Are Louisville's bigger music festivals better?

Louisville's fall music festivals are bigger than ever — but is that a good thing or not?

We discuss that question this week on the Access Louisville podcast. 

Danny Wimmer Presents’ two annual festivals at the Kentucky Exposition Center — Bourbon & Beyond (Sept. 11-14) and Louder Than Life (Sept. 18-21) — look a lot different this year. The festivals now have 2.4 million square feet of space. They also utilize some indoor space at the Expo Center for merchandise sales, cooling off and bathrooms.

Going in, we admit we had our worries. 

The Expo Center is massive and there's a lot of concrete that can hold in heat. On the show we give our takes on how the first leg of the two consecutive festivals went. We recorded this show on Thursday, Sept. 18, just hours before Louder Than Life was to start, so we couldn't weigh in on that one just yet. We also talk about how the festival experience was — everything from the sound mix to the artists we watched. 

Later in the show we shift from music to bourbon with Reporter Stephen P. Schmidt telling us about his recent visit to Bardstown, Kentucky for the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. He talked about how a change in the footprint of that festival changed the experience. While he was in Bardstown, Schmidt also visited a new tasting room for Old SteelHouse Distillery. And, around the same time, he visited Heaven Hill Distilleries brand new office. 

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. It's available on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.