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Bluesfest: The Scourge of Lawnchairs

On this first day of Bluesfest 2009, which also happens to be the kickoff to the annual Bluesfest Lawn Chair debate, let’s get things started with Peter Simpson of The Big Beat’s take on the issue:

The Official Big Beat Position is that lawn chairs should be banned from Bluesfest. They are a menace. They’re boring for the performers, they take up too much room and too many lawn chair sitters have an inexplicable belief that they’re entitled to a clear view of the stage.

The festival is getting bigger all the time, and surely it’s now big enough that a lawn-chair ban could be sustained. If a few hundred people choose not to come because they can’t stand or sit on the ground, so be it. And perhaps there are ways to accommodate the small number of [People in Lawn Chairs] who are genuinely, medically unable to stand for long periods. There are tens of thousands of more people who are legion enough to make the festival a success without the sitting few.

Click through for the rest, including some anecdotes of incidents involving lawn chairs and the people in them. I’m with Peter on this on – lawn chairs have no business at a festival of this size. No other festival allows them. They’re a hassle, they take up too much space, and they’re potentially dangerous. And worst of all is the attitude that the people in the chairs bring with them. Hey man, lighten up – it’s a concert – get up and dance and leave the lawn chairs at home!

Published inBluesfest

One Comment

  1. Dee

    The Chair People are the bane of my existence. They are SO rude. They take up 3 spots with their chair, knapsack and legs plus some, and get angry when you stand in front of them. Why does a chair entitle you to three-four spots?

    Solutions:
    – ban chairs at ROGERS and Bank of America stages
    – ban chairs at night
    – have the lame Chair People on one side, and the fun Standing People on the other.

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