Interview with Ashley Capps, Mega-Festival Producer of Vegoose
June Caldwell
November 05, 2005
Ashley Capps of AC Entertainment teamed up with Jonathan Mayers of Superfly Productions to bring us the renowned Tennessee music fest, Bonnaroo. On Halloween weekend of this year their magic struck again. They brought us Vegoose, which turned Sam Boyd Stadium in Las Vegas into a sell out two day music marathon with 40 bands including Dave Matthews, Beck, Phish, Trey Anastasio, The Arcade Fire, and Atmosphere to name a few. I had a chat with Ashley a week before the inaugural Vegoose was officially launched.
June: How is the inaugural launch of a new music festival like giving birth?
Ashley: Well, I?ve never given birth, but it is much like what I imagined it to be! You plan something like this for months, years, then...all of a sudden now it is 9 days to opening, and it?s like oh m?God, oh m?God it?s almost here?Then all of a sudden it happens!
June: Sometimes a new idea seems so right, you just ask yourself why hasn?t anyone come up with it before. Having a major music festival in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, is one of those ideas. It has the guest facilities, surrounding venues, etc. Why has nobody done this before? And how did you come up with the idea for this mega-festival in Las Vegas?
Ashley: It?s sort of goes back to the impulse behind Bonnaroo. People look at Bonnaroo, and its great getting all the accolades, but it really was just tying together a bunch of threads that were already there. We focused on the elements that made it work. It was taking all these strands that were already there and weaving them into a single exciting event, and Vegoose is no different. There is the tradition of some of the artists going to Las Vegas for their signature events (Author?s note: like members of the Grateful Dead for example), the surrealism of Vegas plus Halloween weekend that we just weaved together to create the package for something really unique and exciting!
June: The line up of Vegoose is so diverse, a combination of Bonnaroojam bands such as Wide Spread Panic, and Coachella bands such as The Arcade Fire as well as hip hop bands like Atmosphere, and soul dance artist King Britt. What is the common thread?
Ashley: Great live music! This diversity is exciting to us as promoters...it lends the event a multi-faceted character that is fun to work with. But in the case of the audiences, we have done a lot of research, and these audiences don?t like to be put into little boxes like so many marketing people seem to think. You know, I go to my friends? houses and their music collection is just like mine! They have some Miles Davis, Coltrane, Beatles, Bach, Beethoven, and Earl Scruggs. So for Bonnaroo as well as Vegoose, we conceive it as being a MUSIC festival, not just one type of music festival and the thread that ties it all together is: we look for acts that are great LIVE.
June: You have a degree in philosophy and religious studies. In putting together an event like this with such a myriad of details that need to fall into place, how do each come into play?
Ashley: I did not go to college on a career path, I just pursued my interests, which my parents found quite alarming at the time! But it did leave me with a broad liberal arts education, which has served me well. For one thing, it taught me how to think. It acquainted me with looking at things from a lot of different angles, and I think it was a great preparation. In fact I believe the business world in general would benefit from a broad liberal arts background instead of just sticking to the straight and narrow.
June: I often wonder how innovators like you can have such a grand vision, and have the faith and trust to charge forward and do whatever it takes to make it happen. That surely is related to philosophy and religion??
Ashley: Well I see it more as optimism! I do think to be a promoter and to be in the events business you have to have a certain amount of optimism about things. But also we are very, very careful. We do our homework. We check historical weather patterns in the areas of our events thoroughly. And we take a lot of precautions for people?s safety, which always is our number one priority, to make sure we are not taking any outrageous risks. And we?ve got a great team! It?s not just me and my company but my partners, Fly Entertainment and all the department heads? there is a wealth of experience in this and we?ve worked very hard to draw on that experience to make sure we make the most informed decisions that we can.
June: One more question, I ask at all my interviews: Are you a dog person or a cat person and why?
Ashley: Well really both.
June: Really, now I would have thought dog person!
Ashley: Well I have been a dog person most of my life and so is my wife, but somehow in the last 2 or 3 years we?ve ended up with several cats. And the dogs like the cats as much as we do so it all works out.
June: Thanks so much for all of your time!
Ashley: Look forward to seeing you there.
June: What will your costume be?
Ashley: I?m not at liberty to disclose that at this time!
June: How is the inaugural launch of a new music festival like giving birth?
Ashley: Well, I?ve never given birth, but it is much like what I imagined it to be! You plan something like this for months, years, then...all of a sudden now it is 9 days to opening, and it?s like oh m?God, oh m?God it?s almost here?Then all of a sudden it happens!
June: Sometimes a new idea seems so right, you just ask yourself why hasn?t anyone come up with it before. Having a major music festival in Las Vegas, the entertainment capital of the world, is one of those ideas. It has the guest facilities, surrounding venues, etc. Why has nobody done this before? And how did you come up with the idea for this mega-festival in Las Vegas?
Ashley: It?s sort of goes back to the impulse behind Bonnaroo. People look at Bonnaroo, and its great getting all the accolades, but it really was just tying together a bunch of threads that were already there. We focused on the elements that made it work. It was taking all these strands that were already there and weaving them into a single exciting event, and Vegoose is no different. There is the tradition of some of the artists going to Las Vegas for their signature events (Author?s note: like members of the Grateful Dead for example), the surrealism of Vegas plus Halloween weekend that we just weaved together to create the package for something really unique and exciting!
June: The line up of Vegoose is so diverse, a combination of Bonnaroojam bands such as Wide Spread Panic, and Coachella bands such as The Arcade Fire as well as hip hop bands like Atmosphere, and soul dance artist King Britt. What is the common thread?
Ashley: Great live music! This diversity is exciting to us as promoters...it lends the event a multi-faceted character that is fun to work with. But in the case of the audiences, we have done a lot of research, and these audiences don?t like to be put into little boxes like so many marketing people seem to think. You know, I go to my friends? houses and their music collection is just like mine! They have some Miles Davis, Coltrane, Beatles, Bach, Beethoven, and Earl Scruggs. So for Bonnaroo as well as Vegoose, we conceive it as being a MUSIC festival, not just one type of music festival and the thread that ties it all together is: we look for acts that are great LIVE.
June: You have a degree in philosophy and religious studies. In putting together an event like this with such a myriad of details that need to fall into place, how do each come into play?
Ashley: I did not go to college on a career path, I just pursued my interests, which my parents found quite alarming at the time! But it did leave me with a broad liberal arts education, which has served me well. For one thing, it taught me how to think. It acquainted me with looking at things from a lot of different angles, and I think it was a great preparation. In fact I believe the business world in general would benefit from a broad liberal arts background instead of just sticking to the straight and narrow.
June: I often wonder how innovators like you can have such a grand vision, and have the faith and trust to charge forward and do whatever it takes to make it happen. That surely is related to philosophy and religion??
Ashley: Well I see it more as optimism! I do think to be a promoter and to be in the events business you have to have a certain amount of optimism about things. But also we are very, very careful. We do our homework. We check historical weather patterns in the areas of our events thoroughly. And we take a lot of precautions for people?s safety, which always is our number one priority, to make sure we are not taking any outrageous risks. And we?ve got a great team! It?s not just me and my company but my partners, Fly Entertainment and all the department heads? there is a wealth of experience in this and we?ve worked very hard to draw on that experience to make sure we make the most informed decisions that we can.
June: One more question, I ask at all my interviews: Are you a dog person or a cat person and why?
Ashley: Well really both.
June: Really, now I would have thought dog person!
Ashley: Well I have been a dog person most of my life and so is my wife, but somehow in the last 2 or 3 years we?ve ended up with several cats. And the dogs like the cats as much as we do so it all works out.
June: Thanks so much for all of your time!
Ashley: Look forward to seeing you there.
June: What will your costume be?
Ashley: I?m not at liberty to disclose that at this time!
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