Okay… I have never even wanted to go to Wakarusa. I llive in Kansas for Pete’s sake! Why would I want to go to festival when I know it is HOT there? THen I saw this year’s lineup. Railroad Earth, the Greencards, Little Feat, Ben Hopper, YMSB, Splitlip Rayfield, oh yeah, and The Waybacks! SO… of course I have decided that I can at least go for the weekend. How could I not. Someone tell Jessica that Widespread Panic will be there, too.
Anyway, this year, the dates are BEFORE Telluride so there is no problem if any of you feel the need to both.
Its a good fest for sure. Hopefully its not so nazi like this year. We had an amazing time last year. and of course one of the sponsors is New Belgium, but they can only serve low alchohol brew due to KS laws.
Bela/Yonder/Buttered Rum/RRE put on great shows last June. The RRE set under the tent was sick.
Sunday last year at Waka was great. Started with Bela in the coffee house tent. One campmate and I made it under the tent just as he started. Next was Chicago Afrobeat where it was amazing watching the dust cloud rize from all the dancin’.
Tea Leaf Green
Yonder
Flecktones - and we watched the Full Strawberry Moon move from above the left big screen to above the right big screen. Pretty cool way to spend the b’day!
Now, the not so good part of Waka
Security sucked and they were mean. Some poor soul layin’ in the grass, minding his own business and listening to Yonder was run over by an event staff golf cart (the big kind) and the guys on the cart never stopped. The night vision goggles in the bushes were a bit over the top, even in Kansas.
Several times we returned to camp to find our dry ice/cold storage coolers had been gone through. The folks at the next camp pointed out the local police department going through campsites. The least they could have done was close the freekin’ lid.
Sunday morning, AGAIN SECURITY, came through and took anything that was glass. We lost a stupid pyrex measuring cup. The guys next to us lost several bottles of rum (good stuff too).
Forget it if you had dreadlocks last year at Waka. You were treated like you worshiped the devil. Saturday night outside the shower house I was invited to hop up on a car trunk and watch the incoming storm from the East. The guy had dreads. I don’t. Ten minutes later he was being searched. I stared the cop down and didn’t move an inch.
Been there, done that once and it was enough. I’m finished with Waka.
Funny thing is I was looking around Lawrence and thinking of moving there.
We were in VIP so we only had the guys driving through onthe carts. they left us alone in vip, but the illiegal road block coming off the interstate almost put us in jail.
Sunday Yonder/Bela/HBR was sweet for sure.
too many others to even begin to go over it all again.
But, your right, we won’t go back. too many other cool places/fests(TBF!!!) to see.
at my age, I don’t think I will be hassled… and since I will be commuting from Lawrence, I won’t need to worry about my cooler. Illegal road block? It was just a few years a go that there was a “checkpoint” set up by Colorado law enforcement officers trying to bust festivarians on their way to TBF. Some things are universal.
i have heard from my friends that Wakarusa is definitely for the younger generation. Who knows maybe by June I won’t want to bother with it. But the lineup is so awesome this year.
Luanna,
I would recommend that you go to Wakarusa’s mesage board and read any post after June 11th from last year. There were even a few from Thursday, June 8th about the road block.
We did manage to have some fun and I loved the long sleeve white t-shirt.
hot sun and no shade, big crowds, tons of teenage bonaroo tweekers running around on there first trip, horrible security, roadblocks, Kansas. I am never going back to Wakarusa no matter how good the line-up is.
for those of you who have been to waka before i need to ask just how big a hassle it is? aside from nazi-like security, what else do you face? how many people do attend? i’d be without a car; how easy is it to access on foot? are there shuttles to get around on? is it easy enough to get back and forth from lawrence?
how close are the stages to one another–anything else worth knowing?
Dude, you’re on the wrong message board. Go to the Waka mesage board and contact Pauly. I think he’ll give you more positive feed back than you’ll get here. I’m sure you’ve gathered that I’ve been there, done that and bought the t-shirt.
I was told Waka was capped at 15,000. Pretty sure that turned out to be 15,000 camping on day one. On Sunday night Waka was well over the advertised limit for attendance.
The Govenor has already sent out a letter (posted on Waka’s site) stating that law enforcement will be working with the promoters. We’re talking State and Federeal law enforcement. Kansas does not want another Bonnaroo in their state. You’ve been warned. End of story.
Just like TBF the shuttles are school busses. The drivers love what they are doing and it shows. I have to say that was a plus for me. There is a LARGE hill between the three (3) large stages and the three (3) small(er) stages. If you are going on to TBF… walk the hill - you need the exercise. If it’s no TBF for you then ride those busses and save yourself from the Kansas heat. Oh, it did cool off last year… on the way to the airport on Wednesday.
There are shuttles for hire (and again, more info on Waka’s message board) to and from the airport and the school bus drivers can give you more info on the shuttles to and from the town of Lawrence.
Have fun, stay straight (unless you like being slammed to the ground) and enjoy the music!
thank you Hope Lin, that’s a good summary of what i need to know. i’m gonna give it a shot this year. i can stay straight (enough). if it blows, then you know the saying: fool me once . . . .
by the way, you are right, i do need to visit the waka board no doubt–but there’s 2 reasons i haven’t. one is that my primary line to getting online is at work where i have a random filter that prohibits access to that forum but (thankfully) not to this one. also, i’m a TBF regular (i won’t say veteran), and i know that TBF attendees are more my speed, so you guys’ comments on Waka mean more to me than whatever i’d be told elsewhere.
thanks again–and if others have thoughts–i’m all ears!
I had a group of friends that went last year. They don’t have dreads… and they usually roll w/ lots of goodies. Green-Liq-Paper…you get the pic. The thing is…when ya roll in…make sure you appear clean. NO SMOKIN HERB ON THE WAY IN-IF YOU’RE TAKING ALCOHOL-KEEP IT HIDDEN REALLY REALLY WELL-DON’T LEAVE ANYTHING INCRIMINATING LAYING OUTSIDE YOUR CAMP-BASICALLY-HIDE AND ACT LIKE A STRAIGHT LACED - NON-PARTIER-JUST LIKE G. BUSH WANTS YOU TOO. And make sure what you’re driving is legit!!! that roadblock is killer. I for one WOULD NEVER GO! They don’t want us there! The State of Kansas made that clear last year! I really thought last year would be it’s last! Oh yeah…don’t even use a sign made from a beer box. They consider that probable cause. So…all that being said. DONT GO! BOYCOT!! FUCK KANSAS!!! Basically if you just can’t miss the lineup. TAKE A LAWYER W/YA…
Oh, I am sorry that you are judging all of Kansas by that bad experience. I will be sure to tell you that i am from Colorado when we meet this summer… which is really pretty much true… but I do have a job and a home in Kansas so I have to spend some time there… and I only wanted to go to Wakarusa to hear The Waybacks since they don’t play any of the PB festivals… and also the Greencards are going to be there… and Sam Bush… … well, … ask me at Telluride. I imagine this will be my first and my last. But after reading your post, I am wondering if it will be a nightmare.
not really jumping right now… it’s an optical illusion.
oh… you must have missed the other posts… we had to sell our tickets due to an illness in my friend’s family. I deleted both threads that were related to selling those tickets. Instead I am going to go to Lawrence Monday to hear the Waybacks that night. which was really my only reason for even considering going to Waka in the first place.
I did read back on their forum and noticed that their drug bust checkpoint scam was almost identical to the one that happened a few years ago at Telluride. Those guys must talk about these things at their conventions !
And… here is the kicker… I posted about those tickets here, on the forum, on the festivarian list, on the Winfield list, on two different Craigslist locations adn on the Wakarusa. When I was sure that they were sold the next day, i went back to delete those that i could. and the one on the Wakarusa forum had already been taken down… with no explanation to me… but i noticed that all posts related to ticket sales were gone. (That really made me appreicaite this forum.)
and that is all of the experience I ever need with the Wakarusa festival. (and as someone who has attended other festivals in Kansas, I can tell you that the Wakarusa BS is a Wakarusa thing… not a Kansas thing.)
As far as I know there were no searches this year. everything was much much calmer and the music/crowd was fantastic. Not to mention Yonder damn near blew the roof off of the revival tent!
Hey… I hadn’t looked back at this thread since Telluride, but i just want to say that I am really glad to hear that the scene was calmer and that you had a good experience. The size of the crowd alone can make a difference.
