EVENTS WE LOVE
ARE YOU READY TO ROCK? Big Music Returns to Louisville by G. Douglas Dreisbach
Bourbon & Beyond and Louder than Life are two of the region’s biggest music festivals, and both are returning to Louisville in September for back-to-back weekends — and for what will surely be a great time for any music connoisseur.
We were excited to catch up with two of the team members from Danny Wimmer Presents, the company that makes it all happen — Chamie McCurry, who handles marketing and communications, and Del Williams, who is the head of talent. We hope you enjoy the conversation, and we’ll see you there! G. Douglas Dreisbach: Danny Wimmer Presents produces Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life here in Louisville, as well some of the biggest music festivals in the country. We are super excited about the lineup for both festivals this year, and look forward to another two weekends of music and fun. Why did you all decide to land in Louisville for these events, and has the market lived up to your expectations? Chamie McCurry: Danny Wimmer first started visiting Louisville because he wanted to create a bourbon, so that was sort of his entry into the marketplace. After spending time there, he decided that he didn’t just want to create a bourbon, he wanted to create a movement in this city, with live entertainment that pulls in the bourbon, pulls in artists, and pulls in the local community. He wanted to create something for multiple weekends to really highlight and showcase this amazing city and bring in fans from all over the country to experience Louisville and fall in love with it the way that he did. He quickly pivoted from bourbon and started Louder than Life. This company was built on rock festivals, so after a couple years of success with Louder than Life, he added Bourbon and Beyond into the mix, which really was sort of a love letter to the city of Louisville and the state of Kentucky, in terms of mixing bourbon and making that be just as much of a headliner as the artists that play it. GDD: Initially, Louder than Life was held down near the river at Champions Park. Mother Nature didn’t cooperate, creating several challenges due to heavy rain and flooding. 22
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The festival has been moved to a totally new space that you created at the Kentucky Fair & Expo Center that has plenty of parking, and the logistics of getting in and out have been great. How was the transition, and has it been an easier space from a management and production standpoint? Del Williams: It has. And with the former venue, we had some issues we really couldn’t control, and the whole fan experience is the top priority for all the Danny Wimmer Presents festivals. We want the fans to have an incredible experience across the board from every little detail, from individual blades of grass (no kidding) to the way the restrooms are laid out, to the excellence in the entrances, the parking, all the lifestyleoriented exhibits that we have, the festival village, the vantage points for seeing the fans. And the previous venue did have some challenges, but we love where we’re at now, because as you’ve already pointed out, some things are superior to the previous venue. Now, we just feel like we can offer, as with all of our shows, a more complete experience that really is in line with the philosophy of DWP, where people know that when they go to one of our shows, that regardless of the lineup, they’re going to have an amazing time because we have factored in everything that is important to them. And this venue really allows us to do that. CM: To echo what Del was saying, the team at the Kentucky Exposition Center have been incredible partners to us. The infrastructure they have with their full-time staff in developing the grounds and really identifying the best use within the space, they have really been great partners to us, and we’re incredibly thankful for that relationship. GDD: For years, you have brought in the biggest names in the industry to the festivals. For Bourbon & Beyond this year, we’re going to see Pearl Jam, Chris Stapleton, Jason Isbell, A U D I E N C E
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