24 Comments - the Other Anonymous - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:12 am: There’s not much to discuss. The butter cow is going to be the best draw to the Fair. - Redneck Woman - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:21 am: I think it’s great that we have the most successful artist to come out of Illinois in a long time performing at our state fair! Maybe Bond County’s Wilson can even bring a smile to Frank Watson’s face. - Boone Logan Square - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:23 am: Other than Gretchen Wilson, are any acts even from the region? An Illinois state fair should always, always have Cheap Trick play. It is only right and natural. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:29 am: AAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!! What the! WHO are they? HEY - didn’t someone over there ask you to ask us what we would like to see? WHAT HAPPENED! Gretchen, Martina, Sugarland - who’s calling these people and inviting them? A bunch of fat old ladies wearing Winnie the Pooh sweat shirts? Just rename the thing and call it the “Springfield Walmart Hall of Stars”! @#$!@%!#$^!@#$!@$!!!! - Avatar7 - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:48 am: Who? - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:54 am: I am insulted once again. Rush is playing in St. Louis on August 24th. Why couldn’t the State Fair brass get an act like that? Would it hurt to have a show that costs more than $30 a ticket? Would it kill them to bring in an act that isn’t contemporary pop, kiddie music or country? Was Hootie and Blowfish not available for their $5,000 per show fee?! I don’t understand their logic in continuously bringing in the same acts year after year. If people question my thinking, chew on this: Tool is playing in Peoria and they have already sold out the Civic Center arena. That’s pretty good for a city of 100,000 people. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:57 am: And VM, that was hilarious. Unfortunately, your stereotype of county music fans holds true for a lot of country fans in southern Illinois. - Buck Turgidson - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 10:55 am: VM, For someone who constantly (and often rightly) derides so-called Chicago elites for thumbing their noses at anyone who lives south of I-80, your characterization of country music fans as gauche, overweight old ladies is a little unfair. As has been pointed out, Gretchen Wilson is a native of Pocahontas, IL. If nothing else, we should certainly have a stage for her, no? The other country acts are pretty big too, I am pretty sure. If nothing else, I’d say the state’s country fans got a good lineup. The rock fans, on the other hand…Daughtry? Come on. - Milorad - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 11:09 am: The Decaturstreet fest has better acts than this and they are free! Whats upwith this!? Maybe they can book the Captain and Tenille. - A Citizen - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 11:21 am: What? No Willie Nelson and the Doobies? - leigh - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 12:12 pm: How about Rich Miller and the Blogettes? (Can you sing Rich?) - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 12:16 pm: depends who you ask. lol - i d - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 12:19 pm: Of all the people mentioned in the article and the commentary here, I recognize the names Cheap Trick, Hootie and the blowfish, Captain and Tennile, Pocahontas, Willie Nelson, The Doobies and Winnie the Pooh. However, since Meatloaf’s Bat Out of hell, is my favorite CD and Pavarotti’s Nessun dorma is my favorite vocalization, I am surely not the one to make any musical decisions for the state fair. - VanillaMan - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 12:23 pm: I love the Pooh/Disney-sweatshirt-wearing ladies with the long hair around here. They are real. I wouldn’t want to see them naked, but it is very comfortable being around people who still think the 80s and Pontiacs are cool. They stick with what they know and aren’t suckers for whatever comes along like their chai-sipping poser sisters up north tooling around in their Scion xB clown cars. But their tastes in popular music is about as good as their taste in beer. ONE act for these gals should be enough, but THREE? Pick ONE - Wilson. Let the rest move on to do their shows in Branson. This line up sucks. Nothing daring, nothing new, nothing interesting, not even trying-bad, just a lazy-bad line up by people who still think pleated pants are in. - anon2 - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 1:00 pm: There are really some moronic comments here. Oh yeah, daring, that’s what the state fair entertainment lineup should be. Tool? Yeah, there’s a good band; sounds just about right for you. Rush? For Pete’s sake, Rush? It’s the state fair. Corndogs and cow manure, yer either down with it or you ain’t. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 2:01 pm: Anon2, thanks for oversimplifying the situation. God forbid we’d bring in acts that don’t “jive” with the fair. This isn’t a county fair…it’s THE STATE FAIR! Everyone is supposed to be respresented and it would be nice to see a break from the ordinary. - Lou - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 2:46 pm: Did you actually say “OY”? Very cool! - anon2 - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 3:04 pm: The word is “jibe.” You’ve obviously been in government too long…everyone is supposed to be represented? Gee, I wish I could live in your beautiful rainbow world, too. - Jake from Elwood - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 3:56 pm: UFF DA . . . What happened to the CapFaxBlog list? We have been placed on the “pay no mind” list. - Redneck Woman - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 4:44 pm: I was involved with another conert venue in Illinois a few years back and the only shows that consistently made money were the country shows. Whether you like them or not, I would wager my Budweiser that all of the country shows will turn a profit. Lord knows what kind of fuss would be made on this blog should the Fair lose money. - Reality - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 6:14 pm: Yikes. For the first time in at least a few weeks, everyone who has commented here has a valid point worth noting (while still taking the issue seriously, to boot.) There are a few repectable acts; however, is this the best the fifth largest state can do? - Just the facts - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 7:02 pm: In 1967 the folks in charge of booking acts for the state fair booked one of the more popular mainsteam acts of the time, the Association, as headliners. For the opening act, they booked a little-known English band - the Who. Almost as good as jimi hendrix opening for the Monkees - Haw-haw - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 8:48 pm: Bring on a night of stand-up comedians for that empty slot. Lord knows this state could use a laugh other than what comes out of the Governor’s press office. - I forgot about Dre - Tuesday, Apr 24, 07 @ 9:24 pm: Here’s what you do: leave the slot open for now. SF managers contact the people that run MySpace. Have them run a contest with voting by MySpace members to pick five up-and-coming yet nationally unknown bands that will play from early evening until ten that night. There are already popular new national-level bands that owe their careers to MySpace, that’s what it was originally created for. The buzz and marketing push that could be applied thru the web site in the months leading up to August will generate a lot of ticket buys as well as press interest nationwide. Kids have all the money these days, and this will bring them in. Start the concert around five, and generate a ton of business on the grounds for food, gifts, t-shirts, rides, etc. The younger kids will be driven to the show by their parents who will hide out at the beer and food tents and spend yet more money. You pool the costs of the PA systems and stage gear across the five bands, making the overall night cheap to produce. Best band of the night, again, voted on thru MySpace in the week following the fair, wins the chance to be an opening act for some other bigger band at ISF the following year. “Waynestock” is taken, as is “Cornstock”, so maybe Bliefstock or Hartstock would be good names. Party on, Garth. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.