Lexington’s Railbird music festival is back: Here’s what to expect, how to get there
When the inaugural Railbird wrapped up in 2019, attendees, artists and especially organizers left in high spirits. Lexington had finally and successively launched the kind of large-scale outdoor event that could be referenced alongside as such veteran gatherings as Forecastle, Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza. As such, it was faced with perhaps the most welcome of queries.
“What’s next?”
What played out next, of course, was the COVID-19 pandemic, which shut down every major music festival in the country during 2020. For the more proven summits, the pandemic was an unwelcome intermission.
For Railbird, it was worse. COVID-19 put the brakes on all of the momentum that a new, vibrant festival had established. It meant Railbird’s second act would have to wait for its third year.
“It was definitely disappointing,” said Railbird producer David Helmers. “It was really difficult for people who work in the industry to lose not just Railbird, but everything else for over a year. But we were so happy with how things went in 2019 that we felt like we had accomplished a lot. We set a high standard and were eager to build off of that, but it was a safety-first decision last year. It was simply not responsible to do Railbird in 2020.”
Enter 2021 and a gradual but very cautious reawakening from pandemic lockdowns and restrictions. Several festivals set for early summer, including Forecastle, were canceled for a second year. But by springtime, word came that Railbird was a go. But then a whole other dilemma set in. How do you create a large-scale music event that usually takes most of the year to plan in a matter of months?
“It has been a Herculean team effort,” Helmers said. “We had a very short runway for 2021, but I’m excited with what we’ve been able to do in the limited time we’ve had. We’ll be burning the midnight oil right up until Friday and Saturday of this week. These last six months have been a sprint.
“There are also new issues and items to deal with. Certainly public health is among them, but there is also the scale of Railbird. It will be much larger than it was in 2019. So we’re working real hard on transportation issues, getting people in and out efficiently. It’s been a lot of work under a short window of time.”
How much larger will Railbird be this weekend? A lot.
“We’re expecting over 30,000 people a day this year. Our ticket sales are over 30,000 per day. Sunday was the biggest day of 2019 and that was 15,000 people, so we’re talking at least twice as many people as 2019.
“The good news is we have the space to accommodate that kind of crowd. When you’re talking about the experience at Railbird, 2019 was such a great year. We don’t want that to diminish in any way. So there is a lot more shade. There are a lot more food vendors. There are a lot more places to get drinks. There are more bathrooms. There is more of everything, so we think the experience will be equal to we had in 2019. It’s just going to be bigger.”
COVID-19 precautions still will be very prevalent though: Attendees will required to show proof of vaccination or results of a negative COVID test done within the previous 72 hours to gain admission to the festival. Unvaccinated fans are asked to wear a mask onsite. A complete list of Railbird’s COVID guidelines is available on its website, railbirdfest.com.
Will such policies prove an impediment for audience turnout this weekend? Unlikely. The entire Railbird festival has been a sold-out event for weeks.
“I think it’s a combination of three things,” Helmers said in explaining the healthy audience response to Railbird’s return. “We got an awful lot right in 2019, so there was very good word of mouth. There is no substitute for people telling other people, ‘Hey, I had a great time.’
Secondly, when we leaned into this, we decided, ‘Let’s really try and bring in some amazing artists.’ So we have My Morning Jacket, The Dave Matthews Band, Jason Isbell and Leon Bridges at the top but we’re keeping it strong all the way through.
And then the X-factor is the pandemic/post-pandemic/wherever-we-are-right-now factor. How would people respond to an event after being unable to attend concerts and festivals for a period of time once something like Railbird comes back? I feel that combination resulted in an overwhelming response.”
One thing Helmers hopes audiences will take into consideration before attending is transportation to and from the event. Parking will be available at Blue Grass Airport across Versailles Raod with shuttles to and from Keeneland. Shuttles will also run from Rupp Arena to Railbird. Purchasing shuttle tickets ahead of the event via the festival’s website is recommended.
“I think people sometimes tend to not really plan ahead,” Helmers said. “It’s like, ‘Oh, Keeneland. I’ll get an Uber.’ We’ve spoken with Uber and Lyft on a national level and they lost a lot of capacity due to COVID. People stopped using them, so they don’t have the driver capacity they once had.
“Railbird is now a major event in Lexington. Every hotel and Airbnb is full. We have people coming from all 50 states. So if people plan ahead, it will help them and help us. We worked really hard to create these alternative transportation methods.
“We can control what goes on within the site. I know we’ve planned a really fun time for everybody within that footprint. With getting people home and off the site, we have a little less control, but we’ve tried to put these shuttles in place and hope folks will use them.
“The more people can be proactive, the better their experience is going to be. And that’s what we want. We want everyone to have a good time.”
Railbird Music Festival
When: Aug. 28-29
Where: Keeneland
Tickets: Sold out
Shuttles: Blue Grass Airport, Rupp Arena lots
Online: Railbirdfest.com
Margo Price, Cedric Burnside after Railbird shows
Two Railbird artists are doing double duty.
▪ Country/Americana/soul/what-have-you stylist Margo Price will follow her Saturday (Aug. 28) set at Railbird with a midnight afterparty show at The Burl, 375 Thompson Rd. (11:55 p.m., $25). For tickets, go to theburlky.com.
▪ Also, Mississippi Hill Country blues stylist Cedric Burnside will stick around town following his Sunday afternoon set at Railbird. He will head to the Lyric Theatre and Cultural Arts Center, 300 E. Third on Monday (Aug. 30) for a taping of the WoodSongs Old-Time Radio Hour (6:45 p.m., $10). Linda Gail Lewis will also perform. For tickets, go to lexingtonlyric.tix.com.