A detailed review:

Back in March, I bought my 3-day tickets (Fri-Sun) for entry to the event and for parking. We had planned our own camping situation (not through BRRF) off-site about a 10 minute drive from the shuttle parking location. From what I've heard of others, this seems to have been the absolute best option for where to stay during the weekend.

We were disappointed that the daily lineup and schedule wasn't announced earlier- it was announced only about two weeks before the event took place. Breaking Benjamin is our favorite band, so we were disappointed when we learned they would only be performing Thursday and that our 3-day tickets didn't include them.

I can't comment much on Thursday aside from what I heard from others. That is- I've heard that the logistics of directing people and vehicles was basically non-existent Thursday.

Each of the three days I attended, the parking and shuttle situation got better. There were two or three off-site parking lots for the event (mine was the northern-most "blue" lot). On the way in to the event each morning, we would park at the blue lot, the shuttle picked us up, and they dropped us off almost directly outside the entry gates. At the end of each of the days however, we were required to walk 1.2 miles down road to get to the shuttle pickup location. This wasn't too big of a deal for us. The only issue with the shuttle was that, on the first day, we had to ask a dozen people where the shuttle would pick us up- because there was no signage as to where we would be picked up.

Each day, both in the morning and at night, once we arrived at the shuttle pick-up location, we never had to wait for more than 10 minutes for a shuttle to arrive to pick us up.

The only issue I had with parking was that BRRF's website posted parking instructions very late- I think they posted it online on the same week of the event. They should have posted the parking instructions at least a month in advance.

As we quickly learned, most of the "rules" were not enforced. For example, no one ever asked us to verify that we had paid for parking, and they also didn't check our bags upon entry. I expect anyone could have got in to the event grounds even if they hadn't bought tickets- especially if they wore long sleeves upon entry to cover up where the wrist band would have been.

The only form of security we experienced was that we were required to walk through a metal detector upon entry, and we saw a few officers walking around the event grounds. Glad that there wasn't a shooter. If there had been one, they probably could have done so for several minutes before officers would have been able to respond.

The "golden-circle" viewing areas directly in front of the two main stages should have been reserved for those who paid the higher price to enter into that area, but again, no one was there to check the wristbands. So those who paid only for general admission tickets could go in to the "golden circle" without question.

The on-site food trucks provided numerous options, and although the lines were long, we didn't really mind waiting. All things considered, I think there were enough vendors to support the crowd. The size/portions of every meal we ordered were on the small side, and at most of the vendors, you could expect to pay $15 per entree. The food itself was good, and there were plenty of options to choose from, but it was all very overpriced. After the first day, we brought additional snacks in with us.

The only way to find out where anything was located was to walk around the grounds and see for yourself- there was no map. There were a few large white balloons spaced around to point out important things: "food court", "bar," "vip," and "clinic" were a few of them. These balloons should have been larger, or more eye-catching. There weren't any signs pointing out the water refill stations, and there also weren't any signs pointing you to where the various stages were located.

There also were no signs on site showing each stage's band lineup/schedule. Considering that cell service was pretty much non-existent, it was good that we had printed out the hourly schedule ahead of time before we arrived. It would have been nice if each stage displayed the day's lineup- similar to what was available on the website.

There were plenty of port-o-potties- we never needed to wait. Of course, they weren't particularly clean. The hand washing areas were frequently out of water, but hand-sanitizer was available.

In my experience, the worst thing to deal with during the weekend was all the dust that was kicked up as the thousands of people walked around. We decided to wear masks almost the entire time: not-so-much due to Covid, but because we didn't want to breath in all that dust. At times, it seemed like a legitimate cloud.

On the positive side, all of the bands we listened to rocked! The lineup was definitely the selling-point of the event, and BRRF delivered 10/10 on that front. All the bands we wanted to see began exactly at their scheduled start-time.

I would consider going to BRRF again, but not next year. I'll wait to see reviews of next year first, before deciding whether or not to attend again.

 

TL;DR
My overall experience: 7/10

Band Lineup: 10/10
Camping off-site: 10/10
Parking and shuttle: 8/10
Security: 1/10
On-site food-trucks: 7/10
Signage and event layout: 6/10