Минесотаның ірі рок фестивалі: Moondance Jam

Moondance Jam is an annual rock and classic rock festival held in mid July in the Leech Lake/Chippewa National Forest Area near Walker, Minnesota. It is recognized as Minnesota's largest rock festival and a major classic rock festival in the United States. The Jam has gone from being a party for a few hundred family and friends back in 1992 to a rock 'n' roll and camping celebration that entertains tens of thousands today mainly because it has maintained a clean, safe and friendly atmosphere along with open festival seating for general admission ticket holders.

The Moondance Jam was started by Bill and Kathy Bieloh in 1992, when they sought a way to promote the riding stables that they owned. The first jam was a modest start featuring mostly regional acts, as well as The Blenders, spread out over two days. In 1993, the jam expanded and featured Head East and Badfinger, beginning a tradition of more established and popular classic rock acts. For the third jam in 1994, popular country artists were brought in, and it became the most country music styled jam to date with bands like Pirates of the Mississippi and Johnny Paycheck.

The mid 1990s established Moondance Jam as the highly popular annual classic rock festival that it is today. 1995's jam featured the most popular classic rock acts yet, including Kansas, The Guess Who, Survivor and Starship featuring Mickey Thomas. The following year, the tradition continued with Starship featuring Mickey Thomas once again, along with Three Dog Night, Randy Bachman of Bachman–Turner Overdrive, .38 Special and the Edgar Winter Group. In 1997, the festival was lengthened to three days, and a record 35,000 people attended the jam. REO Speedwagon, America, Grand Funk Railroad and Loverboy entertained the record crowds.

Moondance Jam became Minnesota's largest rock festival after 1998's jam when a crowd of 50,000 showed up to hear the music of a record number of national classic rock acts including Steve Miller, Foreigner, Yes and April Wine. After the jam of '98, the facilities were upgraded since traffic became backed up over 7 mile (11 km) leading up to the site. Many attendees pulled to the side of the road and walked five miles (8 km) to get to the grounds. In 1999, the jam continued to grow, although two inches of rain on the opening day created large amounts of mud that made a mess of the facility. Still, bands including Lynyrd Skynyrd, Blue Öyster Cult, Joan Jett and Electric Light Orchestra took the stage.

2000's jam featured a more organized facility with an expanded parking lot, more camping space, and shuttles to and from each area of the grounds. Peter Frampton, The Beach Boys, Joe Walsh, Styx and The Doobie Brothers were among the largest spectrum of national classic rock acts yet. The Moondance Jam celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2001 with good weather and bands like Ted Nugent, Pat Benatar, Molly Hatchet, Night Ranger and George Thorogood, along with a very large selection of regional bands. 2002 continued the tradition with improved sound and lighting effects and bands such as Journey, Styx, Blondie, Scorpions and Loverboy. Four nights of the nation's top national classic rock bands in 2003 made the jam the largest classic rock festival in the United States. Alice Cooper, Sammy Hagar, Lou Gramm and Boston drew in a record crowd.

Since 2004, the Jam has been acclaimed as "the best classic rock festival in the nation", and as one of the best music festivals. The quantity and the popularity of the national classic rock bands increased almost every year afterward. The Jam has also become a place for regional acts to find an audience on three smaller stages; one in the Moondance Jam Saloon, one outdoors in the Tiki Bar, and the acoustic stage in the Lazy Moon Bar & Grill. The Lazy Moon Bar & Grill was added to provide more entertainment and an opportunity for fans to get an up close view of the backstage area. The backstage viewing along with festival seating continues the Moondance tradition of giving general admission ticket holders more opportunities to get close to their favorite bands. In 2010, Moondance Jam added a few modern and 90s rock bands to their festival lineup to mix in with the classic rockers. It turned out to be a huge success with huge crowds packing the festival grounds all three days. Blaze TV also joined the party to film 10 of shows in HD for DIRECTV. The programs aired as part of the DIRECTV Concert Series on The 101 Network from November 2010 through 2012. Moondance Jam has continued the mix modern and 90s rock bands with its 80s and classic rock lineup since then. The COVID 19 pandemic in 2020 caused officials to scrap the Jam and defer to 2021.

Moondance Jam is Minnesota's largest rock festival and one of the premier classic rock festivals in the United States. The Jam is patrolled by many police agencies, as well as EMS crews in case of an emergency. The Jam features a rock and classic rock lineup, of camping and facilities, food and beverage stands, open festival seating up to the stage, along with available VIP seating and treatment. The friendly and safe atmosphere is considered one of reasons why the festival has gone from being a party for a few thousand in 1992 to an event that entertains tens of thousands from all over the world.

In 2005, Moondance Jam was named the Premier Classic Rock Festival in the United States by the Classic Rock Revisited magazine and fanzine The event, along with its sister festival, Moondance Jammin Country Fest, was produced by TEA Productions of Minneapolis until 2011. In 2010, ten Moondance shows were filmed and produced by Blaze TV exclusively for DIRECTV to be shown on The 101 Network's concert series and rerun for two years. Reo Speedwagon also released the album "Live at Moondance Jam" from the Blaze TV footage. This was also the year that Moondance Jam began to feature more 90s and modern acts to go with its classic rock and 80s lineup of bands. Moondance's current production company is Neste Event Marketing of Nashville. They have been producing both festivals since the 2011–2012 season.