It was pretty depressing watching Boston Calling take that same backslide, on a smaller scale, once LiveNation picked them up.
I'm not expecting festival lineups to wow me anymore. Living in NYC, Gov Ball is usually the bonus round for most acts as they tend to play their headlining shows the previous fall.
For sure...and honestly at this stage of my life I am not travelling to Bonnaroo or Coachella so if GovBall is willing to bring back an indie rock vibe I don't care too much about it's overlap with festivals across the country if it suits my tastes which for the first time in at least 5 years, it does
I mean, none of these festivals are designed to "surprise" or "impress" people who have been seeing live music for 20+ years. The intent seems more to create an easily booked, homogenous set of line-ups that younger people will pay $$$ to attend with a strong focus on the top three lines of the poster. I'm still pretty regularly impressed/surprised by the Riot Fest and Shaky Knees line-ups. Both have consistently solid headliners and deep, fun undercards with surprises and (relatively) outside the box undercards. Riot skews toward punk, Shaky Knees skews towards indie/alt but both dip into different genres to a reasonable degree commensurate with their size in a way that maps onto their identities. But yeah, the rest are all just super shrug-worthy for my tastes. LOL Also: I know this isn't what we're talking about but there is an impressive number of smaller sized festivals across the country doing really cool shit in the punk/hardcore/emo/ska/whatever spaces. So if any of that is even remotely your vibe, I'd suggest turning to that instead if you want something fun and outdoors.
All Things Go also cool,but yeah I don't mind the festival circuit helps a lot of bands gain recognition
Yea I gave up on all of the LN fests after they turned Bonnaroo into Lolla on a farm and got rid of its unique identity. Really hope Live Nation doesn’t eventually get their hands on Riot or Shaky. Coachella is the only multi genre fest still trying to deliver a truly diverse experience.
I feel like "Coachella on a farm (but weirder)" should be the ideal Bonnaroo experience as opposed to lower budget Lolla.
it absolutely should be…they have the venue to create an American version of Glastonbury, but instead Live Nation is programming it like Music Midtown (no shade)…completely axing jam bands and legacy acts this year was clearly not the right move considering they slashed capacity from 80k to 60k and they still haven’t moved past Tier 2 tickets.
correct me if I’m wrong but Coachella is still an AEG festival as opposed to Bonnaroo and many others being LiveNation
First round of bands for upheaval fest for Friday have been revealed.Headliner tba. Saturday will be headlined by Papa roach.
Haha truly fascinating...which I will take over being truly awful which to me it has been for the last 5 years..I could make a day out of Sunday seeing Japanese Breakfast, Hot Mulligan, Geese and Clipse
Been waiting for Kali Uchis to return to the festival circuit. Hope she makes it on Lolla this year. I have a better impression of the GovBall lineup than of Bonnaroos. Partially due to not having as high of expectations to begin with, but I think it's a more interesting and forward looking lineup.
Saturday has some cool bands as well. Wet Leg, Amyl, Wisp, Snow Strippers, Major Lazer and Jane Remover would be a fun day for me.
I feel like if they swapped a few of the indie bands and put them together a day of Geese, Wet Leg, Amyl, Fcukers, Japanese Breakfast, etc. could be awesome. I posted a few thoughts on the Inforoo thread but just to reiterate: 1) It's a K-Pop world, we're just living in it 2) Bummer that this is likely the only area Geese show 3) I had no idea Dominic Fike was that big. As a Stereogum article pointed out, dude seems like he was almost hatched in a lab to cater to Gen Z audiences. 4) Pierce The Veil....for some reason I always associated them as one of the various diarrhea-core bands that played the 3pm Warped Tour or Mayhem Festival slot, I guess they've gotten a lot bigger given they're recent arena/shed run but, still... 5) Some really good dance/house/indie type stuff (Fkucers, Confidence Man, etc) that I sadly will likely miss 6) Wisp must have some major backing behind her, given her festival spots and that she opened for System Of A Down and Korn last year 7) Curious how this sells. I may decide going one day but will depend on overall life/scheduling so wonder if tickets will be an easy grab like last year