So, did anyone go to the RadioBDC concert in Union Square ?

[ron_newman]

After all the fuss here, and in the Somerville Patch and Journal, and in the Board of Aldermen, I'm curious what the concert and crowd were actually like. (I was at HONKtoberfest instead)

Comments

[tober.livejournal.com]

I did not actually attend but I did walk past the concert in the late afternoon on my way to/from Backbar. The concert was pretty crowded and my perception was that the crowd was more predominantly college-aged than usual (for public concerts in Somerville in general). Backbar/Journeyman had somewhat different-than-usual food and drink in an attempt (which I don't really think was working all that well but I'm unsure) to attract concert-goers and it looked like some of the other restaurants near the plaza did too. Somerville Ave was closed from Washington/Prospect to Washington/Webster.

[eclectician.livejournal.com]

There were probably never more than 500 attendees there at any time. There were times when the police detail outnumbered the crowd. As for the music... well, it was loud...

[tober.livejournal.com]

Yeah, pretty much, though 500 (if it was even that) is pretty crowded when squeezed into that relatively small space. It was pretty loud - someone was beat-boxing perhaps around 5:15 and that could be readily heard all the way back to where I live (corner of Bow and Summer)

[ron_newman]

But doesn't the Fluff festival attract an order of magnitude more people, using the same space (plaza, parking lot, closed part of Union Square)?

[tober.livejournal.com]

The fluff festival uses the entire area including the closed portion of the street. Although the street was closed today, it was entirely empty. The plaza, though, was crowded - I'd say somewhat more crowded than the farmer's market on a particularly nice mid-summer Saturday.

[ron_newman]

Sounds like the street closure was totally unneeded.

[tober.livejournal.com]

In my opinion, it was indeed not needed - but I would guess that even if the promoter didn't want a street closure (I have no idea whether they did or didn't), the city would have insisted upon it for "security reasons." Really, holding this concert at all against the relatively numerous other well-established events on the same day was kind of dumb... and I'm not so sure that Union Square Plaza is a good venue for concerts as such anyhow.

[alexis gewertz (from livejournal.com)]

I went to the festival for a short period of time. I didn't think it was particularly well execute or advertised. There was no listing of when each musician was going on, there wasn't too much going on besides music and a few street vendors, and I was surprised that it has been planned on the same day as HONK/oktoberfest in Harvard Square. I think it could have been much more successful with better planning.

[daviscubed.livejournal.com]

I went for the last band (The Sheila Divine). My (non-college aged) friends had a meal at El Potro outside, and headed in when the band started. I hovered around the edges (the obelisk/memorial), as we brought our one-year-old and as mentioned, it was l-o-u-d.

I'd much prefer too much detail/not enough attendees than the other way around. If they have another one, I'd imagine the top suggestions from attendees would be maybe have it not be so loud (though I may just be getting old), and do a better job advertising the order of the bands? Somerville Ave was closed as mentioned. The music was loud enough that if you were in the closed off section of the road, you'd hear the band fairly well (for an outdoor concert in a non-concert venue).

I'm sure that the restaurants/shops/bars in Union Square got a bump (especially with the HonkFest parade pulling people away from that area), some families got to take their kids to a rock show, and a good time was had by whoever went. For this, in the name of safety, they closed a stretch of Somerville Ave on a Sunday. I guess it's in the eye of the beholder if that's too big a price.

As for comparisons to other festivals, I think it might be best to think back to the first time those festivals were held and ask how many were there. I remember the first HonkFest; there wasn't much to it - certainly no one was coming from miles around. These things (HonkFest, Somerstreets, FluffFest) seem to get more attendees as years go on. Perhaps that will happen with this concert, in which case the road closures should stay in effect.