ALLEN CITY BLUES FESTIVAL

The wife and I didn't get to the festival until 4 PM, which was just fine as the music went on until about 11:00 PM (7 hours is a long time). The first band we got to hear was the Griff Hamlin Band out of California. They rocked! Griff was an excellent blues guitarist and the horns section was a great complement to the music they played. I was surprised I had never heard of them! We next saw Wanda King (the daughter of the late great Freddy King). This was more the great old style of blues music and she and her band were spot on! Excellent set! Next up was Billy Cox Band of Gypsies Experience. The guitarists in this band were amazing! They played most of Jimi Hendrix's hits and nailed it! Awesome! Next up was Eric Johnson, who's music I have enjoyed since the 80's and was the main reason I wanted to go to this festival. Eric's playing was amazing as usual, but something seemed off a little. My only complaint is that whomever decided to crank up the speakers in the Allen Center full blast. Maybe I'm just getting old but it really was almost painful and I thought distracted from Eric's playing.

Music was ok, but venue sucked. They had a 9 hour blues festival with 2 stages, but didn't allow re-entry. When asked they said it was because in the past people were bringing in drinks from the 2 resteraunt/bars across the street. It seems like the "no outside food or drink" sign would cover that, but then they would have to hire a cop to enforce it instead of the senior citizen volunteers they had working the door. I think it was to make more money off their drinks and crappy food while you were stuck there. It didn't stop the guys a few seats from us from bringing in a BIG bottle of Jagermiester and chugging on it all night until one was falling down getting twisted up in the seats. Also saw lots of flasks with drinking in plain sight. The ushers (more senior volunteers) didn't care about drinking or cameras...one guy even had a video camera on a tripod set up on third row, it almost got knocked over by the drunk Jager guy. The inside venue was screwed up, with a half arena stage setup they only had 2 places selling food (one on each side) and during intermission only one person behind the counter to serve a very long line. Their soda mixture was totally screwed up and they had the worlds nastiest tasting $6 coke zero. My biggest complaint is they only had one men's room open for the whole place....both the bathrooms closest to the stage exits were curtained off and not opened. It was the first time I saw shorter lines at the ladies rooms than the mens...poor sound system and acoustics added to the list of failures for this venue. Of course I was sitting second row in front of some large amps so all I heard during Eric Johnson was him and a little drums, but even when heading to the back the sound didn't get much better...I will say it was a small venue and any seat in first level was close to the half arena stage. I moved up to empty seats on second row from my 4th row seats...lots of empty seats up front and no usher control on who sat in them....seats on floor were small and not very comfortable. I was glad to have empty ones next to me for elbow room.

We only arrived to see EJ and the Billy Cox Experience. We caught a bit of Wanda King and while she was very good, I'm just kind of burned out on the blues standards. When SRV made it big, you couldn't walk into a bar in Dallas without hearing the same damn blues songs over and over. The Billy Cox Experience was as close to Hendrix as you you could get! A wonderful performance and a great band. If you love Hendrix, you must see this show! Eric Johnson was amazing as usual. There were times when he and Chris Maresh (bass) weren't on the same page with progressions, but I'm probably one of the few that noticed. Eric's got his sound and it totally belongs to him. Just an incredible talent all around. The sound: rarely do I go to this large of a venue and hear such excellent mixing from the sound engineer. I give him a perfect 10. The venue: very long lines and wait times for beer, few food choices and no "in and out" passes which means you are held captive from the moment you enter to the moment you leave. That sucks! Also, for some inexplicable reason, the first four rows on the floor are contiguous. That means that you have approximately 50 seats together with no aisles in between. Think about how difficult that is if you're sitting in the middle! The person that came up with that brilliant seating scheme needs to have his head examined. We will probably never attend another show at this venue. The ticket prices are astronomical and the seating situation is ridiculous. Very disappointed.

Concert was great but stop shining the lights into people faces.

Well, I believe the rock and country genres were more prevalent than the jazz. I'm not taking anything away from the musicians' quality, but I thought there would be more jazz. The individual artists were good but the acoustics just don't do justice when a group performs. I don't enjoy loud music because everything gets lost in the volume. This event was no exception. The best way to listen was to plug one's ears. Only then could instruments and voices be distinguished. Bleacher seats were cramped and refreshment prices were exorbitant. $4.50 for water? Tickets were way over-priced. I would have enjoyed spending $100+ in another way.

Hope this event continues! Eric Johnson and Billy Cox rocked. Sound was great and seats were great and reasonably priced. Free parking - what more do you need? Interesting vendors too. I heard about this on LoneStar 92.5 and am so glad I did. They did interviews with Eric and Billy so I had some interesting background before heading to the concert. This event is well worth your time.

IF we learn from our mistakes, then next year might be better. Event Schedule was posted "old school", taped to windows at the event center. Nothing online. And how do you manage an indoor stage with reserved seats (for 9 hours), adjacent to an outdoor stage, and no IN/OUT privileges and people who want to see a headline act don't even know when to show up? This was a blues festival and even Eric Johnson, with all his talent, is not a headline blues act. This event needs a lot of work to gain a place in the festival arena. The guitarist who was allowed to share the stage with Billy Cox was woefully inadequate and obviously received a gracious nod of tolerance from the band. Scanner technology could scan for re-entry, or handstamps, to allow for free flowing festival envrionment between stages.

Billy Cox band stole the show for me. All the bands were great.

Overall a great show. Eric Johnson was a bit of a shredfest as opposed to a blues fest. But the guy clearly knows his scales. Malee Thomas Band on the Guitar Sanctuary stage was excellent. Lots of energy all around.

This was my first Allen City Blues Festival and their second annual event. They really put on a great show with 12 different acts on two stages throughout the afternoon and evening. Great Blues artists throughout the whole event topped off by an immaculate venue! One thing I noticed was how well kept the mens room was the whole time. There was always someone in the mens room keeping it totally spotless. Kudos to the cleaning staff at the event center, it really goes a long way to have such a clean facility to enjoy some great music in! Artists of note that I had never heard or seen live before and really found enjoyable were Griff Hamlin & the Circle City Horns; Wanda King & Billy Cox Band of Gypsies Experience. Keep up the great work Allen Event Center and bring these and other great artists back next year!

I can't say enough. The Allen event center is a great place and convenient to get to. Parking was free and close to the venue. Hard to believe such great talent can be seen in a suburb. I will definitely look forward to next year. Concert was all day but only went to see Wanda King, Billy Cox and Eric Johnson. Wanda King was good with their set of blues. Billy Cox cranked it up with many Hendrix tunes. Both guitarists were great. The audience rocked and rolled. Eric Johnson was a virtuoso and just amazing. I wish I would have arrived earlier to enjoy some of the outside music. There were bands playing inside and outside at the same time. There was plenty of food and drink available at the concession stands in the event center. Shirts and memorabilia (e.g. albums, DVD's) also being sold. Me and my family had a great time!!!

Really enjoyed the blues tent outside with the performers from the Guitar Shop in McKinney. Awesome talent from 8-18 ages! The Billy Cox Group did a great job on the Hendrix tunes-Darling Dagger and Foxy Lady to name a few.It seemed like Jimi was up there-dudes played like him and one looked like him too. Only complaint was once inside you could not leave and come back.So I was trapped for 6-8 hours.Highly unfair and many complained they would not come back next year.I talked to management,said it was because last year many left and came back rowdy from drinking elsewhere.(Guess they didn't like the $6.50-$8.75 drink prices too!) Why penalize everyone for the ones who need controlling?

Allen "blue" it! The blues festival could've been great, but they didn't plan it very well. My issues/suggestions... Have more than one outside stage. Use the area all the way around the event center and even into the parking lots of the surrounding businesses! Set up 3 or more stages and allow food trucks and vendors to set up as well. Hire good local bands to play outside. The 4 bands I heard outside were pretty bad. There are a ton of good bands who would love to play this event---maybe even for free---open auditions to the public and actually find good musicians! Allow attendees to come and go. It's cruel to host a 10 hour event close to a hotel and good restaurants and make people stay in an uncomfortable stadium. Nowhere to sit outside the stadium plus only expensive hot dogs, nachos, or BBQ to eat and 5 dollar sodas and 8 dollar beer We left for dinner and would've come back to enjoy the "headliners" in the evening---but we weren't allowed! That stinks! Have many more vendors. Charge them a fee to come sell art. Have an MC for each stage. The poor bands having to come on the stage and introduce themselves is very "amateur." Just some stadium employee or festival coordinator saying, "Having fun, Allen?---Well, put your hands together for the legendary Wanda King" as the bands come on stage would've made the event seem better.

Excellent show and venue !!! Staff was very helpful .. Well organized and hoping this event will take place again in 2014 - Only problem was not being able to re-enter Event Center once ticket was scanned. Wrist bands, hand stamp should be used. Was not issue for us on Saturday, however, we easily could have planned to leave event to pick up a child and return, make a quick stop home to let out a pet, etc. We would not have been able to re-enter had we left. Staff did advise ticket holders, but I believe many people were hoping to be able to leave for a bit, even for a quick trip to a car to get a sweater since it was an A/C facility ... just my thoughts ... Kudo's to the staff running the sound !!! They did a GREAT job. ...

Music was GREAT! Awesome way to spend your Saturday and Saturday night. The turnout was disappointing, though, and I believe it was due to a lack of knowledge. Had I not read aboyt the event in a local magazine, I would have never known. It also would have been nice to have print outs of the stage line ups.

The event was scheduled from 2pm to 10:45pm and there was NO RE-ENTRY! Didn't see that advertised anywhere when we bought the tickets. I was not ready to spend 8+ hours in the Allen Event Center eating their food and drinks (mediocre at best, always overpriced). Other than the no re-entry policy it was a pretty good venue (size, seating). Billy Cox and his band playing Jimmie Hendrix was awesome. A couple of the outside bands I heard (local talent) were also really good. Eric Johnson was just kind of boring.

Every act was great. A lot of talent in one venue for the money. Parking was free. It was a great time to see Billy Cox back on stage was a real treat.

Music was great! The "no re-entry" this year makes it an event I won't attend again. Previously, it was fun to listen for a while, take a break outside (without SMOKERS) and come back to enjoy more music.

Attended the Allen City Blues Festival on 07/27/13 with my nephew. He has been wanting to see Eric Johnson play for a few years now, so I figured that this smallish, (compared to say the AAC), venue would be great. Indoors, no smoking, etc............ The event center was sparkling clean, no fuss at all with parking, bathrooms were very clean and well maintained. Apparently there were lots and lots of rich folks there, because everyone must have purchased about 7 tickets each, because the place was dog gone near empty. Maybe I'm old, who am I kiddin', I AM old, but we used to make a whole day out of these blues fests. They were outdoors, we roasted in the sun, we partied too much, and we grooved. Not sure if the vibe wasn't 100% right, or if it was the lack of acts on the bill, but the mood was just a little....off. Seeing Billy Cox was great, and Eric Johnson continues to amaze after 30 years. My nephew was blown away, which was my mission on that day. Great venue, sound was great, can't say enough good things about the AEC. I will be checking upcoming events to see what I can bring the family to see.

Could not leave once you entered. Won't be back...ever 1 star is too high of a rating. F- is about right.