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The Full Throttle Festival Saturday night at the Ocean Center in Daytona Beach was straight up fun. Bert Kreischer put together exactly what I pictured when he talked about it on the show last Friday (February 12) for Episode 500 of Orlando Tourism Report. Huge thanks to Bert and Mando for the invite and for Bert coming on the radio earlier in the week. That interview was a good time, and getting to see him do his thing live made it even better.

Chris Porter kicked things off with comedy. He was funny, crowd was laughing, but honestly a lot of us were already zeroed in on the open bar and sponsored drinks. VIPs had it going early, and that just set the whole mood. This was never going to be a chill sit down night. It was a party from the jump.

Bert came out with a DJ to introduce everything, then ERNEST took over for about 45 to 50 minutes. Man, he killed it. Played his stuff, threw in a couple covers, and the whole place was singing along. It was one of those sets where you just turn to whoever’s next to you and go, this guy is good. Everyone was feeling it.

The crew flipped the stage super quick (they were moving), Bert popped back for a 20 minute comedy bit. He did the Machine story, rambled on a few funny tangents, and had everybody cracking up. Quick but perfect. Classic Bert.

Lynyrd Skynyrd came on for a full hour of the hits, built right up to the encore, and yeah, they closed with Free Bird. Place went nuts.

Then in under 10 minutes the stage is empty and Diplo (Thomas Wesley country persona) is dropping 45 to 50 minutes of heavy bass and party tracks. The Ocean Center sound system was no joke. Diplo wrapped it up strong.

Backstage was cool too. Noah Gragson and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were chilling with Bert, John Daly came out for a quick on stage thing, and you had other NASCAR guys like Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell, Daniel Dye, Riley Herbst wandering around. Felt like the right mix for 500 weekend.

VIP was worth it. The upcharge wasn’t bad, and 6 hours of open bar during Daytona 500 weekend is basically gold. Food wasn’t free, but we grabbed a buffalo chicken slider and a chicken Parm slider on those sweet Hawaiian rolls with garlic butter glaze. Nothing fancy, but they were good after standing and moving around all night. Parking in the garage right next door was $15. Easy and cheap.

Tickets were pretty fair. General Admission started at $74.99 all in and got you the full lineup, comedy, BBQ spots, beer hall. VIP (open bar, lounge, fast track entry, nice bathrooms, better view) was $249.99 all in to start. Bert’s Platinum (front seated area, top shelf open bar) kicked off at $1,099.99 all in. The 7 hour All You Can Drink wristband add on and round trip shuttles from the track ($40) were nice options if you wanted to keep it simple and have a dedicated driver available. Always drink responsibly.

Bottom line: Bert nailed this first one. He put together something that felt like his, rock legends, country, comedy, BBQ, beer, NASCAR energy, all in one spot, presented by Mando. Crowd was thick, vibe was electric, production was sharp. Solid value, great night, perfect way to kick off race weekend. I’m already hoping they bring it back every year and keep growing it. Maybe next time they open up the full arena side of the Ocean Center too. That venue’s iconic in Daytona, and it could make this thing even bigger.
If you’re already thinking about next year, yeah, count me in.