Ideas for making a concert that is really awesome?

[CollinCo.Drummer]

Hey folks! My band just contracted one of our biggest shows ever for later this summer. It is an outdoor concert/ festival event for the 4th of July in a town nearby. They have been hosting this event for years and I have always wanted to play it. Vendors, live band, food trucks/ barbecue, picnic, ending the night with fireworks. We (finally) built up a good enough reputation to get booked. There will be about 3000 attendees in a space about 80'x200', the stage is small, only 12'x24' and we are already planning to build an upstage wall of vertical truss and stretch forms that will be lit with LED pars and blinders to create a great upstage visual even during the daylight hours. I contracted a much bigger PA since the one we have would not cut it for this. Do you guys have any ideas for creating a great show for minimal investment? I have spent too much already on the PA and lights so there's not much left in the budget, and I still have to feed the crew and band. The band will have their act together, so I'm not worried about the music or performance. I'm looking for little extras that could really set it off and make the event super memorable. We may only get one chance at this and I want to wow them, plus knocking this one out of the park would cement our bands reputation in the area and hopefully get us more big events like this. Thoughts?

[Ricardo]

Collin..................

Congrats on the gig.
I played one very similar a couple of years ago (except the PA was not on us -- the event hired the sound and lights).
The only thing I can suggest that I thought was significantly helpful -- find a good military band that can play during the fireworks -- people love that stuff.
You can probably get them for no fee due to the exposure and, of course, good old patriotism.
Have fun !

[CollinCo.Drummer]

great idea! I will look into this! - CCD

[rickthedrummer]

"Do you guys have any ideas for creating a great show for minimal investment?"

Having played several over the years, we never had some kind of light show or flash pots or anything along those lines.

If your band is good, you don't need anything fancy, just play good music. Nobody walks away from those things saying "the band was great but they didn't have a tricky-a$$ light show, flash pots, somebody drinking lighter fluid and spitting out flames, etc.". I've seen all that stuff and all I came for was the music.

I assume you are not KISS, so play good music and you will be fine and not go broke. Good music is a good show.

[gdmoore28]

Do something unusual - show up in matching suits and ties, banter with the audience (without cursing), get a local music store to donate a guitar and give it away during the show to the person who does the best handstand (or something??), pick out somebody who says they can sing one of your songs, or use several and have the crowd vote on the winner.

GeeDeeEmm