a big deal. Who knows how many people are going to apply to cover an event like this and will I be amongst the lucky ones to cover it?
Over the course of the next few months emails are sent back and forth. Questions are asked, then answered. It’s all part of the process of getting to cover an event of this magnitude. Well, I guess they approved of everything that they asked, as I was finally sent an official media application. I have a feeling that this was the quickest they ever received an application back. Now it’s hold my breath time, which promises to be loads of fun as there is a bit over two months to go till the festival starts.
Its now early august, and I am at my day job. Yes, I have to hold down a regular job as covering concerts is a labor of love. Precious few eek out a living doing this. But if you truly love music, you aren’t in it for the money. But I digress, I am in the midst of doing work stuff and my phone makes that lovely e-mail ping. I give a quick check, which is all I tend to do as I am at work, and I see that it’s from the festival. Now this is a pump the brakes moment and let’s see what this is. Well, I’ll be damned it looks like I’m heading to Danville Virgina for four days of the best music in the business.
Now the fun really begins! I quick go on my group chat with my photographer friends to see if they heard anything, and to let my girlfriend know that I got approved. Two of my good friends that are local got the same good news too! As we are all local, we decide to fly up together and share a room. This should be fun, as with these guys hijinks and a couple misadventures are bound to happen. With a bit of coordination and luck we get everything together. Flight, hotel and rental car are all set.
With less than a month to go, some bands start to pull out due to Covid-19. While I understand and respect their decisions, it still sucks. One thing I’ve noticed through all of this is how quickly Jonathan Slye the founder and man in charge of Blue Ridge Rock Festival handles everything. He gets out in front of things as soon as something comes up. He goes live on Facebook and lets everyone know what is going on and how they intend to handle things. Transparency like this is refreshing and reading all the posts on the fan groups I am not the only one that really appreciates this. For every band that has dropped out, the Blue Ridge team has responded and secured a replacement.
It’s been nearly two years since there has been an actual rock festival, and thank god for Purpose Driven Events, Jonathan Slye and the whole Blue Ridge Rock Festival team. With less than two weeks to go, it really looks like the festival is going to happen. I know I am excited for this. The days off from work have been put in, hotels and such are sorted, the camera gear is in tip top shape, now its down to crossing days off the calendar and let my excitement build!
Blue Ridge Rock Festival:
