SlipLive

another festival for next summer. hopefully there's a lot more to come, like a return to Mountain Jam.

i went to Wakarusa the first and second years, then didn't go last year. It was awesome the first year. Only about 12,000 people were there. Very clean. Good folks. Lots of SPACE in the rolling fields of beautiful, lush eastern Kansas. A lot more people showed up the second year, and rightfully so. Still had a great time. Then apparently last year the place was covered in undercover cops, and cameras were hidden everywhere.

I sent emails to both Wakarusa and The Slip almost begging them to play the festival the first two years, but it didn't happen. I may have to go over there this year, but I doubt I'll make it. It's just too far away now.

cops were walking around with night vision busting people.

this was posted on jambands.com a few months ago...

Wakarusa Responds To Reports of Police High-tech Surveillance

The promoters of the Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival have issued a statement in response to published reports that police used "hidden-camera, night-vision and thermal-imaging equipment" on the festival site. Wakarusa's Brett Mosiman explains:

As many of you know, there were law enforcement and accompanying security issues at this year's event. Some of these issues continue to make headlines, and regrettably, create controversy. As organizers of the festival, it is very disappointing that these issues have taken away from what otherwise has been a highly praised and truly special event. We cannot tell you how truly sorry we are that these issues occurred at Wakarusa this year and we sincerely apologize to everyone for any violations of your rights and privacy.

To give you some background, we were informed that there would be an increased law enforcement presence at this year's event. Initially, we were supportive of this when it was presented as an effort to increase the safety of everyone in attendance. It quickly became apparent that law enforcement's primary mission wasn't the safety of the festival goers.

We must make it perfectly clear that we did not know of any of the specific measures, tactics or instruments the various law enforcement agencies used at the event. More importantly, Wakarusa does not believe such tactics and equipment were necessary and does not support their use. If there are not significant assurances that similar procedures won’t materialize in the future, we will not host another Wakarusa Music and Camping Festival.