Railbird at Red Mile: What’s similar, different from music festival at Keeneland?

So what are we to expect this weekend from a reinvented Railbird Music Festival? To answer that, let’s make a list of what will and won’t changing as the popular festival unfolds this weekend.

As phone interview requests with Railbird organizers were denied and email questions that were subsequently requested went unreturned, several specifics about the changing nature of the festival will be missing. But by comparing the first two Railbirds to what is being planned for its third outing this weekend, several similarities and differences stand out.

Concert duration

No changes. Railbird remains a two-day, weekend long concert festival with live music performances covering a roughly 10-hour period on Saturday and Sunday by a combined total of 32 acts.

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Festival location

Here we have the first of the major shifts, one in keeping with Railbird’s race track theme. After two outings at Keeneland, the event is moving to the infield of The Red Mile, the long-standing harness-racing track that added gaming in 2015. The infield is an area with an affinity for outdoor festivals. It was utilized throughout the mid ‘80s and ‘90s for various single-day, single-stage music events, often on Memorial Day.

Timing

Another big change. In its 2019 and 2021 outings, Railbird was presented during the third weekend of August, just after students returned to the University of Kentucky. In both instances, the summer heat and humidity was extreme. That contributed to one of the major problems in 2021 — a lack of adequate water stations and overall water availability for the Saturday portion of the festival. Presumably, that contributed to moving Railbird to early June. But that may not make much of a difference this time around. Initial weather forecasts for this weekend call for temps to reach near 90 degrees.

Another factor may be booking commitments at the festival’s new home, The Red Mile. The track’s next harness racing meets runs from July 23 to Oct. 8.

Concert layout, attendance

Exact attendance numbers were not available, but The Red Mile’s infield is a more contained area than the sprawling layout at Keeneland, but that may be misleading. The infield is surrounded by a one-mile track, so it will likely seem smaller than it really is given how The Red Mile is devoid of the hilly terrain and turns from the festival’s former Keeneland digs.

Railbird parking

Parking is sure to be an issue this weekend, so plan ahead. There is no public parking at The Red Mile and Festival organizers have a shuttle service, but tickets are sold out. Despite lots of room, parking was also an issue for the inaugural festival at Keeneland in 2019 with many fans telling organizers there seemed to be zero plan for leaving the grounds as they waited for up to two hours to leave.

Staging

This will be a mix of new and familiar. Railbird will again be presented on two mainstage areas — Limestone and Elkhorn — along with the smaller, more intimate Burl stage.

This weekend, Limestone and Elkhorn will be situated at opposite ends of the infield with the Burl stage located near Elkhorn.

Scheduling

Unlike previous years, there will be no overlaps in mainstage performances. One act is set to play on one stage as soon as another on the opposite stage has finished. Artists on the Burl stage, though, will have to share schedule time with sets on the mainstages.

Returning artists

Railbird’s biggest returnee will be Lawrence County songsmith Tyler Childers. He performed at the festival’s inaugural outing in 2019 just prior to headliner Hozier. But who’s kidding who? Childers was already a major draw that year, to the point that many patrons viewed him as headliner. In doing so, many left as Hozier’s set commenced.

New artists

What performers will be new to Railbird this year? Outside of Childers, just about everyone. That includes headliner progressive country upstart Zach Bryan, a reunited Nickel Creek, jam band fave Goose, pop/blues/jazz stylist Amos Lee, rock/Americana troubadour Marcus Mumford (minus the Sons) and the alt-pop duo Lucius.

Several other acts this weekend were to have played as part of the scheduled 2020 Railbird that was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Among them: The Head and the Heart, Whiskey Myers and Town Mountain.

Railbird Music Festival

When: June 3 and June 4

Where: Red Mile, 1200 Red Mile Rd.

Tickets: Sold out but you can join the waitlist or purchase “verified” resale tickets through Ticketmaster.

Parking: No public parking will be available at The Red Mile and shuttle service tickets from Kroger Field are sold out.