If you were still (foolishly) debating whether to head out to beautiful Fort Adams in a couple of weeks for the Newport Folk Festival, your decision just got a lot easier to make. And a lot harder to swallow.
For the first time since Bob Dylan returned to the Festival in 2004, the entire weekend – 10,000 music-lovers each on Saturday and Sunday – has sold out, two weeks before show time. Since its revival, the Festival has frequently neared capacity over the course of the weekend, but this year interest has reached a new peak.
George Wein, the Producer of the Festival, has worked hard to reclaim the Festival’s cachet, booking a diverse array of acts both folky standbys and rowdy upstarts. This year, The Decemberists and Emmylou Harris headline the two afternoons, capping off performances by Tegan & Sara, Elvis Costello, Mavis Staples and Amos Lee.
So, good luck on the ticket hunt, folksters! And if you're planning to scalp your tickets for more than face value and are going to do it in a public manner, be prepared to be ridiculed by the festival and it's community.