LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Bourbon & Beyond and Louder Than Life are music to the ears of the hospitality world.

The Crowne Plaza hotel near the Kentucky Exposition Center finished an 18-month, $30 million renovation just in time for an estimated 270,000 guests from around the world to attend the festivals, which are just a stone's through from the hotel's entrance.

"We actually didn't stop construction for Derby so that we could be ready for this. So that kind of shows you how big this is for us," Greg Mann, general manager of the hotel, said Wednesday. "We sell out probably six months in advance. It is huge because almost immediately after the show ends, they put them on sale for the following year."

Over at the concert site — known as the Highland Festival Grounds — crews were busy Wednesday putting the finishing touches on the massive stages and lounges.

Expo center and festival officials said they expect more than 370,000 tickets sold over the two weeks to see more than 230 artists.

Zach Bryan, Dave Matthews Band, Tyler Childers, Sting, Beck, Matchbox Twenty, The National, My Morning Jacket and The War on Drugs are some of the headliners for Bourbon & Beyond. Other bands and artists include Whiskey Myers, Cody Jinks, Tedeschi, Trucks Band, Black Pumas, The Beach Boys, Mt. Joy, Fleet Foxes, Young the Giant, Maren Morris, The Head and the Heart, Teddy Swims and Melissa Etheridge.  

There will also be culinary and bourbon stages. Presenters on those stages include Jim Gaffigan and Kevin Bacon paired with celebrity chefs like Edward Lee, Amanda Freitag, Chris Santos and bourbon expert Chris Blandford.

To see a day-by-day schedule of acts, click here. And to see everything you can and can't bring to the festival, click here.

2024 Bourbon & Beyond Map

(Photo courtesy of Danny Wimmer Presents)

There will also be several new events happening this year, including a Bourbon & Beyond 5K and more parties. Louisville event producer Joey Wagner is getting ready for what will be the first of two after-parties in the Crowne Plaza.

"We are going to turn this ballroom into a really cool bourbon lounge for Saturday night," Wagner said Wednesday. "Let's create some really cool, fun environments and other events outside of the festival grounds that will be fun for people that are coming in for the festival (and) also fun for the locals, and that's what we've done."

When it comes to hotels, the city is at 90% capacity, and the economic impact for Louisville will be more than $33 million.

"It's so huge for hotels," said Zach Davis with Louisville Tourism. "These festivals both bring in strong length of stays. People come, they stay for several days, they get out and experience the festival and other things throughout the city."

Guests have already started to check in to get their taste of bourbon and beyond. Mann said he's heard of guests for as far away as Puerto Rico and California.

"There is no place we don't check guests in from," he said. "It really is far and wide."

Single-day General Admission tickets were still available on Friday, and more single-day tickets were recently made available for Saturday.

To learn more, visit Bourbon & Beyond's website.

Related Stories:

Copyright 2024 WDRB Media. All Rights Reserved.