It is taking me forever to go through some of my photos from Maryland Deathfest XII. But I wanted to get some of them out there, because I got some really good ones.
I also wanted to mention that this was, by far, my most fun MDF. I saw 37 bands! That’s amazing!! I thought the set up worked really well and made getting around much more efficient for me. Even if I was not actually watching a band with my eyeballs, I could hear them clearly from anywhere on the Edison Lot grounds. The sightlines were good at the outdoor space if you stood further back. Or you could perch on one of the shaded picnic tables and still hear and see OK.
As far as the indoor venues went, both the sound at SoundStage and Rams Head was pretty good and the sightlines decent for a short person like me. I was very happy that the entire Rams Head was opened up on every level. Sitting in the bleachers at the tip-top of was kind of a cop out but if your feet were killing you from all the standing it was some welcome relief.
Walking between venues was not a problem. It took about 7-10 minutes for me to walk from Edison lot to Soundstage if I walked briskly and caught the lights. Mother Nature cooperated by keeping the rain away and not letting it get too hot.
Nice changes this year were shorter lines to get in, for vendors, and for bathrooms. The wait time between bands at Edison lot was negligible. I really appreciated being able to get my four-day pass at the Ottobar pre-fest (which was awesome).
There were a few things I wished they had been done differently. Here’s a starter list of suggestions. I might think of others later.
Water should have been free. I saw several people passing out from dehydration. $2-$3 for water, depending on who you were buying it from, was too much to keep yourself hydrated. Alternatively, people should have been allowed to bring in a couple of sealed water bottles.
Misting tents would have been nice if it had been a any hotter.
Sunscreen samples would have helped. I had plenty of sunscreen on, but I am sure a sunscreen company would be happy to pass out coupons and free samples. Let’s not get skin cancer.
I wish the entrance to Edison Lot had been at the south end and not the north, but it wasn’t a huge hassle to walk all the way to the other side to enter. Still, when trucking over to the other venues, minutes sometimes counted.
The Edison Lot layout was set up like a V. It would have been nicer if it had been more of a circle so that you didn’t have to walk back up out of the vendor spaces to get to the stages. But again, you could really hear pretty well anywhere in the lot.
I would like to see one very obvious and centralized place for bands to display their merch. Several had theirs at the MDF merch tent, but others were scattered throughout the vendor area at their relative labels. As far as I could tell, there was only one table for short-term merch display. Finding merch was like a scavenger hunt. Merch was better displayed at Rams Head and Soundstage.
Rams Head and Soundstage charge way too much for drinks and food. But this was easy to rectify, just don’t buy anything from them.
That’s it for now….more later.
Check out some of my shots below.
