New bluegrass music festival debuts in downtown Las Vegas
A.J. Gross is no fan of the plastic commode.
“I hate port-a-potties,” the longtime concert promoter acknowledges.
Gross — who’s been booking shows locally for decades, all the way back to gigs at the Huntridge Theater in the early ’90s — is an avid festivalgoer, you see.
One of his favorites is Colorado’s Telluride Blues & Brews Festival, which he’s attended for 20 years.
Each time out, he camps with a large group of friends. While he digs the experience, sometimes the accommodations can be less than desirable — especially the restroom options.
His quest for a fest in a more convenient setting led Gross to launch the Big Blues Bender in 2014 at the Plaza.
With multiple stages under one roof, concertgoers could binge on bands mere steps from the comforts of a hotel room, shielded from the elements that can occasionally bedevil outdoor fests.
The Big Blues Bender swiftly became a big blues hit, selling out in advance by its third year and establishing itself as a destination event for scene die-hards.
With bands playing almost around the clock and little separation between the audience and the acts, the Bender has developed a distinctive we’re-all-in-this-together vibe.
Now Gross is debuting another fest with the same framework, swapping the blues for bluegrass.
A Jamboree is born
Launching Thursday, the Bender Jamboree is four-day event featuring genre heavyweights such as popular hybridists Greensky Bluegrass, Americana veterans Leftover Salmon, recent Grammy winners The Infamous Stringdusters and the nattily attired Del McCoury Band, to name but a few.
While the festival is bluegrass-centric, there are plenty of departures from that sound among the Jamboree’s 30 acts, such as New Orleans’ Honey Island Swamp Band and the funky, horn-powered Polyrhythmics.
“I came to it with a really open palette,” Gross explains over an iced tea at the Plaza’s Hash House A Go Go on a recent weekday afternoon, clad in a button-down shirt sporting the Bender Jamboree logo. “We wanted this to be eclectic. People see this as being bluegrass, because the headliners are bluegrass, but we threw in some variety, I plan to throw more of it in, but I gotta get people to trust me first.”
While mining a different style of music than he does with the Big Blues Bender, Gross is keeping some of the principles in place that he used to build that festival into a success: The focus remains on creating a high-end, immersive event, with no single-day ticket sales and an emphasis on true-blue fans who are willing to pay a higher price for what’s intended to be a higher-caliber experience.
“People keep asking me, ‘Why don’t you sell single-day tickets?’ ” says Gross, a sizable man with proportionate ambitions. “My response is that we’re about musical immersion and friendship, and that can’t happen on a single day. It can’t happen popping in, popping out.
“There’s this energy that’s stretched out over four days instead of in an evening,” he continues. “Bonds are built, friendships are made, new bands are heard — because you’re here. It’s a tribal gathering. That’s what it is.”
Getting off to a good start
Tickets went on sale in September, when the promotional push for the event began in earnest.
“Our opening day sales for the Jamboree were 10 times stronger than the opening-day sales for the first Big Blues Bender,” Gross notes. But then came the horrific events of Oct. 1.
In deference to the Route 91 Harvest tragedy, Gross pulled all his marketing for the Jamboree for months, which has affected his bottom line: He doesn’t expect its debut to sell out.
“I’m not going to do anything drastic,” he says. “I’m not going to all of a sudden offer two-for-one tickets. It’s not ever a part of my game plan. I’d rather lose a few dollars and believe in what I do.
“I did the same thing with the Blues Bender,” he continues. “People came around. They saw the value in it, saw what we were doing. That’s what I gotta do here.”
With the Blues Bender blowing up, Gross says that he’s toyed with the idea of adding another installment of the festival, but now seems more inclined to launch Benders that mine different musical niches.
He’s contemplated doing a metal Bender, as he was once heavily immersed in the genre, bringing bands such as Pantera and Sevendust to Vegas for some of their earliest shows here back in the day.
For now, though, it’s banjos before headbangers.
“I only got so much time,” Gross smiles, “but I got a lot of ideas.”
Bender Jamboree highlights
A.J. Gross recommends five acts to catch at the Bender Jamboree:
The Dustbowl Revival
“They’re an eight-piece with such an eclectic vibe and musical palette. I wanted this event to be eclectic, because I think this audience is willing to absorb it.”
Sam Bush
“Sam is this unique character. He was in a band called New Grass Revival, which kind of created this jam-grass type of thing where they took bluegrass and modernized it. This was back in the ’70s. He creates this idea of jamming it up. Don’t be surprised if he breaks out a Bob Marley song — and don’t be surprised if it rocks.”
The Del McCoury Band
“The Del McCoury Band is probably the most authentic bluegrass, going back. Del was actually in Bill Monroe’s band. He was his guitar player and singer way back in the day. He’s got that high lonesome sound, as we like to say. That’s the pure bluegrass.
Billy Strings
“This guy is the future of bluegrass. When you see him, you’ll go, ‘Is this kid even 20 years old?’ He looks like a teenager, plays the guitar faster and better than anyone you’ve probably ever seen do it. He’s taking it to a whole new level.”
The California Honeydrops
“It isn’t really bluesgrass, but I love the band. So much fun. They were street musicians once upon a time in the Pacific Northwest. I’m not sure there’s a more fun band.”
Contact Jason Bracelin at jbracelin@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0476. Follow @JasonBracelin on Twitter.
