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Performers such as Chappell Roan, Hozier, Vampire Weekend and Noah Kahan drew crowds of 20,000 people to the Avenue of the Saints amphitheater over the first weekend of the Hinterland Music Festival in August 2024. Since launching in 2015, the multiday event has seen the likes of Willie Nelson, Kacey Musgraves, Maggie Rogers, Sturgill Simpson, Zach Bryan, Brandi Carlile, and Dwight Yoakam take the stage.
But long lines, a perceived lack of water, oppressive heat and overcrowding are just some of the complaints fans voiced about the festival, and Sam Summers, one of the co-owners of Hinterland, hopes to address many of those issues by building a new amphitheater on farmland in St. Charles, a town of 643 people 30 minutes south of Des Moines.
By the time the 2025 festival rolls around on Aug. 1-3, fans will see a new amphitheater with more concourse space at a 4% grade, making it much easier to navigate, along with shade trees and more access to water. A new option for ticketholders brings a chance to get a refund for tickets if the temperature hits a certain level, an unheard of amenity at concerts, Summers said.
“Clearly, people did not have their best time this year,” Summers acknowledged. “I’m very aware of all those things. And those things are all things that we hope to solve with our new location.”
Already construction is underway for a new amphitheater to the northeast of the existing one on the same grounds just west of I-35. Around the top, fans will find a larger concourse along with a gentler grade, making it easier to navigate.
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“People felt overcrowded. People felt that it didn’t have enough water, not enough shade, and lines were long. We can’t disagree with people’s experience,” Summers said.
Summers talked to fans about their experiences and visited other festivals to see how these same issues were handled. And he’s ready to unveil the next steps for the music festival that could see as many as 25,000 fans in 2025.
What’s new for 2025 at Hinterland?
Summers already has plans to construct a new amphitheater with a gentler slope for the 2025 festival. The new location more than doubles the footprint of the existing amphitheater to 282,000 square feet, he said.
Part of the problem with the old amphitheater is that the concourse was tough to walk around while having a single stage limited how people moved around the festival grounds. “This year, in particular, we scanned in 85% of our people by 2 p.m. but that’s early for us,” he said. “Sometimes you don’t even get to 90% total scan period. We were getting a 97% every day.”
Because fans can bring anything from blankets to couches into the festival, that contributed to the feel of overcrowding, Summers said, especially when they walked up front to watch their favorite act but left behind their seating. “We weren’t going to take that away.”
The former amphitheater, which will remain, is surrounded by a 14% grade, which contributed to the overcrowding with its steeper slope. At a 4% grade along with more walkways made of concrete, people should be able to move around easier, Summers said.
The merch stands will include at least one shaded structure and at least three total to make it easier to buy T-shirts, swag and other items while at the festival. “There were times where merch was like an hour-and-a-half wait last year,” Summers said. “It’s just a long time to wait in a hot line. That line is always going to be long.”
Access to water improves in 2025
Fans complained about the lack of water at the festival. They were allowed to bring in an empty container that could be filled at free watering stations on the festival grounds.
“The stories that we ran out of water are not accurate, but the velocity the water was coming out was slow, because people were using it all the same time,” Summers said. “There was never a situation where we were out of water. But you know, what felt like an emergency to folks is that they’d wait for a shuttle, they’d wait to get in, and then they’d get in, and they’d see a line at the water. … If you’re a sold-out festival, you’re going to have lines.”
Summers said that in 2024, he would see lines for water at the main pit, but no lines at other water stations. He and staff directed festival-goers to other water pits, but the problems persisted. By the second day of the festival, he allowed fans to bring in filled water containers to abate the issue. He recognized that the water pressure was low for the volume of water consumed by people as well.
“We knew that we had to have people there, helping and communicating and guiding people in the right places,” he said. “We didn’t do that in time… Personally and as a festival, we never felt that we were in any sort of emergency. But clearly, people did not have their best time this year.”
In 2025, improved water lines and more stations will help alleviate the long lines for water.
Taking care of the heat
Hinterland takes place during one of the hottest seasons in Iowa, and Summers said that the past 10 years of the festival have taken place during the “hottest 10 years on record. That is an insane stat that people don’t talk about.”
To introduce more shade to the festival grounds, Summers and his crew are moving trees to line amphitheater.
He also plans to install massive mister fans to blow over the crowd from the front, where he estimates the temperature can reach 140 degrees. More misters will blow over the crowd to cool the air. Cooling tents and shade structures will help keep the grounds cooler. He also plans to add shaded areas where people can eat.
But more importantly, he has a new way for fans to get their money back if temperatures hit a certain level.
He describes is a way for fans to request a refund for their tickets if the temperature reaches a certain predicted number, an amenity unheard of at outdoor music festivals.
“On the three-day forecast, you’ll have the opportunity, if it’s above this temperature, to return your ticket,” he said.
Summers said he’s working out the specifics of that program.
Additional parking coming in 2025
Summers bought 80 acres of farmland across from the festival grounds that he will use for additional parking in 2025. When not a parking lot, Summers grows hay on the land.
Fans can ask their own questions on Sunday
On Sunday, Summers plans to hold an Ask Me Anything on the Hinterland Reddit subgroup where fans can drop their own questions into the chat and Summers will answer at 7 p.m. CST. Head to reddit.com/r/HinterlandFestival to join the conversation.
“It’s always going to be full,” Summers said. “I want to be sensitive to people, but it’s also a concert, a festival, and it’s going to be a lot of people. It’s not going to be for everybody.”
More:With Val Air reopening, Sam Summers expands the breadth of musical acts visiting Des Moines
What is Hinterland Music Festival?
The Hinterland Music Festival is a multi-day music festival in St. Charles, Iowa, that got its start in 2015. By 2019, the festival grew to three days, adding a fourth for one year in 2022.
The festival takes place at the Avenue of the Saints Amphitheater about 31 miles south of Des Moines via I-35.
Aside from a lineup of musicians spanning country to blues to indie to pop and punk, fans can camp on site.
Next year’s lineup should come out in January 2025.
Who is Sam Summers?
Summers is recognized nationwide as a veteran concert promoter in the Midwest.
He got his start while he was still at Iowa State University, where he founded First Fleet Concerts, a promotion and booking company that’s responsible for shows across the middle of the country.
He co-owns the 683-capacity live entertainment venue Wooly’s in the East Village; started Hinterland Music Festival; and partnered with Live Nation to book the new Waukee venue Vibrant Music Hall. And he bought the Val Air Ballroom for $1.9 million, shutting it down in December 2022 to renovate it back to its 1950s heyday.
(This story has been updated with additional information.)
Susan Stapleton is the entertainment editor and dining reporter at The Des Moines Register. Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, or drop her a line at sstapleton@gannett.com.
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