Glen Jean, WV - Whizzbangers Ball - The Summit Bechtel Reserve
June 15th, 2024
Glen Jean, WV
The Summit Bechtel Reserve
Preface: Glen Jean, WV! The home of….like less than 75 people but June 15th, 2024 it’s home to Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps!
Tyler Childers’ Mule Pull Tour
Show Notes: All kidding aside about the size of the town, this place was kick ass and so were the shows!
Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps came out on the stage ready to destroy it!
While the setlist seems to have turned into a very similar thing each night it doesn’t change the fact that these are amazing songs to see live, no matter how many times that may be!
Starting off with Whitehouse Road could you feel the energy was on a whole different level here. It was like the band had been as eagerly awaiting their timeslot as the crowd had.
Cluck Old Hen seemed to last longer than usual but that could just be our bad perception of time creeping up again. Nevertheless this Cluck Old Hen seemed to have more going on than usual. It was as if the guys were trying to be louder than normal or overpower each other; all the while not bleeding together to cause an issue.
Way of the Triune God was an absolute blast like always and this is quickly becoming a crowd favorite and something we don’t think will leave the setlist for a LONG time
Triune paved the way for Tulsa Turnaround which is as equally shredded, if not more, by the band! We will die on the hill that Tulsa Turnaround should be on every single setlist each night because the guys play this song so well and absolutely rip apart the strings doing it. It must be seen live to truly feel how powerful it is!
House Fire and Universal Sound rounded out the bands part of the set; both of which find their selves there often.
The night ended with acoustic signings of Follow You to Virgie and Lady May. The perfect ending to a near perfect festival!
Venue Notes: Once you’re in the venue it’s great, prior to that it leaves a lot to be desired.
The venue itself is stunning. The Summit Bechtel Reserve is the largest Boy Scout facility in the world and it lends part of that to the festival.
You could add on to your tickets a fishing or zip lining pass to enjoy while at the festival. We didn’t opt for this but we saw plenty of people who did. It looked like an absolutely amazing time - just not something we’d particularly enjoy.
Regardless of our thoughts about how we’d enjoy it, the fact that any festival allows you to fish or zipline during the show is AMAZING. This is something very, very, unique that we hope happens again each year!
The grounds at the stage are slopped upwards giving a clear view no matter where you’re at and reminds you of a well thought out venue even though I’m sure they never imagined hosting a Tyler Childers and the Food Stamps show here.
Parking Notes: As aforementioned once in the venue it was great but the parking before and after were, at best, bad.
I’m sure at some other point in time we’ll say this again but: DO NOT SHUTTLE PEOPLE TO AND FROM CONCERTS, PLEASE!
Parking itself was fine, you park in a field and walk to a bus line where you’re shuttled in. All of that is fine and dandy. The problem with this concept is that when people are coming to the concert it’s no issue.
People coming to the festival arrive at different times meaning that even at peak entry times you’ll likely be able to handle the influx of people with the amount of shuttles you have. However, the opposite is true for leaving.
The mass majority of people leave a concert at the same time, far less spread out than arriving. This means your shuttle system that worked to bring people in will now fail because there’s no way you can handle thousands of people with a limited amount of busses which hold less than 60 people each. The math simply doesn’t math.
This, coupled with the fact that you literally couldn’t walk back to your car, meant you were essentially stranded waiting for a bus to pick you up. Our wait was over 2 hours.
Had we known this we would have gotten a hotel in the area but since we had no idea this is how it’d be we ended up not getting home until after 5am. Which, in some ways, is our fault.
Travel Notes: For this we went up into West Virginia and enjoyed the views, making very little stops as per usual on trips so close to our home.
If your route takes you through Beckley, West Virginia, do yourself a favor and stop at the Tamarack Marketplace and enjoy some food and local crafts!