Big Guava

Big Guava 2015 was awesome! I won tickets for this two day music festival from Unilocal. (Thank you Brett and Katie!!!)
~The Good~
EPIC MUSIC: I was so pumped when they released the music lineup. How many chances do you get to see Milky Chance, Jenny Lewis, Awolnation, Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness, Passion Pit, Ryan Adams, Pretty Lights, Cold War Kids, Hozier, Pixies, and the Strokes at the same festival in Tampa!!!
FOOD TRUCKS: The food trucks and craft beer tents offered a nice alternative to the usual concert concession snacks. The trucks didn’t mark up their menu prices so I paid $ 9 for three tacos the first night and $ 15 for a grilled cheese sandwich and tots the second night. Beverages (not sold by the trucks) were a little pricier. $ 4 for 20oz water or sodas, $ 8 for domestic beers and $ 15 for craft beers.
CARNIVAL RIDES: I only made time to ride the Ferris Wheel, but unlimited free carnival rides were available both days of the music festival.
~The Not So Great~
DATES: I work on Friday until 5:30pm so I missed the first half of Milky Chance. Judging by the crowd I’d say others were in the same boat. A Saturday/​Sunday festival would be easier to attend.
CONCERT OVERLAPS: I loved that there were four stages at Big Guava, but I hated having to choose between two great bands when there were overlaps on the concert schedule. Most bands only got 45 – 60 minutes stage so I decided to see Milky Chance instead of Andrew McMahon in the Wilderness and I saw Jenny Lewis instead of Awolnation.
FAIR WEATHER FANS: In general the audience was lame. People seemed more interested in taking selfies than actually listening to the music. Everyone just sat in their seats while me and my sister danced our hearts out. (Shout out to the guy in the hotdog suit at Cold War Kids. You were awesome!) «They don’t even know what it is to be a fan. Y’know? To truly love some silly little piece of music, or some band, so much that it hurts.» — Almost Famous
Would I attend Big Guava again? Absolutely! The free tickets were a nice perk, but I would have gladly paid for my tickets to see Hozier and Milky Chance. I probably would have gotten the 2-​Day Early Bird «Pit Pass» so that I could stand in the pit section instead of the general admission section. This was the best deal at $ 109, but you had to be willing to purchase your ticket before the line up was announced. If you purchased tickets after the early bird specials you may have paid $ 55-​$ 80 for a one day general admission or pit pass.

Friday was a better line up then Saturday but both days were so much fun! Jenny Lewis and pretty lights were by far the best on Friday! I definitely recommend people ranging from teens to their 30’s to go next year. All the rides are free and the lines moved quickly. The food wasn’t vegetarian or vegan friendly, as a heads up to my veg heads. It’s carnival style food. Wear comfortable shoes for the walking you’ll do between stages. You can bring a water bottle into the festival (highly recommended so you’re not paying $ 4 for a bottle). There’s refill stands throughout the fairgrounds. I would also recommend wearing sunblock for the daytime concert and bringing bug repellent and a blanket to sit on if you have lawn seating. Alcohol is about $ 12/​can of beer. Pregame in the parking lot!!! Parking was $ 10/​car. But that’s not too bad if you split it amongst your passengers. We also brought some food to eat beforehand since we’re all trying to eat healthy!

We had fun at Big Guava Concert at Amphitheater however we missed a lot of bands we wanted to hear and ended up paying way too much. The Value of this concert is a ⁴⁄₁₀ when comparing to the comparable but lower priced 97x Next Big thing concert which also had a lot of bands but was only $ 35 + no ticket master fees + free parking by vinoy park. For this concert I paid $ 55 for the ticket + $ 15 ticket master fees + $ 10 to park + $ 36 for 3 drinks + $ 16 for Japanese hibachi steak meal from a food truck. The food was good but I could’ve went to a real restaurant for that much. I’m also dissapointed ticket master still exists and they take such a high fee for doing nothing. Most other bands stopped dealing with ticket master. Also if you pay a lot for a concert there should be free parking. There were 4 stages with several bands playing at the same time which wasn’t the best because I ended up missing a lot of bands I wanted to hear. U can hear about 4 bands Max when they’re all playing at the same time unless you only want to listen to one or two songs from each band. The band analysis: the headliner pretty lights was mellow techno and I give it a 6/​10, Passion Pit was light rock but gave a good show 8/​10, loved awolnation 9/​10, loved iration who sounded a lot like sublime 9/​10, big data was pretty good 7/​10, Robert Delong was pretty good for techno 6/​10, ex cops had a cool 80s feel but was a bit too girly ⁵⁄₁₀. The following bands were too downer and mellow for my tastes ³⁄₁₀: Ryan Adams, Jenny Lewis, X Ambassadors, fmlybnd, milky chance. Didn’t get tickets for Saturday’s show but would have liked to see strokes, pixies, hozier, and empire. Won’t be going next year. Will just go to next big thing next year!