St. Louis Wing Week Returns April 8-15, 2024

Best Music Festival

River Splash

Sep 29, 2004 at 4:00 am

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In case you didn't notice, 2004 is a big anniversary year around here, what with Lewis, Clark and the World's Fair ice cream cone and all. And if there's one thing St. Louisans like to do, it's commemorate an occasion with music. Case in point, St. Louis 2004's River Splash concert series on the Arch grounds. This six-week summer festival, booked by Contemporary Productions, brought a giant water-projection screen and big-name acts from across the music spectrum, from Lyle Lovett to Paul Oakenfold, the B-52's to B.B. King, Liz Phair to the Neville Brothers, Wyclef Jean to Los Lobos. Talk about versatile appeal! And keep in mind: These shows were free. We're talking 300,000 attendees (25,000 at the B.B. King show alone!) enjoying those economics. Given that 2004 only comes around once, it's nice to know we've got something great to mark down in the history books. Kudos to the City of St. Louis, St. Louis 2004 and the hotshot local sponsors for staging such a terrific six-week party. The only question is: Can they pull it off again?