Welcome to the Front Range, where stodgy is the new priggish.
There aren’t many other conclusions you can glean from Arapahoe County’s decision last week to deny a permit for the second annual Riot Fest concert at May Farms, near Byers, about 30 miles east of Aurora on I-70.
Residents of Byers, which is near to the sprawling convention/wedding/retreat May Farms agri-tainment complex, just plain didn’t like the event last year. There was loud music, greasy food, lots of cars, marijuana smoking, a ton of kitschy shwag, lots of laughing, a few guys wearing eyeliner and cheesy carnival rides. It was, essentially, the same scene as the Arapahoe County Fair — only much smaller.
County licensing officials held a public hearing in Byers last month, where about a quarter of the town turned out to say they didn’t like the 2013 concert and festival. Bah-humbug-get-off-my-lawn kind of a thing,
Why, in my day, we listened to dignified and quiet stuff like, ummm, The Doors, Jimi Hendrix and, well, never mind.
Even open-minded types on the editorial board of the Denver Post said the problem may have come from calling it “Riot Fest,” Sounds worrisome, they surmised. Could be a Woodstock kind of thing with a scarier name. “Remember, even Woodstock was declared a state of emergency. And that was about peace and love, not riots,” the Denver Post wrote in an editorial. They left out the part about it being groovy.
Riots? Woodstock? Either folks my age have gone round the bend (entirely possible) or the youngins around these parts are just talking for the sake of hearing themselves. There were more than 300,000 people at the Woodstock Art and Music Fair. If the Riot Fest concert promoters hit pay-dirt, they’ll persuade about 15,000 to attend their event. That’s about how many people turn out for a concert at the Pepsi Center in Denver when every seat is filled. I have no doubt that Riot Fest promoters may not be prepared to shelter 15,000 people caught up in a Byers-area earthquake or nuclear meltdown, but there will be enough Mountain Dew, corn dogs and PBR to get concert patrons through even a mild-to-moderate zombie apocalypse.
Trust this gray-haired old dude that the event wasn’t planned as a riot, and it won’t turn into one, unless you mean, “Dude, that concert was like a total riot,” It’s marketing hype and hyperbole. Kind of like “Blow Out Sale” and “Miracle Whip.” It’s not really a miracle. If they called it “Marginal Whip,” we’d all be eating mayonnaise.
The problem is that critics are either so out-of-touch or so abused by years of Eric Carmen and Barry Manilow that they worry too much, and without warrant, about the band list. Unclench your white knuckles and unbutton a couple from the top of your cardigans, folks, 3OH!3 and The Manchester Orchestra, both booked for Riot Fest this year, will not prompt throngs of dirty, undulating hippies to rip off their clothes and dig out their eyes. In The Valley Below? Yawn.
Too bad for Byers that Arapahoe County officials bought into their complaints. There are a lot of Colorado communities that would love to have 15,000 people with expendable incomes stop by and spend their time and money for a weekend in September. In fact, these communities spend thousands of dollars just trying to make it happen.
I say we welcome the event and all its hyperbole right here in Aurora. I’d offer up my friends’ back yards if they were big enough. This town is no stranger to big, noisy, controversial events absolutely brimming with noisy kids. The Pope brought World Youth Day and a half-million teenagers to Aurora in 1993. We had to revive 15,000 kids from heatstroke every day before dinner. No big deal.
There’s plenty of space at Lowry, Fitzsimons, even the county fairgrounds. And 15,000 folks all with credit cards and greenbacks? That’s music to somebody’s ears.
Reach editor Dave Perry at 303-750-7555 or dperry@aurorasentinel.com
Contrary to your opinion Dave, many people like their quite communities and don’t feel the profit is worth the cost.
and get off my lawn!
I live less than 2 miles from May farms and I can tell you most of the negativity stuff is coming from the older people in our town that don’t want change and its very disappointing. I went both days last year and had fun (in my late 40’s) I have lived here most of my life and to see all the made up stuff is unreal…Sorry I won’t be going this year.