97X Next Big Thing

The day was super organized and ran on time. Each band was given just enough time to perform. Venue was easy to get around fairly clean and organized. I liked that I had an assigned seat in the 300 section so I could enjoy the day without having to leave someone behind to save seats. The price was right for my budget I normally can't afford concert tickets for my family of 4. I liked all of the music, even though I was there for my kids my husband and I had a blast. My 13 year old daughter had the time of her life. THANK YOU 97x

This was my first festival so I can't really compare it to anything else but it was an incredible experience!! All of the bands were amazing live and the crowd during Fall Out Boy was wild! The only bad thing is crowd surfers, especially if you're front row. 97X should have a better policy on that so people don't get hit in the head and disrupt the concert. All in all, great festival.

I will without a doubt be attending this event again. Amazing bands. Great sound. I didn't want to leave! I hope everyone else had an incredible experience like myself.

Solid show and line up - Perfect locale on a beautiful day.

This event surpassed all my expectations! All the bands that I had come for were amazing and I am so excited that I came early enough to hear twentyone pilots. I had never heard of them before and was planning on. It being there for them but it happened and I am so glad I did. I hope they are a key band next year so nobody gets to miss out on them.

The show as fantastic. All the bands put on good sets and there was plenty of food and beverages available. However, there were 5 other events going on in downtown St Pete that day so parking was horrendous. No chairs were allowed and 14 hours sitting on the ground, especially once it got wet, was not fun. So overall good event, just wish some more thought had gone in to the logistical planning.

I really enjoyed the seeing some of my favorite bands but the experience was greatly diminished by the fact that they had a giant camera crane blocking half the stage at all times. I get that they wanted to film it to make even more money but the placement of that particular camera was poorly thought out and ruined the experience for the people unfortunate enough to be anywhere but the far left side of the stage. Extreme close ups on the leader singers during most of the show meant I couldnt even see them through the giant black arm.

Loved all performances - wish we could have brought a couple chairs into the park though. More port-a-potties please!

Was a great concert overall! Definitely will be going back next year.

With my group's second trip to 97x's Next Big Thing, we were blown away more than we had even expected. As always, one of the bands we hardly knew ended up rocking our socks off while the groups we already knew and loved reminded us why we listen to them on repeat. The venue was great, hardly too crowded, but since it was all general admission on completely flat ground it was sometimes difficult to see from farther back in the crowd. Also there was no way to get water for free, so by the time we had dished out our funds on frozen lemonade and beer, the dehydration had kicked in and there was no way to quench our thirst. Overall, however, the quality of music and the beautiful bay on which the stage was built kept your mind occupied the entire day.

Amazing concert! Great lineup, fantastic location, amazing fans. I'm a veteran of festival type concerts outdoors and this one was, by far, the best. Truly mellow crowd--pleasant folks and it means a lot when parents bring their young kids and "all is well." Only dis-----------the port-a-potties were truly abysmal! Not enough and by the end of the event--they were a haz mat situation. Next year---more potties please. Oh yeah, and make sure that the sanitation stations for hand washing actually have water in them and can be used. On the whole, that was the only blemish on a great day.

The entire event was great. Very loud. Wish the area was bigger though.

The concert was awesome. I only heard of a couple bands that were there but now I'm listening to almost all of them.

It was a great show, I mostly went for A Day to Remember, but the other bands were pretty good. It was a fun atmosphere and everyone I went with had a fun time. Merch wasn't too expensive and afterwards we met two band members from ADTR. Highly recommended!

Best NBT yet. So many awesome bands. Couldn't pick a favorite.

show was awesome!!! such quick break down & set up & no issues with the music not sounding good because of it. very impressed!

All the bands were great and it was a wonderful showcase of up and coming alternative music as well as a few seasoned veterans. Unfortunately, the venue scheduled a gunshow at the same time and parking was a bit of a nightmare. The livenation website had indicated that the price of parking was included in the ticket price but we were required to pay an additional $10 anyway.

average show. Bush was great despite that I'm not a Bush fan. The sound quality was terrible for most bands except Bush. Not sure if they had their own board op but most of the bands made noise not music. Still can't figure out why the side stage is utilized at all when those bands should be on the main stage. If it comes down to lack of audience in the main arena for those just make it GA for those bands and give everyone a chance to get close for part of the show.

The entire line-up was overall really good, especially Young the Giant, Cage the Elephant, and Foster the People, who were incredible. But Bush stole the show, and I think that maybe they should have closed the night because of their energy. Their performance was flawless, and when they played the cover for "Come Together," Bush had the entire crowd on their feet and singing along and dancing. It was fantastic. And "Comedown" was amazing. Sublime with Rome was really good, but too mellow I think to close. I left feeling euphoric, replaying the show over and over in my head.

The bands were amazing and animated and all about the crowd of people that came just for them and the 97x team was on point with timing and the set list. Great experience!

Main event of the day/night was Fall Out Boy. They were even better than when I saw them in July. Other bands - New Politics -- also saw them in July, and they were again awesome. Heavy Bells was my fave J. Roddy song, and Young the Giant was great. Other groups - mostly familiar with just one or two songs, but I aimed at getting there in time to see J. Roddy, and New Politics. Alt J was okay, but I think New Politics should have been bumped up into their place. FOB delivered as the final band of the night, playing loads of songs from their "Save Rock n Roll" album, some oldies, and then "Centuries" too! Awesome band. Would see them again in a heartbeat! :)

The concert was amazing! I started to get all pumped up after New Politics came. Being at the front was great. And Fall Out Boy is always perfect.

It was an amazing show, new politics totally took the number one spot for the best performance the dirty heads were amazing and of course fall out boy was pretty incredible to.

OMG what a great event. The music from all the artists was beyond my expectations. Alt-j was AMAZING. The best was last can't say enough about Fall Out Boy. My boyfriend said about FBO "now this is a band". Thank you 97x and sponsors for a truly memorable day!!

I've wanted to go to the Next Big Thing since 2006 and I finally got to go this year. Fall Out Boy is my favorite band and to finally see them live was AMAZING!! New Politics was really good too. I had a blast and I'm definitely going next year too!! :)

I had heard of all of the bands that were preformimg excluding the first act so I was pretty excited. I was looking forward to Bear Hands, Alt-J, and Young the Giant the most but really enjoyed each performance.

Fall out Boy was great but I was disappointed in the VIP tickets. Positioned as a way to meet the band. That was not reality. I would never have paid what I did for these tickets had I known what the actual experience would be.

The line up was awesome! Food, drinks, bathrooms, etc were easily accesible at the location and everyone was very helpful!

The concert was great for the money, being able to see so many great bands in one place for such little money was great. I know when Fall Out Boy came with Paramore the tickets were double if not more the price for this concert so it's worth the money. Only problems I had were with not being able to bring a lawn chair to sit in. It was either sit on the ground on a blanket, which can be uncomfortable, or stand to see the bands. Allowing for people to bring in lawn chairs would be a happy medium. I saw a man and his son bring pool inflatables which was a great idea and if I come again will definetly do that to save my back from hurting and save me from worrying about getting stepped on. As well as it would be nice to have a designated smoking area since people were smoking everywhere and leaving their old butts on the ground which was just gross and unsafe. Other than that it was a great way to relax after my chemistry exam that morning.

Great lineup, we were excited to see all of the bands. Dirty Heads is our fav.

Awesome. Even the bands I didn't know were great. Fallout Boy was just Stellar. The weather was good except for a much needed sprinkle.

I purchased 2 VIP tickets. I had attended the NBT 8 and returned to this NBT 13. The 8th concert was at the amphitheater and I actually had VIP seats that time and had a wonderful time really treated as a VIP. This time there were only a few seats, some sofas and tables "first come first serve" basis which I think is wrong and I would probably had a better time with a regular ticket and laying down a comforter on the floor at just a few feet from the stage because the view from the VIP section was awful. The seats listed in the tickets actually did not exist at all. I will not attend to another NBT concert unless they guarantee an actual spot with seats and better view of the bands

VIP experience was amazing and unforgettable. Wish there was more seating though.

Great event - except for being really long. I didn't even get there when it started, and I was absolutely exhausted by the end of the night, so I can't imagine being there for the whole 10 hours. Beautiful scenery, lots of booths to visit, and choices of food. The port-a-potties NEEDED LIGHTS after dark. That was a big problem once the sun went down - the fact that you were walking into a toxic waste dump with no lights. Parked in one of the $5 parking garages instead of fighting the massive traffic closer to the event. Felt safe walking to and from the event - lots of people and police around. Stone Temple Pilots ran long, which made 30 Seconds to Mars set feel pretty short, but everything else seemed to run on time. All the bands did a great job, but 30 Seconds to Mars stole the show with their audience involvement and balloons/confetti/etc.

Loved this concert! So many great bands were present, I recommend everyone to go if you the have the chance. I saw Chester Bennington with the stone temple pilots, jimmy eat world, a day to remember, pepper, Manchester orchestra, dirty heads and more.30 seconds to mars were the last act and they were epic! I had an amazing time.

Stone Temple Pilots Rocked! That was one of the best shows I have seen since the 70's. Pilots new singer is AAAA++++ AWESOME!! A Day To Remember put on a great production, but there sound quality sucked. Couldn't understand a word they were singing. Awesome hamster cage roll over the crowd. Dirty Heads did pretty good other than too much base coming over the sound system on left side of stage. Way too much base. Might want to hire some new roadies.

Unfortunately there was a lot of miscommunication with the employees. Asked staff questions and everyone had a different story. It was a bit disappointing to not get answers. There was no understanding why Sleeping with sirens was only available for 30 minutes, no interview, very limited time to meet them.

The concert offered multiple acts throughout the day and was situated in beautiful Vinoy Park in St Pete. Plenty of food and beverage options were readily available at reasonable cost. There were also lots of friendly vendors giving tons of free crap away. Downside: St Pete had other major events going on that day including Snowfest and Santa's Parade that made driving and parking more difficult.

Other than all the crowd surfers, This was my favorite concert experience!! We could almost touch the stage and seeing Chester Bennington and Jared Leto live were absolutely amazing! My boyfriend was so thrilled to see his favorite band, Thirty Seconds to Mars, and we had the most amazing night! Thank you 97x!

Line up could have been better; best acts were Manchester Orchestra, Jimmy Eat World and A Day to Remember, by far. Could give two sh*ts about Stone Temple Pilots and 30 Seconds to Mars. It was frickin hot, but that's obviously out of our control.

Great day awesome concert. Could never afford tix that close to the stage at any othet venue

This was the best concert I have ever attended...and I have been to a ton of concerts! The venue and the weather was beautiful, the people were fun and the music was outstanding!!!! Thirty Seconds To Mars was the best with their acoustic version of The Kill, Jerod Leto (so Hot in his kilt!), the audience participation, the balls and the confetti...so much fun! Surprising to me my second favorite was Pepper! The bassist was awesomely fun! Chester Bennington with STP was really good, if you can look past that he is not Scott Weiland, you will love them.

My daughter and I really liked the show. It was a great venue and it was a very relaxed and fun atmosphere.

Purchased VIP tickets to this event which cost over $140 and was not satisfied with experience. At 2012 next big thing all VIP guests were treated to food and had upgraded facilities. This year there was no food and no upgraded facilities which would have been fine had that been advised up front but it wasn't. The other issue was with what my friends and I dubbed the "dots." Basically if you knew someone who worked at a tent you got VIP tickets for free and they got food but not the people that paid. The dots outnumbered the regular VIP guests and talking to some of them they stated they just went to the concert because it was free not because they actually wanted to hear the music. By the end of the event I wished I had saved my money and sat on the lawn.

The lineup for the Next Big Thing was disappointing. While it was great to hear old favorites like Jimmy Eat World, the price of admission was incredibly high for such a mediocre over-all line up. 97x was supposed to bring in up and coming bands, rather than bands that have been around for decades, (JEW, 30STM, ADTR), incomplete bands with poor substitutes, (STP), and bands that play TB all the time. Last year, there were several fun and exciting bands that put on a great concert. I am not sure what went wrong this year. With a great venue, solid recognition, great sponsors, and a good radio station, I expected a decent line up and show. I was absolutely let down. I will not be attending again in the future. 97x - the concert is called "The Next Big Thing." Remember that for next year.

97X NBT is unforgettable. They give you chances to win prizes such as meeting with the performing bands and stuff. The merch is really cool (especially David and Goliath). The bands were the best part (obviously). I sang along and danced to Dirty Heads, Pepper, Jimmy Eat World, A Day to Remember, and Thirty Seconds to Mars. 97X NBT also showed me new bands that I needed to check out. I will most definitely be back next year! :D (also partially because there aren't many local festivals and events such as these)

Great event! Good food, great bands and great friends and the weather was fantastic florida weather. Definitely doing this again next year.

Beautiful day, and great performances! Loved Frank Turner, Manchester Orchestra and Dirty Heads the most!!! This was a well put together show. Beer was a little pricey, but being able to bring in some water and your own food did help with the cost.

All the shows were great. 30 seconds to mars killed it. Best concert ever. Love them. Love Jared.

I attended with my 13 yr daughter and her friend, not knowing what to expect I have to say I was pleasantly surprised on the amount of fun I had and the girls had the time of their life. They are still talking about the bands to this day and asking me to take them again next year. Thank you 97X and St. Petersburg for putting this event together!

Traveled 4 hours (each way) for this show and it WAS WORTH EVERY MOMENT! Alt-J was amazing and I am so stoked that we got to experience this band at such a quaint, well produced venue. Kudos to production and KUDOS to Alt-J for playing such a worthwhile audio-visual set list. Hard to top. :)))

BEST THING IV EVER BEEN TO IN MY LIFE I cant wait till my next concert

I bought VIP tix the day they went on sale in September. My only complaint is that I think I might have been the only group without access to the free food all the sponsors were bringing back to the table that we weren't even allowed to buy! 30 Seconds to Mars completely rocked it! 5,000 stars! Bought the tix to see STP and wasn't disappointed, but Frank Turner, Dirty Heads and 30 Seconds really made the show. It was amazing and all of the bands' music provided a platform for myself and my h.s. and college kids to bond. I will definitely make this an annual family gift!

My first time for crowd surfing was during ADTR and their song All I Want. It was the best experience if my life. At that moment I felt infinite.

Are you kidding?!? It was an amazing show. I'll be honest, I only went because Mars was there however, the whole event was great! Great music all day. I love Vinoy Park as a venue. We also won the meet the band for 30 STM from 97x, which was priceless for me and to top it off, we were invited to go on stage for Up In The Air which was EPIC!! The staff was amazing and friendly and so fun to hang out with. I will not forget this showand can't wait for 97x to host Mars again.

So many great bands all together but my favorites were Flogging Molly, Of Monsters and Men and Bush. I got the VIP tickets and it was so worth it!

Seriously was a great show! Great collection of bands and I loved the setup. I had GA pit and it was great. Do wish that all acts had been on one stage, I think if 1 band from Sunday had been moved to Sat, you could have done them all on the main stage. Especially since the side stage was in direct sunlight with very little shad.

It was really nice to see so many great bands at once. Other than Joywave, every band was incredible! The Lumineers we're so wonderful it felt like we're sitting around casually listening to their art. So great! I am so happy to be able to see Paramore live, finally. They were even better live! Bands I had never heard before that blew me away like The Aces! Portugal, the Man was totally unlike anything I ever expected. They were more like a one hour rock/blues jam session. That totally rocked!

Best concert in a long time. All the bands were excellent. Can't wait to next year.

Love everything about this annual show and the fact that is was 2 days this year!! Amazing!!

Firstly, concert ticket prices for this event were very reasonable 50 bucks for a two day concert? Awesome. Day 1 we loved Magic Giant (event went to the Hard Rock afterwards to see them. The X Abassador's Rocked it & The Lumineers were awesome. Day 2, I loved Misterwives, Saint Motel, Vance Joy, Walk the Moon was soooooo good! Paramore finished the night & totally rocked it! Hailey was on fire!

This is always a great event. This year was no different. Great lineup. Great fun!

Great show the food sucked if you can't even cook a hot dog you should not host a all day event

It was an amazing day of music at the perfect venue!

This event has been reliably wonderful. I do not like the fairgrounds as a venue, too big, too expensive, sound is good it's just a hassle, and I don't like Ticketmaster or Live Nation. The bands were well picked and sounded great. The acoustic sets at the little stage were a very nice touch, and gave us a chance to see the bands closer up. I appreciate the ability to bring the ziplock bag of food, that makes the day much more affordable and enjoyable. Particularly enjoyed Phantogram, I didn't expect them to be so rock n roll; and the lighting during the 1975 set more than made up for the way too drunk singer. The jumbotrons are nice since the stage is so far away.

Out of the early bands on the day, I'll give the best credit to Saint Motel. The Los Angeles based indie pop band has a unique sound, most credited to their saxophone use. Lead single 'My Type' helped them have a breakthrough year. They also have great contributing singles in 'Cold Cold Man,' 'Benny Goodman' and 'Puzzle Pieces.' They remind me a bit of Capital Cities, and definitely have a bit of a different sound to help them breakthrough the alternative seen. I'd love to see them in a club gig. Look for these guys to release a full length album in 2016. The other stand out act from the day time bands was the incredibly talented Robert Delong. I've seen Delong once before, opening up for the Pilots back in 2013, and man has this guy come a long way. He has had two radio singles this year - 'Long Way Down' and 'Don't Wait Up.' By hearing these songs on the radio, you wouldn't expect that Delong is in fact a one man band. He plays keyboard, drums, some kind of video game controller, and everything in between. He kind of combines the alternative and electronic genres and is very fun to watch on stage. I gotta see this guy in a club next year. He was awesome! If it were not for the eventual headliners, 97xNBT would have been won by fellow Ohio based group Walk the Moon. I reviewed a club show by this pop-alternative favorite earlier in the year, and was excited to see them again in a festival setting. Right from the start they came out with crazy energy, opening with 'Jenny' off their self titled debut album. Of course, the album that's brought them to their current level of high popularity is sophomore effort Talking is Hard. This is one of my favorite albums on the year, and Walk the Moon performed 5 tunes off it, including 'Different Colors' which fit very appropriately as fans raised their various colored thunder sticks. Between hit single 'Shut Up and Dance' and greatest song 'Anna Sun' to close the set, these guys showed they could headline this festival one day. Look for them to return in two years. Poor Of Monsters and Men probably had the worst time slot of the day. They were stuck in between the high energy Walk the Moon and the much anticipated headliner - Twenty One Pilots. Therefore, it was tough for the Icelandic indie rockers to match the excitement of those two. The large band sounded good, but were very mellow, losing the crowds attention. These guys would be great in a club, but unfortunately, Next Big Thing wasn't their best performance. The 20,000 crowd was still going strong at 9:45 when Twenty One Pilots took the stage. I've had the pleasure of seeing these guys two times already in 2015, (reviews here and here) so I was familiar with the opening of the set. Current single 'Heavydirtysoul' set the tone well for the Pilots performance. I've always thought of these guys more as entertainers rather than your standard band. Lead singer Tyler Joseph raps the verses from a suspended microphone while Josh Dun provides the rhythm on drums. Joseph then stepped away from the mic for the chorus, giving Tampa a chance to show off how well they know the lyrics. For those unfamiliar with the Pilots, some aspects of the set may seem strange. Sure, the skeleton suits worn by the band members come off as a bit odd in the Florida heat. And the Elvis cover thrown in the middle of the set might have been unexpected. But for the Tampa 'skeleton clique,' they were prepared and ready. I was consistently impressed with how well the crowd knew the music. Everyone knew each rap verse of 'Migraine,' and screamed the chorus with Joseph on 'Holding on to You.' Per usual, set highlights were the visual aspects displayed by the Pilots. Josh Dun used a separate drum set that got pushed on top of the crowd during 'Ride.' Joseph departed into the pit and climbed a lone piece of truss to sing the final chorus of 'Car Radio.' And of course, nothing topped the expected encore of 'Trees.' Both members of this talented duo were in the pit for the final notes of the evening, closing the show with their signature drum off. As I said, Twenty One Pilots have come a long way in three years. And I'd like to think that they were reminded of that on this night. Joseph seemed very genuine thanking 97x and the boys seemed a bit taken back as they gave their bows following 'Trees.' It was definitely my favorite 97x show of all time. Man...97x has their work cut out for them next year. I don't know how they're going to top this.

21 pilots were great, always put on an excellent show. Playing the way too loud commercials in between the artists was ridiculous. I understand there are sponsors but this went beyond annoying. Event entrance and exit was a complete mess. I've never been to an event here that took this much time in the parking lot, just chaos! Quite a lot of obnoxious drunks and unaccompanied children but not as bad as some concerts in this area. This is definitely a better location than Vinoy Park.

Had such a great time, I was with my 26, 24 and 12 year old. Defiantly for all age groups.

My third year in a row and I'll keep coming back with these great acts.

twenty one pilots and walk the moon were amazing. neighborhood were terrible.

We weren't able to get there until around 2:30, so sadly I missed several bands but every act from the time arrived until the end of the show was great. The crew did a great job transitioning between acts and keeping sound quality high in spite of numerous changes in equipment. The crowd had really positive energy!! One of the best NBT experiences I have had, and that is saying a lot, because I have loved them all :)

The line up was great and the venue was perfect. There was always something going on and other things to see when the bands weren't on stage and the acoustic corner was great!

Amphitheater is a better venue than Vinoy , seating, second stage, bathrooms...music was good but the sound for X Ambassadors sucked the bands need to have somebody in the audience to listen during the concert and communicate with the sound man,

This was a great venue,only wish it was a smaller place to be more intimate with Young the Giant! What an amazing set! Great night had by all! Sound was impressive for outdoors&"To write love on her arms" were there too!Thks,Vinoy Park!!

Bands were awesome. Sound was off for Dirty Heads and Young the Giant, too much bass, couldn't hear the vocals.

My sister and I had an amazing time at the show, the lineup was great it was just awesome.

One potentially handy tidbit: Security only allowed one water bottle per person and no chairs were allowed. My main concerns are about 97x's implementation: 1. The website was useless. No way (at least not listed) to buy tickets other than through Ticketmaster. Nothing listed about what you can and can't bring into the park. No "gates open" time. No schedule was posted. Nothing. 2. The station (specifically Griffin) was rude and sassy when I inquired about a way to win tickets if you live hours away. NOTE: There are none unless you happen to be able to pickup the station's signal and can call in. 3. No schedule pamphlets at the event. You had to download the 97X app to see that, which was not advertised on the website. As for the performances, overall pretty solid if that's your taste in music (I came for Alt-J). Just some things that stood out: 1. New Politics had a ridiculous amount of nonstop energy. 2. Anytime I listen to Dirty Heads, it sounds completely different, but their performance was very reggae-infused, which was pleasing. With that said, it was so bass-heavy that you could not hear anything else. I had to plug my ears at points to be able to drown out the bass and actually hear the rest. 3. As hesitant as I am to admit this, Fall Out Boy actually rocked. Also, having been only familiar with "From Under the Cork Tree" from growing up, they played four songs from that album, which was awesome. They were a good time. General scene: Young, a lot of high school age kids.

Bear hands were amazing, new politics were my favorite, and alt jay was so unforgettable!

Loved this festival so much. Great music and great people. the only thing i didn't like was the limit to the number of people who won the meet & greets.