Doheny Blues Festival

Had a blast… most of the «best» can be enjoyed at The Back Porch”…this was our 4^th year… brought some friends who had never been before. The only complaint is the lack of handicap accessibility… which was horrible at best… the majority of this crowd is over 50 and we can’t walk a mile after paying $ 5 for a bus ride?!? Please think about us Seniors next year!

As far as a «Blues Festival» the Doheny Blues Festival is by far the worst I have ever been to. I am not referring to the musicians or the music they played, all musicians were wonderful and we enjoyed all their music very much, however, we did not hear «Blues» to call this event a «Blues Festival».
We went on Saturday expecting some wonderful «Blues» and by the end of the night the joke was, «when is anyone going to start playing «Blues». Doheney, I am sorry to say but either you don’t know what «Blues» are or you should reconsider renaming your festival to «Doheny Music Festival». I was not expecting to hear Country, Rock and Roll, Latin Jazz, R&B, and even POP at a «Blues Festival». So Folks before you decide on spending at least $ 68 per person to go to this «Music Festival» keep in mind that it is NOT a «Blues Festival».

Just got home from Doheny, a little hung over and sore, sore legs from all the dancing! This was only our 3^rd year attending, (people we meet have been coming for the whole 19 years!). An awesome time as usual. We stay in the local hotels surrounding the venue. I can’t imagine having to drive in both days:/ in a perfect world we would be able to bring our rig and camp, but we’ve only managed it once; the campground Is full in like 30 seconds after the sites are released!
I personally wouldn’t bring small kids to this event, it’s super loud and hot and I would think, a long grueling day for little ones. Be ready to smell pot all day long and see lots of intoxication! Music events tends to bring the vice out in people .
The bands were great and thank goodness it was only 66 degrees (joke) because we got a lot of color out there!!! We usually go VIP but went Gold this year and will do so anytime we come back! It’s so worth it. Some of our faves were Kenny Wayne Shepard, James Hunter 6, Walter Trout, Aaron Neville, and of course, Skynyrd and Brian Setzer.
Chill crowd, great venue and music all day long. What’s not to love?! Already planning for next year and I haven’t unpacked my bags yet.;)

The folks organizing the Doheny Blues Festival really have their act together. The Artists are the best. The food is top shelf. access to the 3 stages is amazing. If you want to hang back and just listen, you can gnosh’ on amazingly good tastes. the sound systems are perfectly tuned. This year, Lynnard Skinnard’ knocked it out of the park. As did most of the Acts. Non stop music.

Sunday was OK, but I wish we had come yesterday. So not a fan of Blind Boys of Alabama nowadays, their best is behind them, I’m afraid, played way too many straight-​up religious hymns — it’s a blues festival, come on! And I swear I saw fans coming up to be Baptized or something during an agonizingly long hymnal set?

This is our first year at Doheny Blues Festval and I’m confused. The only «Bluse“music I heard was on the smaller Backporch stage which was awesome. People sat anywhere including the pathways. Security people were sparse and clueless. One security guy at the exit gate was spitting sunflower seeds in my direction as I asked for info??? Don’t understand why smoking (cigars, weed, cigarettes, e-​cigs) was allowed everywhere? Drunk people staggering all over the place.
In spite of all thin, we sat in the back and met some real fun people who echoed our feelings…

We were lucky the rain stopped in time for the Festival.
The Gold Badge was fun, I really enjoyed the backstage area. Drinks were plenty and great. Food was lousy though.
Came to see Paul Rodgers, Mr. Bad Company himself. But Los Lobos were also pretty good. All in all I enjoyed the Festival, will be back next year

It’s goin” down, goin’ down, down, down down down down. Got my big feet in the hot sun, and my fat’s just drippin’ down…
My 4* review last year is takin’ a big dive. The music was good, but not super hot. Glad to see the CA Honeydrops get a good reaction from the crowd.
My biggest beef is the (lack of) crowd management. Seat and space-​saving ran amok this year; there is little to no management of that. Why pay up for VIP and wait in line before 6am for gate-​open of 10:15 when all the decent spots are long done gone? Why indeed? For a minute in the air-​conditioned trailer bathroom? To save $ 1 on your beer? F-​NO.
What your VIP and long wait in line gets you is a badly obstructed view of the stage and a lobsterizing bake all day in the sun. Sound like a great time? Unh, huh.
Oh, don’t forget to hydrate — right — they took our right-​sized water bottle away because we froze it (so the seal had to be opened. It was a solid chunk of ice when we came in). DH folks, get a brain and a grip — BOOZE DOES NOT FREEZE. At $ 2 a small bottle for water you can go sit on something rotating and spikey.
The ONLY group worth lining up with at 6AM is GOLD. And the program isn’t worth the Gold ticket price, sorry.
No surprise. I won’t be going back next year to try to deal with all the seat savers. DBF — you don’t care, and I’m sure you’ll have plenty of fresh meat to grill next year. But for how many more, who knows?

I’m afraid things change, hence my 1-​star review, that for the performers. When you purchase vip, line up at 6am both days and watch massive amounts of «seat saving, and friend cutting» what’s the point. We started at maybe 20 from the front and entered at 100 from the front. Meanwhile staffers looked on.
You must buy a gold seat to have a chance of a good seat. The lineup this year wouldn’t have been worth it.
Also, shady areas this year were occupied by staffers selling credit for food purchases. This while the staffers had covered cabanas to work in.
Really, the blatant and condoned line cutting was the last straw. I don’t want to be miffed at a festival. I won’t return until i see a change in policy. No seat saving in any line!

OMG! THIS SUCKED ON SO MANY LEVELS ! The only reason I’m giving it 2 stars is because of the performers I saw, oh sorry, HEARD ! They set this place up so that the only decent seats are available to their «Gold level «patrons (My wife said that those tickets were going for about $ 200. each), these «Newport Coast Douch bags «who really aren’t there to appreciate the music took up the entire front of the stage area so that «regular folks» had to set way off to the side of the stage or way in the back. The security staff was more focused on keeping the «commoners «out of the «golden area» than they were trying to keep control of the «controlled substance «use (By the way people, The pot smoking was a JOKE ! Lets just legalize .) i respect and understand the $ 10.for a glass of beer as I have been to many music festivals that were ruined because of alcohol but not allowing in water bottles and then charging $ 3.25 for a SMALL bottle of water is criminal!!! The music was very good and eclectic the food was what you expect. The «crowd «was made up of every O.C. wing nut you can think of ;50 year old chicks actin like they are 15, people who are there just to «party» and have absolutely no interest /​respect for the music, People who wear earplugs at concerts (What is up with that !!!), couples with small children (look, I know you want to be «cool parents’ but, this is loud music, those kids have tiny delicate ears, let them ruin their hearing in the future with music they will actually like !). and finally, ALL YOU GUYS OVER 40, PIEASE!, FOR THE LOVE OF GOD KEEP YOUR SHIRTS ON !!!
No one wants to see that! All I can say is the only way I would go here again is if they had someone I absolutely had to see .
Like Zombie Jimmy Hendrix .
Boo!

We’ll never go to this rip off, cigarette smoke filled, geriatric performers, shit hole of an overcrowded venue ever again.

Music…4 stars
Crowds…-4 stars
I have been going to Doheny for about 15 years. Met a lot of great blues fans in the beginning but the vibe at the festival the past few years has been a drag. The promoter has been bringing some real big name bands and not always blues artists (Crosby, Stills-​The Black Crowes-​Steve Miller-​John Fogerty-​?) I realize the reason for this. MONEY! I don’t begrudge people making money, but the result is real blues fans are getting forced out and being replaced by drunks that don’t give a sh*t about the music. If you are in general admission, you can’t hear the music over the drunken slurring of loud mouthed drunks that could care less about the people around them. Keep your drunken «Wooooo COACHELLA!!» AND LEAVE US BLUES FANS ALONE! You know Coachella is much «cooler» than Doheny. Go there!
This may have been my last year. Some will be glad to hear it but I for one look forward to a different promoter getting good blues shows together for Blues Fans. Have a good time this year at Doheny and enjoy that jam packed vibe of Coachella right here at the beach. The crowds suck and will only get worse because of the people going there” for their first time and I will always come back.” AHHHH… the good old days when Coachella was Coachella and it didn’t spill over onto the beach.
Later Doheny…

The Geriatric Coachella!!! …only with real music (ohhhhh, sorry… just kidding, but not really).
Too much fun. If you haven’t been. GOOOOO!
Great food. Awesome lineup and AMAZING music, right on the beach! I watched a handful of amazing artists, but was here for Kid Ramos (you’re the man, Kid! — weird, right?)! Got a chance to catch my boy Tommy Harkenrider with the Memphis Kings along with Joe Bonamassa, all on the same ticket. Great seating, kind people (pretty much a mellow, older crowd who is there for the music)…
I will definitely be there next year. At the end of the day, I walked onto the beach, jumped in the ocean in my skivvies and almost broke my neck. Overall, a huge success… I found a ton of booths selling sunscreen (though I packed mine lol) and was given bottled water (yummmm Evian!) by the rum vendors. I think they felt sorry for us…

Awesome event. Eventband is awful! Everyone ran out of money. Someone needs to figure out the logistics issue, because before that it was a great idea. Took an extra 20min to LEAVE because I needed change back.

I have been to the Doheny Blues Festival several years and every year I have enjoyed it completely!
It’s basically just a chill day/​weekend to sit on a chair, lay on a blanket or walk around. There are 2 stages of music, food booths, vendor booths and a great view of the beach and surrounding Dana Point. Seems the weather has always cooperated each year that I’ve attended (and if it didn’t, I enjoyed the day so much that I’ve forgotten!)
I love that you’ve got an event card to just keep on yourself and so not worry about money. Parking is awful if you come late, thank goodness for taxis ($ 5/​person to drop you off closer to the main entrance… and $ 5/​person to drop you off at your car door). A few years I’ve stayed at a motel/​hotel during the event… THAT is the way to do it!
Whether headliners are big names or not, the music never fails. Because of this festival I’ve become fans of some musicians and bands that I may never have heard of otherwise. Blues is amazing when heard live!
I’ll always go back the the Blues Festival… made great friends, heard great music and had a great time every time!
CHEERS!!!

Having 2 stages going at same time is counter productive at best. Bonamassa (on the Doheny stage) competing with Kid Ramos (on the Back Porch a few hundred feet away) was very distracting. Joe is arguably (no argument as far as I am concerned) the greatest guitar player in history with the voice of an angel and songwriting abilities incredible, so given the shoddy treatment he was afforded will probably not be back (a giant loss for blues fans) they need to re-​think their policy of having 2 bands play simultaneously. only way i would go back is if there is a band playing solo (such as was the case with the Sailor Jerry stage. I would like to see them raise the price (double or triple) to keep those people out who are not serious about listening and are only interested in hearing there own voices (drunk by 4pm types) ever notice that people who talk at concerts are those who have never (nor will ever) had anything to say at all at any time in their pathetic lifes — period!!! strange brew

I have checked another item off my bucket list by attending my first DB festival this weekend. Overall, I enjoyed the event as it was fairly well run for the size of the event. The music was great as Susan Tedeschi, J.D. McPherson and Nick Moss stood out in my mind… Joe Bonamassa drew a big crowd and his performance was stellar as usual. The downside would be parking and crazy policy that you can carry water in but not out? Lastly, I found merchandise priced as expected but why would the same CD be $ 5 more at the artist signing booth versus the Blues CD booth next door. This is unexcusable even if artist is receiving the additional proceeds. The total cost of attending this event makes attending again an irrational decision unless the lineup would include a number of people I have not seen previously.

I had a fantastic time this weekend at the Doheny Blues Festival and thought the event was very well organized. What made it easy for me was staying at the Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort and Spa because all I had to do was walk down the hill (I won’t lie, the walk back up was much tougher).
My favorite part of the event, besides the awesome music and weather, was the «Event Band» payment system. You load it up once and don’t have to deal with cash the rest of the day. It made the lines go faster and made for much less stuff to worry about. We had VIP the first day and general admission the second. VIP is worth having to wait in no enterance line and getting front of the stage, I’d do that again for sure.
My least favorite part of the event was having to talk to five people at the Marriott to get my all-​electric BMW ActiveE charged. I was scolded numerous times for even wanting to stay there with an electric car… I was shocked. Who does that? It was so NOT like the Marriott.
–Doheny Blues Festival: 4 stars
–Marriott Laguna Cliffs Resort and Spa: 2 stars
–Proximity of the hotel to the Festival: Priceless

15^th year for this festival. Great musical talent!
That was the positive. Now for the rest.
Over sold tickets. SUPER crowed. Parking lots all full, had to park 2 miles away and hike in. Trash cans all full. Wine $ 7 for 3 oz. Food insanely priced. People smoking all over the event. People drunk by 3pm. VIPs had the only decent view and situation, the rest of us got disrespected frequently. Crowds so big I couldn’t see the stage from my place. Couldn’t stay long enough to see Greg Allman because there was no shuttle to my car since lots were full. Had to leave early and miss the one thing I really wanted to enjoy.
They want your money, not your enjoyment. I’m sure the event organizers made a fortune but I’m out about $ 140 and only had a few moments of fun.
Will NEVER go again.