Sadly, no matter his intentions, his efforts to kickstart music festivals ANYWHERE in Virginia/Carolinas are now officially DEAD. The fiasco of the 2023 BRRF seals his fate. Tough break.
Every single problem he mentioned was repeated in 2023. Not only repeated, but compounded 10 times. This “CEO” should never run a music festival again. He’s already pocketed millions off of his failures.
the blue ridge rock fest changed my life for the good. there was room for improvement but for my personal experience i had a blast ill remember for ever and i hope they do it again.
Yep this. While we lucked out on getting camping by leaving at 5 am showing up at 3 pm on Weds, it was beyond incredible. The live music part was near flawless.
I was there and had a blast. So much so, that I have already booked a hotel for next years dates and when I booked the Danville hotels were almost all fully booked. I didn’t experience any of the issues that have been seen on social media. The only issue I have was the security shortage which led to some issues at the 2 main stages. I just wish media would get both sides of the story. Although I did hear some complaints there were thousands and thousands of festival attendees that enjoyed it and will attend again
For security do you mean the non-enforcement of the golden circle at the main stages? They made those areas way too big and smartly punted that strategy for 2022.
0:24 Why has it taken so long for you to come forward? 2:48 Why was the country festival postponed? 6:45 Response to County’s release about Country Permit 15:46 Did artist drop off the bill for the country festival? 18:35 Do you plan to hold the country festival in May? Status of Ticketholders? 20:52: Let's touch on the first day or two there of the Rock Festival, as folks call it complete chaos...what happened there?
34:20: Overall, despite the obstacles that happened on that first day, the first two days or so, overall how do you think that the rock festival went? We even heard from a few Pittyslvania County leaders who said that it was overall it was positive. What's your takeaway from it?
38:52: You say you're contemplating retirement as you called it regardless if that's the case do you plan on organizing another rock festival next year?
20:28 I highly doubt that statement. What he actually means is, the refund RETURN rate is that low, not the requests. They stopped acknowledging requests less than a month after the festival took place. Tons of people made requests for valid reasons. After early October, they told us our request was meaningless. "We've refunded $160,000" So that's about 457 people out of the total roughly 30,000 which means only 1% of the attendees requested refunds? Pretty hard to believe when 7,600 people belong to the FB group based on being wronged by the festival. Missing almost 94% of those who took the time to join let alone passive people that let it be.
29:31 to 31:06 ADA compliance. Jonathan says we had the option to choose ADA at the time of purchase and only hundreds of ADA eligible patrons did compared to thousands that attended. My girlfriend who has MS DID IN FACT PURCHASE AN ADA TICKET. When our wristbands came in the mail, she didn't get her ADA wristband. We had to figure this out by late Friday at the festival so Jonathan's excuse here is moot. I don't care if many people failed to choose that option initially when god knows how many did ultimately didn't get any info, wristband, ADA shuttle map etc like my girlfriend didn't. Piss poor excuse.
Oops, this didn't age well, bad on Danny Wimmer enterprises re: Rock On the Range and Carolina Rebellion be coming extinct after they bought them and covid happened.
You messed up bad this year Johnathan. You have to have an evacuation plan in case of storms, you can’t leave thousands of people in the middle of a lightening storm. You have to treat your employees right! You have to provide water and sanitation for everyone in the middle of a heat wave. People are extremely angry with you.
I camped on the grounds, but when it rained harder, I ran to the general store to seek shelter. The wind ans debris started whipping around and I was terrified! Some woman who claimed to be staff told us me and everyone who were in the store to leave. Mind you, there was also a little girl who looked to be 5 or 6 among the people in there and she's scared and crying with her mother comforting her. She didn't give a damn about us being scared and we ALL had to leave! I ran to another building and made it in time before the hail started and I refused to move from underneath there until it was clear enough to walk back. The lack of concern and regard of safety of everyone and small children during the storm was APPALLING!
He pocketed more than half of the ticket sales. They sold like 30 million in tickets and paid the bands 2.7 million. The rest (more than 20 million) is what he had to work with to provide or logistically. Instead he offered a handful of busses, 2 water points, 1 forklift and 1 semi truck with a flatbed trailer. He hired security and staff and didn't provide for them so they all quit. They even asked the security to stop checking people to try and speed things up at the 1 entrance they had for 60k people. This isn't incompetence it's a scam and from the sounds of it he's used to scamming people. He's got an excuse for everything
Anyone who's ever been to an outdoor event understands completely that you have to deal with extreme weather. That's part of. All the negative publicity hope they shut it down at Blue Ridge next year. And the bands are able to go elsewhere and play and give new fans the opportunity to see them. Instead of having to go so FAR to a campground? Shut it down completely and then there won't be any complaining anymore because YOU won't have a place to go see these bands play. Problem solved.
I thought this was about the 2023 epic failure of this man and then realized this is regarding 2 earlier festivals in 2021. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me oh and here are my lawsuits.... Imagine working 24/7 for an extended period of time and STILL failing this badly....wow. I hope he's sued to poverty.
glad to see not much changed in 2 years. this dude needs to give up his spot to someone who is capable of actually putting on a festival. They all have their issues, but this dude causing his staff to quit on sight and the festival get scrapped after 1 good night of music is unacceptable to the fans, the bands, and the workers who make his operation go. Given their circumstances though I'd walk out on him too
He's very good at passing the buck... He definitely shows a lot more accountability than before... But because he didn't really show any in the beginning, I have doubts about his sincerity.
I think it's funny he said they didn't over sell Camping, so 2000 people just showed up with camping gear and took spots up from others?, Lmfao if you believe that!!
Sadly, no matter his intentions, his efforts to kickstart music festivals ANYWHERE in Virginia/Carolinas are now officially DEAD. The fiasco of the 2023 BRRF seals his fate. Tough break.
Dude is a sociopath
Yupppp
This will age well
Every single problem he mentioned was repeated in 2023. Not only repeated, but compounded 10 times. This “CEO” should never run a music festival again. He’s already pocketed millions off of his failures.
He's a slimy scammer
Here we are again ….
The last 8 or 9 minutes of this are powerful.
the blue ridge rock fest changed my life for the good. there was room for improvement but for my personal experience i had a blast ill remember for ever and i hope they do it again.
Yep this. While we lucked out on getting camping by leaving at 5 am showing up at 3 pm on Weds, it was beyond incredible. The live music part was near flawless.
Y’all are smoking crack. I am literally sick from this festival. I have no idea with what until Tuesday. I want a refund
Breathing and speaking at the same time shouldn't be this hard. You can tell it's important to him.
I was there and had a blast. So much so, that I have already booked a hotel for next years dates and when I booked the Danville hotels were almost all fully booked. I didn’t experience any of the issues that have been seen on social media. The only issue I have was the security shortage which led to some issues at the 2 main stages. I just wish media would get both sides of the story. Although I did hear some complaints there were thousands and thousands of festival attendees that enjoyed it and will attend again
For security do you mean the non-enforcement of the golden circle at the main stages? They made those areas way too big and smartly punted that strategy for 2022.
0:24 Why has it taken so long for you to come forward?
2:48 Why was the country festival postponed?
6:45 Response to County’s release about Country Permit
15:46 Did artist drop off the bill for the country festival?
18:35 Do you plan to hold the country festival in May? Status of Ticketholders?
20:52: Let's touch on the first day or two there of the Rock Festival, as folks call it complete chaos...what happened there?
29:32: ADA compliance
32:07: Vendor Payment?
34:10: Have you been paid for the festival?
34:20: Overall, despite the obstacles that happened on that first day, the first two days or so, overall how do you think that the rock festival went?
We even heard from a few Pittyslvania County leaders who said that it was overall it was positive. What's your takeaway from it?
38:52: You say you're contemplating retirement as you called it regardless if that's the case do you plan on organizing another rock festival next year?
41:46: Additional thoughts and info
You are a saint!
20:28 I highly doubt that statement. What he actually means is, the refund RETURN rate is that low, not the requests. They stopped acknowledging requests less than a month after the festival took place. Tons of people made requests for valid reasons. After early October, they told us our request was meaningless. "We've refunded $160,000" So that's about 457 people out of the total roughly 30,000 which means only 1% of the attendees requested refunds? Pretty hard to believe when 7,600 people belong to the FB group based on being wronged by the festival. Missing almost 94% of those who took the time to join let alone passive people that let it be.
This guy is acting like he’s interviewing Osama bin Laden
I thought the reporter was very fair and fine, asked many questions that needed asked, and let him finish his answers.
29:31 to 31:06 ADA compliance. Jonathan says we had the option to choose ADA at the time of purchase and only hundreds of ADA eligible patrons did compared to thousands that attended. My girlfriend who has MS DID IN FACT PURCHASE AN ADA TICKET. When our wristbands came in the mail, she didn't get her ADA wristband. We had to figure this out by late Friday at the festival so Jonathan's excuse here is moot. I don't care if many people failed to choose that option initially when god knows how many did ultimately didn't get any info, wristband, ADA shuttle map etc like my girlfriend didn't. Piss poor excuse.
Where's all the negative comments?
Change the sort order from top to newest.
I had the best time of my life at BRRF in 2021 and even better time in 2022 at VIR it was a blast I'm 100% glamping in 2023 can't wait
How was it?
@@jeddfahnestock3737- LOL
How’d that work out, for ya?
@XOChristianaNicole I had a blast, we made the best of it. It was a shitshow but I'll never forget it
Blue ridge rock fest was so much fun!!! Can’t wait to return this year!!
This didn't age well 😂
@@glorydaze1280yeah def not
Good thing Sonic Temple is coming back next year!
Oops, this didn't age well, bad on Danny Wimmer enterprises re: Rock On the Range and Carolina Rebellion be coming extinct after they bought them and covid happened.
You messed up bad this year Johnathan. You have to have an evacuation plan in case of storms, you can’t leave thousands of people in the middle of a lightening storm. You have to treat your employees right! You have to provide water and sanitation for everyone in the middle of a heat wave. People are extremely angry with you.
Thank for being the one to say this. I stood for hours in that hail storm with hundreds and hundreds of people waiting for the busses
I camped on the grounds, but when it rained harder, I ran to the general store to seek shelter. The wind ans debris started whipping around and I was terrified! Some woman who claimed to be staff told us me and everyone who were in the store to leave. Mind you, there was also a little girl who looked to be 5 or 6 among the people in there and she's scared and crying with her mother comforting her. She didn't give a damn about us being scared and we ALL had to leave! I ran to another building and made it in time before the hail started and I refused to move from underneath there until it was clear enough to walk back. The lack of concern and regard of safety of everyone and small children during the storm was APPALLING!
He pocketed more than half of the ticket sales. They sold like 30 million in tickets and paid the bands 2.7 million. The rest (more than 20 million) is what he had to work with to provide or logistically. Instead he offered a handful of busses, 2 water points, 1 forklift and 1 semi truck with a flatbed trailer.
He hired security and staff and didn't provide for them so they all quit. They even asked the security to stop checking people to try and speed things up at the 1 entrance they had for 60k people.
This isn't incompetence it's a scam and from the sounds of it he's used to scamming people. He's got an excuse for everything
The worship festival was the best experience ever. 💯💯
What/when was Worship fest?
@@jaymzhetfield6001 I think it was right before the rock fest and at the same area.
Fire this guy
Anyone who's ever been to an outdoor event understands completely that you have to deal with extreme weather. That's part of. All the negative publicity hope they shut it down at Blue Ridge next year. And the bands are able to go elsewhere and play and give new fans the opportunity to see them. Instead of having to go so FAR to a campground? Shut it down completely and then there won't be any complaining anymore because YOU won't have a place to go see these bands play. Problem solved.
This festival was a blast.
Hes like Twelve. Maybe 14 yrs old.
I thought this was about the 2023 epic failure of this man and then realized this is regarding 2 earlier festivals in 2021.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me oh and here are my lawsuits....
Imagine working 24/7 for an extended period of time and STILL failing this badly....wow.
I hope he's sued to poverty.
glad to see not much changed in 2 years. this dude needs to give up his spot to someone who is capable of actually putting on a festival. They all have their issues, but this dude causing his staff to quit on sight and the festival get scrapped after 1 good night of music is unacceptable to the fans, the bands, and the workers who make his operation go. Given their circumstances though I'd walk out on him too
💯% He better hand over the reins to someone capable of efficiently running a festival if BRRF has any kind of chance of redeeming itself!
He's very good at passing the buck... He definitely shows a lot more accountability than before... But because he didn't really show any in the beginning, I have doubts about his sincerity.
I think it's funny he said they didn't over sell Camping, so 2000 people just showed up with camping gear and took spots up from others?, Lmfao if you believe that!!
Jonathan needs to get a different career because this ain’t it.