Tailgate N’ Tallboys appeared before the Bloomington Liquor Commission on Tuesday gaining the nod of approval for a temporary liquor license for this years music festival. The festival already has approval from Normal for most of the bars they will have on their site but wants approval from Bloomington just in case it decides to add bars on the Bloomington side of the twin city line.
This year’s music festival runs from June 14 through 17 at the Interstate Center. There will be 30 acts over the four days. Top Headliners are Nicklback on Saturday, Kane Brown on Friday, Parker McCollum on Thursday and Morgan Wade on Wednesday. Supporting acts include Jellyroll on Saturday, Bailey Zimmerman on Friday, and Country Music Female Act of the Year, Laney Wilson on Thursday.
The Tailgate N’ Tallboys festival started off at Three Sisters Park in Chilicothe in 2017 before moving to the Peoria Riverfront in 2018 then to Bloomington in 2022. USA Concerts has owned the festival for the last few years and is happy to have found a home for it in Bloomington.
USA Concerts President Wayne Klein said “It’s awesome that we have the four interstates that come through here, We love it here. It’s got the hotels. It’s got the infrastructure. We can actually have camping. It’s an actual festival setting.”
Klein also owns the Crusens bars in the Peoria area. All three bars feature live music with the Farmington Road location featuring national acts, Bailey Zimmerman, Morgan Wallen, HARDY, Laney Wilson, Bone Thugs and Harmony, Lil Wayne, Rodney Atkins and Neil McCoy have all played Crusens.
Crusens experience with the small stage allowed Klein to move to presenting acts on the big stages like Tailgate N’ Tallboys which he became owner of through the years when opportunities availed themselves.
Last year the festival drew 58,000 people over 4four days. This year 40,000 are expected.
The show went fine last year but after Covid-19 there was a pent-up demand for concerts. People were tired of being in and wanted to get out to do something. Crowds returned to festivals during the summer of 2021. But by 2022 almost everyone felt comfortable getting back out. With some of that demand satisfied, concert planners simply don’t expect the crowds to be as big this year.
Tailgate N’ Tallboys is working to extend their contract with Bloomington through 2028.
