Waterloo Festival: New Austin Camping Fest To Feature Three Nights Of String Cheese Incident, Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, Railroad Earth

Dylan Langille – String Cheese Incident

The brand-new Waterloo Music Festival in Austin, Texas, has announced it will be headlined by the jam-band legends the String Cheese Incident for three nights at Carson Creek Ranch Sept. 7-9, with tickets going on sale May 11.

Other confirmed artists on the inaugural lineup include Joe Russo’s Almost Dead, funk group The Motet, Americana-folk band Railroad Earth, Tauk, and Marco Benevento (also a member of JRAD). String Cheese Incident will play all three nights.  

Ahead of the announcement, Waterloo festival co-founder Briggs Mitchell told Pollstar, “We plan on focusing on mostly the jam-band, blues, rock, soul, funk, a little bit of bluegrass, but really we want to book bands that have fans that go past the general music fan. Really, it’s a music festival for music lovers.”  

The announcement says more artists will be announced in the coming weeks.

Mitchell says this year’s capacity is capped at 10,000, with organizers expecting 5,000 to 10,000 fans per day at the Carson Creek Ranch on the banks for the Colorado River. 

“The festival site, however, can be expanded to about twice that,” Mitchell said, “So eventually Carson Creek Ranch and Waterloo can be 20,000-25,000 patrons per day.

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“We really have a fantastic team that we put together. We feel confident that over time this can be a successful, sustainable event.”

That team includes Heard Presents, which operates the Empire Control Room + Garage in Austin and produces concerts in the city, and Havin’ A Ball Productions. Coalition Entertainment handles talent buying.

The Waterloo name has roots in Austin, and was initially the Texas capital city’s name due to its location along the Colorado River.

Mitchell said String Cheese Incident is a perfect fit for the event, which definitely skews toward the jam-band demographic.

“We really hold the String Cheese Incident in high regard,” he said. “Of all the bands we could have booked, The String Cheese Incident kind of reflects our core values in that they kind of relentlessly pursue multi-genre improvisational style and really have a fanbase that goes beyond the casual fan.”

Tickets start at $99 for three-day general admission passes, with VIP options and camping packages starting at an additional $70 as well as $49 for a car camping option.

“We have been saying and we feel like Texas and Austin deserve this kind of event, so we couldn’t be more honored to host it,” Mitchell added. 

The Carson Creek Ranch site has been home to the Euphoria Music Festival, which this year moved indoors after being unable to sort out permit issues with the local government. In August it is to host the Angry Orchard’s Rock The Roots Tour with Sublime With Rome, Lupe Fiasco, and New Politics.