OK so this was my first time at Sunfest but I have been to TONS of music festivals throughout my many years. While I loved the lineup and the HUGE size of the festival, I thought the ability to hide from the rain was the worst. Â When it rained, and BOY did it rain (it was coming down sideways at one point), "there was no where to run to baby nowhere to hide". Â The only place to go were the floating bardges that were WAY far away from everything and if you were under 21 no such luck for you this is an adult only party!!!! So EVERYONE (21+) packed in there like sardines. So my first suggestions is that they need to add venue tents like Ultra does, 'just in case'. Additionally, they had just laid fresh sod down so it became a mud fest of all mud fests. Â It was so gross. They need to figure out what to do here as well.
The site itself is impressive and the setup for food stands and art stands was WAY beyond what I expected. Â My last suggestion would be to invite local food trucks to 'park' and sell their specialties.
totally going back & PS VIP is the way to go!
This was my first Sunfest experience, and I plan to be back next year. I attended on Saturday only. Parking was super easy to find, even though my friends and I arrived right smack in the middle of the day. If you're not feeling too lazy, you can go a couple blocks away and find $5 parking!
Funny story: Entering the festival, there was a quick purse check, and they made my friend take a sip from her water bottle... We were laughing about it when a cop said to us, "THINK ABOUT IT. If you were bringing poison in, would you want to drink it?" We made really serious faces and nodded like that made tons of sense. So the take home message of my review is do not bring poison to Sunfest.
Anyway, the festival's bigger than it looks from the outside. 3 stages, pretty spaced out. I love that there is a nice laid back feeling to the day... you can watch a band, get some food/drinks, sit by the water when you need a break. It's so laid back. Keep in mind that different parts have different vibes... but it's pretty easy to figure out. The "Life in Color" area was an imitation Ultra, with neon and teenage pot smokers galore. Meanwhile, The Airborne Toxic Event and Phillip Phillips were quite tame. I think this is important to consider for people bringing kids.
The party barges in the water were a really fun feature. They were nice because they're 21+, so the atmosphere was a little less... insane, for people who don't appreciate half-naked preteens and their hormones everywhere. They played awesome danceable music, and we got to take pictures with Captain Morgan! :)
I had a really good time. Especially with such reasonable prices (I found mine as a New Times DailyDeal), it's worth it!
Wow if you want to see half naked teenagers getting Drunk and Partying then this is the place to be, Great list of bands and artist attending but I wasn't feeling anything else. I really don't know how some of the parents of these young Girls let them out the way they look. This is a place I would stay away from if I had a family. Not as good as past years. To commercialized.
Review Source:Judging one year--THIS year, 2012--only...I don't see the point of using nostalgia as an implement to analysis...THE best concert that I've seen in decades was the show that Paul Rodgers put on at Sunfest on Fri. May 4. The venue is delightful. Outdoors, early May in South Florida, at waterside, bar barges docked along the promenade, plenty of room to enjoy. Tickets are EXTREMELY affordable considering what they've reached at nearly any other venue. Buy your admission ticket early at Publix, and you get every second ticket of a pair at half off. The concerts are @3 stages, only one with reserved seating, the other two are standing venues, but the $20 ticket price gets you a place to stand in a reserved section at the very front directly AT the stagefront.
You can still hear ANY of these shows for free, just by standing behind the paid-ticket concert-goers. Then all you pay is the price of general admission to the festival grounds. These take up about 3/4 mile directly on the promenade at the western shore of the Intercoastal. Yes there are abundant vendor stands in typical art-fair! flea-market style, but plenty of things being sold, including a decent choice of foods. Porto-potty supply was very adequate and clean...also a pleasant thing.
This years line-up wasn't anemic, either, with Snoop, Wiz Khalifa, Creed, Foreigner, and other great musicians. I got to enjoy some of the Creed show by standing outside the grandstand area and watching the band clearly on the large video screens mounted above the wings of the stage, and I was in a place that was permitted to be...anyone could have stood there and enjoyed a great concert without purchasing a ticket for a reserved seat. Foreigner was at that same stage the next night, and could have been enjoyed the same way.
The Paul Rodgers show was just fantastic. I've been a devotee who thinks that he's properly and aptly called "the Voice" by many of his fellow rock singers of different generations. I've been to see him about 20 times in many venues since the first time, with "Free" in 1970, through "Bad Company," the "Paul Rodgers Band," his tour recently with "Queen," all of it. This show was magical. He was relaxed, as was the band, and having a great time. This was their only scheduled show between the end of March & mid June, I believe. They played for a FULL 100 Minutes...two encores and all. Need I say that NOTHING beats the acoustics at an outdoor show?
It was well worth the expense of paying for parking in advance, by the way. Overall, if there's music that you want to hear, performers that you'd like to see, you couldn't find a more pleasant way to experience them, at ANY price--except for a private show in your own backyard.
As a veteran Sunfest junkie (every year since 1991), I can tell you that it AIN'T WHAT IT USED TO BE.
We used to drive up on Friday afternoon, stay in an area hotel for two nights, and party, party, party until it was time to come home in the late afternoon on Sunday. Everything was great until maybe 3 or 4 years ago. The first change was to move the awesome fireworks show from Friday to Sunday night. So much for kicking off the weekend with a bang :( Â the first year they did that was a huge disappointment, and we hoped they would reconsider, but they didn't. The following year, we figured why go on Friday night? We can see it all on Sat and Sun. So, we cut our two night stay to one night (are you listening, tourism dept.?) So now instead of buying the one week pass, it no longer paid, and we were buying two-one day passes. We did that the following year. Then we realized that was pretty pricey, and we could see this thing in a day. Well, the following year, we just bought passes for Sunday, and since we were only doing Sunday, it didn't pay to stay at the hotel at all.
Our amazing, awesome weekend that we used to look forward to all year long, turned into just another Sunday art show. The excitement was gone. Add to that the fact that the really neat little craft market area is now gone, and the bands are not what they used to be, and what we have left is kind of a dud of a weekend. Last year we were there for 4 hours. Maybe for someone who has no clue what a great event this was, it's a nice day out, but for me, it's just more of a downer. I left them with three stars, because in all fairness, it's still a nice event, but compared to what they were, they are now a one star.
woohoo, sunfest rocks my socks! sure the bands aren't the newest coolest but always someone that will please. love that its by the water, love the floating captain morgans barges, love the atmosphere, the people, the area, and $54 prepaid 5 day passes are awesome! def something to enjoy, especially the fireworks on sunday 9pm, amazing! best fireworks i've seen!
Review Source:Whats not to like(except the parking)? Wonderful outdoor venue that stretches along the water for close to a mile. Tree lined walk ways, over a hundred artist booths, decent food and 3 stages. A multitude of bands which over a 5 day period is sure to please every age group. Bonus for me was Styx playing on Sat night. As usual, Â they rocked. A good time had by all.
Review Source:Excellent venue for a music festival!!! There was a beautiful view right on the water. I loved the captain morgan oasis on the barges! I only went for one day and enjoyed the sounds of Ziggy Marley and MGMT. This was my first Sunfest experience, but it will definitely not be my last - and next year I'm going for the whole weekend. From the food, drinks, crafts, games, and shows - there's something for everyone!!
Review Source:Starting with their site, it's easy to navigate, informational. You get the option to save a bit of $ if you order advanced tickets or you can choose to buy at the entrance. You can buy one day passes or packages. Same options are available for parking passes. For parking I do recommend you buy online, once there you will find parking costs a lot higher than usual $15 - $20, or maybe more.
This year I went opening night to see Weezer. Even without assigned seats, we were able to see the concert and enjoy it perfectly. They have big screens on each side of the stage, sound was great, even where there were seats everyone had room to dance, jump, and sing. There are several stages around, giving the opportunity to see several performances per day. There's also activities like wine tastings, Captain Morgan's Oasis, and more.
Definitely a great festival for the whole family. Go day or night you're guaranteed a good time.
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