I bought tickets for Bunbury last year at the conclusion of last year’s festival after having a great time and being guaranteed the lowest prices. The down side to buying this early is that you have no idea who is going to be playing when the lineup is eventually announced months later. In addition future plans can sometimes take place on the same weekend, like what was supposed to happen for my family this year. We had tentative plans to be out-of-town during Bunbury and after what I considered to be a lackluster lineup announcement, I went ahead and sold our tickets to some friends.

ZZ Ward on Main Stage

Fast forward to this past weekend and as the festival approached I starting digging into the lineup a little more and finding bands that I wouldn’t mind seeing perform live. Then our plans to be out-of-town fell through and I started thinking about buying a single day ticket to attend Friday, but I just couldn’t convince myself to spend $70 for the single day ticket after originally buying the three-day pass for just over $100 last year. Fortunately I was able to secure a free pass into the festival on Sunday to experience at least a little of Bunbury’s third year.

Robert DeLong on River Stage

I arrived just before 4pm having no idea that some bands were pushed back due to severe weather earlier in the day. This was good news for me as I was able to walk right in and see The Lighthouse and the Whaler perform on the river stage, which was fortunately back on the banks of the Ohio River this year. Last year this stage had to be moved up out of the floodplain due to high water. The serpentine wall provides a great natural setting for a concert with its steep steps and tiered seating areas. The disadvantage is that sometimes this natural amphitheater can cause the volume to swell a little too loudly, but that is worth the risk due to the ideal setting and great backdrop.

Young the Giant on Main Stage

Bands set times were cut just a bit in an effort to squeeze everyone in and the curfew was pushed out so that the headliners could still play full sets. I spent the middle of the evening bouncing primarily between the river stage and the main stage, which was moved to the other end of the grass of Yeatmans Cove Park. With the move they had to take out the western most entrance to the festival, but as I mentioned last year this stage had to be moved somewhere else. In the old orientation, the stage and crowd created such a bottleneck situation as the evening went on. I was so glad to see that the stage was moved, and I’m sure many others were too, even if it meant longer walks to get inside the gates.

Flaming Lips on Main Stage

I really enjoyed the stretch of music provided by Red Wanting Blue, Kopecky Family Band, ZZ Ward, Robert DeLong, and finally Young the Giant. These bands all alternated between the main and river stages, which are within close proximity to each other. So even though the following band would start immediately after the prior, I was still able to catch nearly all of their sets. The night was closed out with the Flaming Lips, who I have seen a couple of times before. As I experienced at these past shows, their set was much more about the stage show and theatrics than it was about the music. The fireworks were a nice touch though.

I saw enough continued improvements to visit the box office and purchase tickets for next year. Bunbury is worth the risk of buying tickets without knowing the lineup.