Bumstock kicks off Avalanche on Waterfront

BANGOR - Attendance mimicked the weather Saturday as an all-daymusic festival concert kicked off the 2011 Waterfront Concertsseries at the Bangor Waterfront Pavilion.

The crowd numbered in the high hundreds under cloudy, gray skiesand steady breezes as music started to blare from the secondarysound stage around 10:30 a.m. But as the temperature rose and thesun came out, that number climbed to about 4,000 as people beganarriving to stake out prime areas to sit or stand for the mainattraction.

The revamped, resized and relocated Bumstock music festival - aUniversity of Maine staple for decades - featured 15 bands fromMaine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts that batted leadoff fortheheavy hitters headlining the national Avalanche Tour: Stone Sour,Theory of a Deadman, Skillet, Halestorm, and Art of Dying.

"We have bands from Bangor, Falmouth, Calais, Portland, the Orono-Old Town area, and a few bands from out of state as well," saidRobbie Snow, Waterfront Concerts production manager. "I think 12 ofthe 15 bands are from Maine."

The festival already is seen as a big success, not only in termsof the lineup and the fan support and ticket sales, but also becauseof the response from bands.

"Not only are bands willing to travel to play here, but therewere nearly a hundred others who contacted us to play, but we onlyhave so many slots to fill and so many hours in a day," said Snow."We're already full up for Oxxfest."

Oxxfest is a similar festival-concert event planned for theBangor Waterfront on Sunday, July 31. Previously, it was held inOxford and Wiscasset.

Waterfront Concerts promoter Alex Gray confirmed that this year'sfourth annual Oxxfest event will be headlined by Stone TemplePilots.

"We're going to announce more acts, but that's the biggestheadliner we've ever had for Oxxfest," Gray said.

Concert promoters and safety-security workers reported no majorproblems Saturday afternoon, other than a few technical or weather-related difficulties.

"I don't know about easier, but it's going a lot smoother," saidSnow. "We've learned a lot and we know how to handle situationsbetter. It's the first show, so we have some hiccups in termsofweather, stage setup and fencing along with some late-resolvedInternet issues.

"We also had to open the gates later than expected because we hadsome buses arrive late from New York, but the crowd was patient andpeople were great."

Bangor police Officer Brad Johnston reported no serious problemsas the all-day event headed into its seventh hour. There was areport that a couple of fans received lacerations or bruises in themad rush to stake out a prime spot up front when security beganallowing fans inside the main stage area about an hour before theAvalanche's showtime.

"The crowd's been very good and we really haven't had to doanything to this point," Johnston said.

Gray confirmed that one of the Waterfront workers suffered abroken ankle during setup work earlier in the day.

"The biggest thing for us was the mud. We got a lot of rain thelast few days," Gray said. "When you put a 25,000-pound forklift outthere trying to lift 5,000 pounds, it's going to sink in this stuff.That's why we put a lot of sand out there in the front of the stage,because it was so wet."

At least a couple of intoxicated fans were kicked out by police,one for punching another man during the break between Skillet's setand Theory's.

The fan count was estimated by several security workers andpolice officials to be 8,000. Because of Avalanche Tour contractualobligations, Gray is unable to release an official crowd count.

Saturday's alcohol sales were handled differently fromtraditional concert events that feature one or two acts because ofit being both an all-day event and an event that draws fans of bothlegal and illegal age for consumption of alcohol.

The format used a "beer garden" setup where beer and wine saleswere held at concession stands fenced off and segregated from therest of the arena, forcing fans to drink in one designated area.

"Events like this tend to skew really young, and when it's thisyoung, you want to take away any temptation or tomfoolery that'sgoing to come from alcohol consumption," Gray said.

"It's an all-day show and it's general admission with big agedifferences in the crowd, and people can conceal alcohol easierstanding as opposed to sitting," Snow said. "For other shows, peoplecan buy two drinks at a time and take them to their seats, but wehave to control these kinds of shows more tightly."

Saturday's Bumstock festival featured the bands A ConstantBubble, The Marble Socket, Bury the Myth, Deliver Us, Nobis,Sufferer, Salvo, Darkside Out, Indecent Exposure, A Day'sConfession, Prospect Hill, Shallow Path, Upon Victory and End ofIdols.

Southern Maine band Uncle Jack sold the most tickets of all thelocal bands

"There aren't a lot of large venues for local bands, especiallythose that do original material, to play at, and this also allowsbands to meet, network and socialize," Snow said. "And this is achance for them to add to their resumes and get more exposure."

The evening's headliner session started just after 6 p.m. andwent off almost incident-free, although there was a power problemthat caused a four-minute break in Theory of a Deadman's set, butlead singer Tyler Connolly used the time to talk and joke with thecrowd.

Although Stone Sour was the last to play, about two-thirds of thecrowd seemed to be there to see Theory.

Many people started leaving after 10 either to beat the crowd orget a jump on the drive home while Stone Sour was still playing. Theconcert ended about an hour later.

In another show-related event, a meet-and-greet public sessionfeaturing four drummers from the headline bands of the AvalancheTour at Mark's Music store in Brewer drew about 250 fans from 3 to4p.m.

"People started lining up around 1:30 p.m. and things went verysmoothly," said store owner Mark Braveman. "We had a photographerhere taking photos of the drummers with fans, and we sold out ofhead covers."

The event was co-sponsored by Mark's Music and Sabian cymbals, amain sponsor of the Avalanche Tour.

"From our perspective, events like this are great ways to promotethe musicians, the bands, the tour, Sabian and stores like Mark's,so they're great promotional events," said Katie Robinson, e-marketing coordinator for Sabian.