Worst ever festival line up?

but i guess looking at the past few lineups it's been like that for a while, just this time it's more extreme surely due to covid

Vintage Culture is definitely one for the boring band names thread

I put this in the Band of Horses thread but by far the most surprising thing for me on this poster is the fact that they're on the 5th line. They had one big indie hit like 16 years ago, and if I'm not mistaken, have released only 1 new album in the last decade. Who is going to this festival that's going to the 6pm Band of Horses show? I didn't even know they were still a band.

It's been said many times before but the death of the band has never been more apparent. I'm sure I'm wrong, but I only recognize one or two bands that I think were formed after 2010 on the entire poster! Comparing this poster to the ones from ~2003-2008 is quite remarkable.

once you get beyond that line though there's really diminishing returns as far as recognisability goes, probably just because of how so many acts aren't ready to return to touring yet. "one big indie hit like 16 years ago" still makes them more recognisable than a ton of acts on that lineup i guess. i'd also imagine they might have a new album out this year if they're touring

as far as death of the band goes it's just festivals are much much more interested in booking non-rock band acts now because that's where youth culture is at, despite having all the festivals having started out as rock-oriented etc

reading to the end of that lolla lineup was worth it for the late Aly & AJ reunion reveal.

one of my only fest experiences abt 10 years ago included Band of Horses playing as an acoustic trio at 4:30pm to complete audience indifference, like most ppl with their backs literally turned to the stage. idgaf about Band of Horses but still remember the vivid feeling in that moment of "is this what fests are? bc this is kind of depressing"

It's sort of like a magic eye for old people. How many of this lineup that you know can you find?

https://assets-global.website-files.com/5e94ab5e53b1514c1704e66e/6065de4d718b4c1c9b5f967e_B21-Admat-v01_1080x1350.png

I got 33. (And some of the others I didn't know I recognized from the Lolla poster, lol). Regardless, this is a much better mish-mash, imo.

I got about as many from the Riot Fest lineup (34, including a few I'd actually want to see):

https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2021/05/unnamed-2021-05-14T121550.587-1621008954.jpg

I got 34

and of those, there are maybe 5 I'd ever pay to see (and one of them is the very last name on the poster)

be hilarious if Andrew WK isn't performing and is just DJing

https://static.stereogum.com/uploads/2021/05/60a677206fb1b7ec61dd9f43_ACL21-Lineup-Final_1080x1350-1621522882-1000x1250.jpg

another kinda strange one, george strait is a gigantic country star but has pretty much zero crossover outside of that right?

it's clearly just a very weird year for festivals trying to piece things together

GUYS WE CAN GO TO SEE GRETA VAN FLEET AND HECKLE

and we might get....

wait for it...

permabanned

from the festival

Those Surfaces doofuses really making the festival rounds.

never heard of them & was going to ask what made them doofuses but then it was clear from checking out their one hit

TalkToTransformer is no fun any more:

White Reaper. Peakaboo. Olivia O'Brien. Orville Peck. Princess Nokia. Cautious Clay. Dayglow. Trevor Daniel. Flo Milli. Bia. Flipp Dinero. TNGHT. AG Club. Boy Pablo. Elohim. Cam. Slowthai. Mick Jenkins. Tobi Lou. Drama. Grandson. Cavetown. Toosii. Bali. Rayl. A-Jac. DMA's. Girlpool. Eats Everything. Algiers. Detroit: Snail Mail. Quelle Chris. Cardinal Melancholy. J Brohasta. Guilty Pleasure. Jojo O'Brien. Lil Yachty. Gillie Mac Mac. Astroid Boys. MadeinTYO. Deap Vally. Milk Bar. SNBRN. LAFOOD. MaRLo. Rick Ross. Danny Brown. Goldlink. Mitski. Cupcakke. Dreamers. Gus Dapperton. Lykke Li. Super Junior. Little Dragon. Cut Snake. Lupe Fiasco. Saint Jhn. Dreamcar. Sho Baraka. The Bronx. Jidenna. Migos. DRAM. 6LACK. Jay Park. Tha Way. Sho Bar

genuinely couldn't tell which of the ones it generated were real or not for the most part

I am past the years of patience with festivals, but that Riot Fest lineup is the closest to making me want to consider giving it a go again, if I'm honest.

my poster stats:

Lolla - heard of 29, would pay to see 2 (Brittany Howard, Band of Horses)
Bonnaroo - heard of 39, would pay to see 9
Riot Fest - heard of 42, would pay to see 16
ACL - heard of 23, would pay to see 3 maybe 4

My takeaway is that I hope a festival appearance means we get a new Uncle Acid album soon.

it's clearly just a very weird year for festivals trying to piece things together

A festival here that was due to happen in July had to reschedule to September. Understandably some of the line up couldn't do the new date but replacing Kraftwerk as the headliner with Culture Club does seem a rather odd decision.

@ufo fairly certain they're all real

these are the ones it invented: Rayl, A-Jac, J Brohasta, Cardinal Melancholy, Gillie Mac Mac, Milk Bar, LAFOOD, Tha Way, Jojo O'Brien, Detroit: Snail Mail (though obviously snail mail is a real band) which was definitely less than i expected

Do bands just not go out of style as easily anymore? There was a time when it would have really cramped Lollapalooza's style to put the equivalent of a band like Foo Fighters on the bill (whose fanbase I assume is largely in their mid 30s to mid 40s).

to some extent, but foo fighters are still rock radio titans etc. and legacy big name rock acts have been on most festival lineups for ages now. earlier on in its existence lollapalooza wasn't really the sort of festival to go for that but like, journey and limp bizkit are on this one.

J Brohasta

Mine didn't invent any but lol at the lineup and especially the last one

Foo Fighters G-Eazy Tame Impala Young Thug Nelly Deadmau5 Incubus Young the Giant Glass Animals Janelle Monáe Lil Baby Deftones Kevin Gates Lizzo Leon Bridges My Morning Jacket Chris Stapleton Marshmello The Head and the Heart Natalie Prass Against Me! Judah & the Lion Sylvan Esso Brandi Carlile Maggie Rogers AFI Arctic Monkeys G-Eazy Kaytranada NF P!nk Grouplove Chvrches LZ7 Beach House Hozier Grouper Idina Menzel

I mean, in one way of looking at it, there is no discernible difference between putting Foo Fighters at the top of a festival bill in 2021 and putting Journey near the top of a festival bill in 2021.

otm

I think it totally sucks that the way live music is starting to come back is festivals, a way to see music that I despise on pretty much every level.

— Robert Beatty (@EdSunspot) May 20, 2021

Yup.

well Lollapalooza has just been a name with almost no connection to what we'd think of the historical Lolla festival for... maybe a decade? The thing runs in 7 countries now and the lineups are just whoever will pull in people that year. I got a tiny bit curious about going to the Berlin one for free a few years back. then I saw the poster...

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DzTCfV8X4AkNj-T.jpg

xps eh foo fighters are at least still a going concern - their new albums still sell decently and get rock radio play even if their best work is long behind them. there are only two members of journey from their best-known period (notably not the singer) & i don't think anyone at all has cared about anything they've put out in the last 25 years

Compiled stats for me:

Lolla - heard of 25, would pay to see* zero
Bonnaroo - heard of 33, would pay to see a generous ... seven?
Riot Fest - heard of 35, would pay to see nine or ten
ACL - heard of 22, would pay to see ... one?

*hypothetically, since there's no way I'm paying for any of these, though considered Riot Fest but backed out because I want to know the day-to-day schedule.

bonarroo lineup is orders of magnitude better than lolla's imo

*And* features several of the same acts. There was more than enough "good enough" to go around not to excuse Lolla's sorry lineup.

Lolla's lineup is just terrible, even acknowledging that I am very far removed from the target audience.

Bill Frisell is on the Bonnaroo lineup, always dreamed about what it would be like to see him get half drowned-out by a nearby Deadmau5 set

I would pay plenty to see him sit in with pretty much any act on that bill.

I honestly fucking hate music festivals - they are hell for me. When I was in college I went to a Tibetan Freedom Concert and had to actually leave because I got sick from the bass rattling my stomach (probably combined with the heat). A few years ago we made the terrible mistake of going to Governor's Ball. I felt like I was trapped in a fraternity/sorority refugee camp. The bands I liked sounded like complete shit, lines for food were 30 minutes long, and we left early out of sheer panic at what getting home would be like if we stayed for the main headliners.

Festivals are so shitty that I generally stopped going years ago, even when I was offered free tickets. I can't tell if the transition happened when/because I officially got old, or when the crowd became more and more there just to dress up and be seen. In which case I blame Coachella, really, because it's the only fest my kids consider a fashion. As in, "that outfit is very Coachella." They don't say that about Lolla or whatever.

I still like Pitchfork, it's pretty chill and about the music. Many of the other fests, the music is just a soundtrack to relentless douchebaggery, which is probably why there's no rhyme or reason to the lineups. Just white noise.

Would be awesome, though, if one of these big tests featured a white noise stage, that just blasted static.

disagree on festivals. it's not my favorite way to do things because it kind of forces you to keep your energy up all day, but some of my favorite music experiences were festivals - Maryland Deathfest 2013 (seeing Carcass for the first time), last year's 70,000 Tons of Metal Cruise, and 2019's Psycho Las Vegas. with the right lineup, it can be a really cool communal experience.

the worst festivals tend to be some of the ones like the above, which combine several different types of fanbases from disparate scenes that don't mix well together, or the festivals that are really overcrowded, or outdoor festivals in the heat of summer.

Yeah, the smaller ones like ATP (in the 2000s) were great. I guess I haven't been to many huge ones, other than Lolla '95.

I have more of an issue with the cost. I had a depressive episode during MDF in 2016 and was bummed that I spent that much money to basically freak out in another city.

I think themed festivals are actually kinda cool. Like, if you like metal, then an all-metal fest would of course be dope. Or prog, or country, etc. So no, fests themselves are not bad, it's these charm-less, vision-less corporate C3/Golde Voice/fests that share the same rando bills, these are the ones that suck.

Festivals are so shitty

Bonnaroo lineup isn't terrible. Riot Fest lineup is on par with past years, I think. Agree with Josh's sentiments in general, especially in regards to the Chicago fests. Pitchfork is the only one I bother with anymore, and even that pushes me to the brink some years (punishing heat, sudden crazy rainstorms during Bjork, etc.)

I did Pitchfork one year in the mid-2000s, it was fun and yeah hot, but no real memorable performances. (Same with the few Coachellas I attended, tbh)

I think themed festivals are actually kinda cool. Like, if you like metal, then an all-metal fest would of course be dope.

really hope Migration happens next year :(

I'll be curious to see what shifting Pitchfork to September will do to the attendance numbers. Not that I expect it to take a huge hit, but I wonder if it not falling during college kids' summer break will cut down on the out of state travelers. Personally a September Pitchfork fest is more enticing, just because it moves it out of prime 95+ degree weather territory.

If I had to guess, I would guess that there are enough high school and older people around in Chicago to more than fill a few nights of Pitchfork. I know people travel for it, but unlike Lollapalooza I doubt the fest needs those people. Tickets are reasonably priced, the capacity is a modest 19,000. Vs. Lollapalooza, which is, like, 400,000 or something, with prices literally three times as much. That's a lot more asses in ... well, that's a lot more asses.

Yeah, that's why I said I don't think it's going to take a hit, I'm not arguing it'll be a death knell. Just curious to see if the shift does impact the numbers at all.

Well, given how fast Riot Fest sold out (I think?) of three day passes, and that's in Sept., too, I bet things will be ok.