Edmonton’s first Utopia Music Festival is behind us now.  It was our goal to bring amazing top tier talent to an outdoor setting in the heart of Edmonton – and we did it!  Our headliners Ani DiFranco, LIGHTS, David Usher, Suzie McNeil did not dissapoint.  And we are proud to have brought another 9 acts to our stage as well: Souljah Fyah, Rich Aucoin, BOY & GURL, Justin Blais, Matthew Lindholm, Mark Sheppard, D3VIANT, and Tianna J.  All great shows which we hope introduced all our visitors to something new they might never have seen otherwise.  Thank you to all our  performers! And a special thanks to our off stage performers who braved the rain!

Next a thanks to all our guests who braved the weather to be a part of the first Utopia.  It was a great turnout for such an intimate venue. We have received lots of great feedback.  From our Facebook:

“Today was fantastic. Well done!!! All the artists were awesome and the vibe was great!! Thanks for bringing together an amazing group of artists!” ~ Cassandra Snider

“Soooo met Lights, got an autograph… or 3. aaaand a picture. WINNING.” ~ Kealan Pfrang

“i am already excited for next year !! thank you for putting this on!” ~ Emily Bignell

Not everything went as planned.  Our first year faced a lot of challenges, some even an experienced event would have struggled with.  Our lighting rig failed making the stage unsafe and delaying our sound check nearly 2 hours!  We had event organizers in hospital – twice! We took all the feedback we received after day 1 to heart and worked to address the shortcomings, the results of which we were happy to see in the comments on day 2 of the event:

“The caliber of performers they brought in was remarkable!! Esp considering the price point of the tickets!! I admit I initially only bought tix b/c I wanted to see David Usher, but everyone was SO amazing!! Despite some organizational hiccups on day 1, I was impressed by the festival. Considering that it’s a brand new festival, I’d give them a big hand for doing so well & bringing the acts they did in!! ” ~ Bronwen Mason

“Day 2 was much better! Thanks for bringing all of this talent together in Edmonton. Suzie was awesome tonight!!!” ~ Dennis Kreba

The weather played a major role in this years event, but rather than complain let’s say a thank you that we were spared the worst and be grateful for that giant tent covering both stage and seating!

Our final thank you goes out to our volunteers.  Normally an event relies on volunteers to make it happen, but ours really came through when we needed them.  Utopia would not have happened without their willingness and expertise.  We can’t thank them enough…

Utopia 2011 taught us a lot about putting together a festival, even one of this modest size.  We’ll be spending a lot of time going over our experiences this year, and the feedback you have given us.  Watch here for Utopia 2011 pictures and video to be posted soon, and when the time comes information on Utopia 2012!