Understanding Trampled By Turtles Hype in Duluth
I've seen a lot of music acts come to town, and I've never seen so many people trying to get tickets to a sold out show at Bayfront Festival Park. I've also never seen a line that wraps around the DECC to get into Bayfront. 10,000 people at Bayfront does not happen at every concert. So why are people going nuts over Trampled By Turtles?
Now a big part of it would be the fact that it was Fourth Fest in Duluth. It's also a band that was formed in Duluth and has gained a national following. They have millions of hits on their YouTube videos and have been featured on NPR, PBS, and many other outlets and interviews.
Obviously it's a good amount of hometown pride that everyone experiences, but it also reaches further than that with people coming from all across the region to see them play. Really, Trampled By Turtles is as much of a Duluth export as our craft beer. I'm also going to go out on a limb here and say that a comparison could be made with the connection that Duluth has to Trampled By Turtles similarly with the love it has for Robert Zimmerman. (Wink wink.)
I'm also surprised by the amount of people I would never guess would be a TBT fan that I've seaw desperately looking for tickets on Saturday. There has been mainstream acts come to town that have had less demand than TBT. Like the bluegrass style music they play, their fan bass has a grass roots beginning that has caught on like a wildfire in the region.