CAROLINA BEACH – A few months ago the Pleasure Island Chamber of Commerce of Carolina Beach, NC announced the Inaugural “Rock the Beach” Music Festival.
In the past they have organized and successfully promoted music on the beach with some beach bands that were hugely successful and after having the 33rd Annual Carolina Beach Music Festival they decided to bring in some heavy weights that are regional favorites within the genre of Rock/Blues and give it a shot.
So the date was set for August 25th, 2018.
On the bill was Tres Locos, ZZ Top Tribute; Idlewild South, The Allman Brothers Band Tribute; and Tuesdays Gone, Lynyrd Skynyrd Tribute. All played a 90 minute set, nonstop and full of high energy. The event was billed as bring and “drink your own beer” and “listen to the songs you know.”
Sounded like a perfect plan to me and it surely worked because the crowd was huge. My view from the stage was a little bit of sea oats, a throng of people on the beach all the way to the water and just the beautiful Atlantic Ocean behind them.
I have played at the coast many times in the past but I have never played literally on the beach before, so this was a first for me. Perhaps it was the best view from any stage I’ve had and it was quite inspiring to make me want to do it again and again.
People actually started coming in and claiming their spots on the beach in front of the stage early in the morning. I was thinking to myself where are all these people going so early but they were coming to the festival. They brought canopies, chairs and of course coolers full of their favorite beverages and lots of food that some prepared right there on the beach.
This was some kind of celebration; not sure what but thousands of people were celebrating something. Perhaps they were just happy in the fact that they were alive and having a great time with friends on the beach and listening to “songs you know” as the Chamber intended. Tickets were $20.00 in advance and $30.00 the day of the event.
The weather couldn’t have been better. Somehow the humidity levels weren’t nearly as bad as they had been just a day or so prior because of a shift in the wind and just a couple of days after it, the humidity came right back but oh, what a relief it was. And to add to the elements of the beautiful weather there was a gentle sea breeze coming off the ocean that seemed to make it quite nice. Was it warm? Of course it was – it’s August, but it was a beautiful day indeed for this event.
The promotion by the Chamber was excellent and the production company Sound Wave Audio, Inc. did a complete and professional job in producing sound for all of us. Jersey Mike’s catered the food for the hospitality area for the musicians and staff workers and it was a great spread. They had everything from an assortment of their famous sandwiches, fresh fruit, and various snacks (including those little wonderful tasting gold fish snacks). And of course just about any kind of beverage you could want and certainly a few coolers full of a few choices of cold beer! In addition to all of that there were four local beer breweries on site making their product available and an assortment of vendors on hand as well.
The chamber really took care of the musicians in every way and I for one am very appreciative. Aside from having a well-stocked hospitality area for us they also put us up for the night in the Marriott Hotel on the beach right next door to the venue. The “venue” was actually attached to the famous Boardwalk there and what a wonderfully designed structure that is. I can’t say enough good things about the staff, the Chamber and Carolina Beach in general as they were all very good to us. But in closing I guess it wouldn’t have been complete without getting a warning from the hotel. Hey, after all is said and done we are a bunch of rock and rollers, so I will leave the reason for the warning up to your imagination. So look for this festival to happen again next year and plan on attending- you’ll be glad you did, I promise.
On behalf of all of the bands I want to thank the promoters and staff for having us. “Idlewild South,” the Allman Brothers Band Tribute – www.idlewildsouthnc.com.
