Concert Review: Rockfest
Rockfest
Date: June 7, 2008
Venue: Liberty Memorial Park, southwest side
Better Than: Excessive poo-poo
By BERRY ANDERSON
Towards the end of his band’s set, Brent Smith, lead singer of Shinedown semi-dramatically announced “We’ve been waiting for this show for months. Kansas City, you never fail to disappoint us, my god.” I shrugged my shoulders and stared down at the empty beer cups and plastic bottles at my feet. The old dude behind me, sporting a Dog, the Bounty Hunter trucker hat, howled and said, “Fuckin’ A!”
With over 50,000 tickets sold and some reports that it was the biggest single day festival in the country, Rockfest 2008, sponsored by KQRC 98.9 (“the Rock”), went down seemingly smooth with few arrests or injuries. Upon entrance, (approximately seven hours after the gates opened), my press pass-less ass scored a five-dollar beer and went straight to a couple of the friendly men in blue for a recap on what I had missed. I was told there were some heat-related injuries, but nothing out of the ordinary, considering the 97 degree heat index. The biggest glitch? Lack of porta-johns. Many had to be locked up due to “excessive poo-poo,” according to the KCMO police officer. After hearing this tidbit, I decided future drink purchases would be kept to a minimum.
