Funny! Guess which act had the biggest attendance at the Western Idaho Fair?
Was that a record-setting crowd for Styx at the Western Idaho Fair last week, or was it all a grand illusion?
And is Boise a rock city or a country town? Concert attendance numbers provide clues. Usually, a country act is the biggest draw.
This year, though, the joke’s on us. The winner wasn’t a musical act.
The Fair ended Sunday. It’s time for our annual postmortem about the free grandstand shows.
To estimate attendance, fair employees use a clicker counter. When a handful of fans leave a completely full performance, a few more are allowed to enter.
▪ On Tuesday at the Fair, Poison frontman Bret Michaels gave fans “Something to Believe In.” Let’s just hope they didn’t believe he’d draw the largest crowd. Ouch. “Every Rose Has Its Thorn.” Michaels drew 3,900 fans. By Fair standards, that’s not exactly poison — but definitely a smallish show. On a side note, I’m told that Michaels was one of the most generous meet-and-great artists the Fair has ever had, and that he spent lots of time with fans.
▪ By Wednesday, fans were sailing into the grandstands. Classic-rockers Styx drew a whopping 10,700 concertgoers for anthems such as “Renegade” and “Mr. Roboto.” That’s even more than Foreigner pulled at last year’s Fair. Prance, Lawrence Gowan, prance!
▪ Comedian Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias yucked it up in front of an enormous audience Thursday: 12,800 fans. I was a tiny bit skeptical that the funny man would crush all competitors, but Fair Director Bob Batista predicted it. “I’ve been following some of the other fairs that have had him,” Batista told me beforehand, “and he just kills it. This year, we got him! So hang on.” I’m glad I didn’t bet Batista a Pronto Pup.
▪ Free grandstand shows wound up Friday with 9,200 at Randy Houser. A whole herd of fairgoers stampeded the place eager to hear favorites such as “How Country Feels” and “Runnin’ Out of Moonlight.”
Congratulations, Fluffy. You are pretty hilarious. But don’t phone Guinness World Records just yet. A couple of years ago, Josh Turner racked up 13,103 fans at the Fair — on a Tuesday night!
Because I’m a nerd and keep track of this stuff, here are prior years’ attendance numbers. Acts are listed in their order of performance.
• • •
2017
Scott McCreery — 6,100
Huey Lewis and the News — 12,200
Joan Jett & the Blackhearts — 6,700
Trace Adkins — 12,800
• • •
2016
Josh Turner – 13,103
Foreigner – 9,234
Sawyer Brown/LoCash – 6,157
Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo – 11,582
• • •
2015
Jerrod Niemann — 2,900
Theory of a Deadman — 4,200
Gary Allan — 8,900
Queensryche — 4,500
• • •
2014
Seether — 6,500
Montgomery Gentry — 8,200
Doobie Brothers — 9,800
Thompson Square — 7,900
• • •
2013
Los Cuates de Sinaloa — 2,500
Kutless — 4,000
Foreigner — 9,000
The Guess Who — 3,500
Brantley Gilbert — 9,000
Clay Walker — 6,500
• • •
This story was originally published August 31, 2018 at 10:29 AM.