It never ceases to amaze me how many people feel compelled to negatively show up to online posts. Case in point…the initial announcement by the good folks at the Hodag Country Festival. Any given day, precisely at 9am, we, as the Official Station of the ‘Fest, announce the lineup as we have it.
By that time, several things are happening. First, people are complaining nothing’s been announced yet and they’re emailing and calling us like crazy. I can only imagine what the ladies in the Festival office are going through.
Then you have the “wish list” of performers and comparisons to other such events. One big thing comes into play here. For the purposes of this writing, Luke Combs is over $2-million. Right now Laney Wilson is in the $1.5-million range. Those prices jump all over the map and if you want the ticket price discussion? The “other” outdoor events in the state for one day go from $125 to $252. “Weekend” rates which are three or four days are around $175 to over $330. At Hodag you’ll pay $100 for a day pass and then for the ENTIRE 9-day run of the Festival, only $160!!!
What really frosts my cookies is all the whining and moaning about who’s coming. If you don’t like it, don’t go and keep your comments to yourself! There are FAR more people interested than those who gripe. And they don’t care what you think anyway.
Someone coming back? Then they put on a great show and were well-received by the crowd. Happens all the time.
I mean, c’mon…Ashley McBryde’s been here four times! A definite crowd pleaser. “Hodag never gets big names.” These people live under a rock. Blake Shelton’s been here twice, Chris Janson, Eric Church, Chris Young, Little Big Town four times each, LOCASH eight times, and the list goes on and on. People forget they got the chance to see Kenny Rogers, Glen Campbell, Reba and countless others. And don’t forget the “old guard” that stretches back to 1978.
The Hodag is a bargain and country fans from across the country plan their summers around it. Besides, who else can pull off the likes of HARDY or Three Dog Night?!
As of this writing, we just announced LeAnn Rimes is coming back. The first time she was here she was only a teenager and that was 1997. The same time she won TWO Grammy’s! There are four more to go including a closer for Friday night. I know who I’d like to see but, like all of you, will wait for the info to end up in my email inbox to announce. No matter who it is, we’ll be there for all the fun and all the music. I haven’t missed one and for all you complainers out there, just stay home. That leaves more beer for me!
MM