Buena Vista, Colo. —
Colorado’s Chaffee County Commissioners approved a conditional, three-year permit for King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard’s Field of Vision at Meadow Creek at their Tuesday, Nov. 18 meeting.
I’ll update this post as more information is published but — despite missing the county commissioners meeting which was streamed to the public yesterday — I have confirmation that the permit was approved yesterday.
Also reddit user (key_z) posted this:
Screenshot of Reddit thread.
Based on public records, there was definitely a five-year permit being requested — and the request was for a capacity of 12,000 attendees, not including 600 staff members. The county staff recommended increasing the capacity of the event by 500 attendees every year, with 10,000 in 2026.
And the decibel limits track with what I’ve been hearing from my brother, who lives in town and testified in favor of the festival at a recent meeting. He lives near the property which has hosted a number of mid-sized music festivals over recent years, including Billy Strings “Renewal” and Pretty Lights.
Hopefully, the decibel limits won’t prevent acoustic music from going on later into the night — but the staff recommended that all amplified music would end at either 11 or 10 p.m., depending on the night. I know excessive noise can be an issue for the local residents — one reason I think the band should consider doing an acoustic set on Sunday, especially now considering the earlier sound cutoff.
Officials said there weren’t any arrests made during Field of Vision at a previous county meeting — and I think we have every reason to believe this thing could go on for five years as long as the parties involved are happy, and that includes the host, the band, local community and the fans. We’ll all have to continue to behave ourselves or I know this town, which I have been visiting for a decade or so, will give us the boot.
Here are the County staff recommendations that were included as part of the meeting agenda:
View the entire packet over on the Chaffee County Commissioners site here (and scroll down to page 51).
I’ve said before that I had more fun at Field of Vision than I have had at a music festival in 10 years (since Phish’s Magnaball, really). That, of course, was personal to me, and it didn’t hurt that I got to take in the fest with my brother, who lives in town and has become a big fan, and a couple of true friends that also hold King Gizz as one of our favorite bands all-time. Or that I was allowed to photograph the event.
Here are a couple of galleries I have published from Day One and Day Two of Field of Vision. Thanks again to the band and Michelle Cable for granting me photo credentials.
I still haven’t published a roll from Day Three — but that should be dropping in the next week or so.
It has been a tough year for me personally, but one of my favorite moments (aside from Field of Vision itself) was when Joey Walker informed all of us in attendance midway through the third show that the band had decided over the course of the weekend to bring back this event. I was standing next to my bro and I gave him a big hug.
You never want to let go of the type of magic we experienced that weekend.