CINCINNATI — National acts The Killers, Ice Cube, Tom Petty’s Mudcrutch and Florence and the Machine will headline the fifth annual Bunbury Music Festival this summer.
Columbus-based Promo West Production released the full rundown of artists Thursday slated to appear June 3-5 at the multi-stage event hosted at Sawyer Point and Yeatman’s Cove.
This is Promo West’s second year running the festival. The company purchased Bunbury and country music festival, Buckle Up from founder and Cincinnati businessman Bill Donabedian in 2014. The festival will include same two main and two side stages configuration as last year.
“The big changes this year visitors are going see are the three main entrances to the festival,” said Marissa Luther, marketing director for PromoWest.
She said the change was made to accommodate the crowds who faced long waits during last year’s opening day when there was only a single entrance. PromoWest will also issue RFID bands this year, which should speed up entrance and purchase times as well. The small radio frequency emitters will act as both festival ticket and wallet to make purchases once inside.
“You’ll get your wristband about a month in advance,” Luther said. Once the wristband arrives in the mail, people will link the RFID device to their account at bunbury.com and load money onto it via credit card. Attendees will also be able to load cash onto their wristband at “top up stations” at the festival or put more credit on the band through the Bunbury smart phone app.
“The bands are automatically scanned at the entrances, so people do not have to stop for tickets,” Luther added.
The RFID system is a closed network, meaning it is not dependent on cell tower coverage.
PromoWest is working with the city of Cincinnati and Cincinnati Bell though to increase cell phone coverage along the riverfront, a problem that affected visitors last year.
“We want people to be able to share their experience on social media and find friends,” Luther said.
This year’s concert experience will also include:
