The Xerox Rochester International Jazz Festival, which will be bringing Rochester a smorgasbord of live jazz and other music from June 24th to July 2nd next year has put its Club Passes on sale as of 10:00 am today. The Club Pass provides you at-the-door admission and the freedom to sample the more than 230 Club Pass shows at 13 venues during the XRIJF.
This year there is a new option, a 3-Day Pass that saves you $40-50 off the full 9-Day Pass. You'll get the card punched on each day you use it and it becomes invalid after 3 punches. The early-bird price on the 3-Day Club Pass is $134 (goes to regular $154 on January 1st). The 9-Day will be early-bird priced at $174 ($204 after January 1st). Service charges will apply, of course. While there's not a huge difference in the price point between these two options, if you're one of the many people who do not come out all 9 days, the 3-Day will save you some scratch.
In announcing when that Club Passes would go on sale, the XRIJF also set out some other news about the 2016 XRIJF Club Pass Series:
- The Squeezers stage will move to a larger 900-capacity club, "Anthology" at 336 East Avenue at the corner of Lawrence Street in Rochester's popular East End. Two sets will be presented there nightly at 7:30 and 9:30 pm
- An "Oh, Canada!" Series will be presented at the Rochester Club featuring two performances nightly at 6:00 and 10:00 pm by leading emerging artists from our friends to the North.
- Kilbourn Hall show times will now be 6:00 and 9:00 pm.
- An intriguing system using wristbands will be implemented at two very popular venues—Kilbourn Hall and Max of Eastman Place—to help reduce our line time (and get people out there people to enjoy other shows and/or spend their money on food and beverages). No details yet about how this will work, but they indicate that more details will follow.
- Single entry to any Club Pass Series show without a 3-day or 9-day Club Pass will now be $30 cash at the door for all venues, $35 at Kilbourn Hall. According to the XRIJF, this is the first increase in admission prices at the door in 8 years.
I'm looking forward to hearing more about the Kilbourn/Max wristband approach. While I have had some great times standing in line with my fellow XRIJF fanatics, I would love to hear more music and I know that for many people it is a major pain point. So, what do you think?
