Montebello Rockfest 2018 Tour

Some solid bands on this bill that make this more than enough to justify the relatively cheap ticket price. This fest for me is also just as much about the incredible experience, people, and camping so I'll be attending.

Definitely weaker than past lineups though.

 

The headliners seem slightly smaller than usual, but it's still really good.

And I'm not usually the first to notice this, but are there any women on this lineup? I don't know some of the lower names, but there can't be many.

 

Yeah the founder mentioned that they blew a large portion of the budget on Rammstein as a "big headliner" last year and this year, they wanted to spread it around for a more even lineup.

I'll be honest, in the past I've typically avoided pushing through a crowd of 50,000 to catch the headliners at this thing anyway.

Also - yep. This fest always seems blissfully unaware of the movement for more equality. I think someone counted 6 or 7 female musicians on the entire lineup.

 

i don't think a "movement for more equality" is even a good way to put it. just the sheer fact that the amount of women is so much lower than average for even just women in the music scene shows SOMETHING is going wrong in booking. it's a statistically significant difference, so it's not just chance

 

What scene are we talking about here? Most of these are pre-2000 punk/metal bands. Doubt you'd find a significant female population in any scene that included The Exploited for example.

Definitely disappointing that they didn't make more of a concerted effort to put together a more diverse lineup though. Bombpops, Interruptors, Bad Cop Bad Cop, RVIVR, Distillers, etc. would've fit well here.

 

i'm saying more broadly "punk music"

 

Okay, just saying the 70s/80s punk scene compared to today are two very different beasts. A fest like this which books a lot of classic-era punk bands will naturally have fewer women.

Shame they didn't close the gap when booking the more contemporary acts though.

 

Raised Fist is the only band I'd go see. I don't think they've EVER played the United States once.

 

That's interesting. They've played Rockfest a bunch of times.

 

That's actually one of my biggest gripes with this festival. There's generally a lack of younger acts on the bill at all levels of the line-up... Which is also why the line-up looks a bit stale to me. I love a ton of the bands playing. But do I really need to go all the way to Canada to see another festival set from the Dropkick Murphys, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Lagwagon, Millencolin, and/or Rancid?

And I feel like, if they were to branch out some and book some younger acts? It would help with the diversity issue too. They could pull that off, and stick to their core genres. Very, very easily. And I'm sure most of them would draw more than the fucking Clown from Slipknot. WTF.

 

I had no idea who Raised Fist was when I went to my first and only Rockfest back in 2015, but I watched them as I waited for From Autumn to Ashes to play on the stage next to them. Their live show was terrific, and I'm happy that they'll be back this year.

I don't think that I can make it up for this year's festival, but I strongly encourage anyone thinking about going to do so.