I'm a born-and-raised Austinite, so of course my idea of a music festival is shaped almost exclusively by SXSW. When I was a kid, it was ONLY music, and it expanded to include film, TV, and tech in the decades since. I distinctly remember being a teenager at an unofficial South-By show on a Sunday afternoon. It was FREE. Los Lonely Boys played, around the height of their fame for "Heaven." I had to Google it to see if I could find out what year that was (seems like 2004 is about right), and it turns out they are regular performers at SXSW, including this year!
I love music, I'm old so my bands were/are The Clash, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, David Bowie, etc. I am also a classically trained pianist, or was since I haven't played in decades, but I listen to classical music still, all the time.
I've never been to a music festival. Maybe being 11 when I saw in the news what an unholy horrifying mudsplattered disorganized mess Woodstock was turned me off to the idea? Maybe never having enough money to travel to one, pay admission, and accommodation? I could rarely afford concert tickets and they were hard to get anyway. I have no idea what accommodation is like at these things but my idea of camping is a hotel without room service, so there's that.
My memorable concerts here in Michigan when I was a young teen were; Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band and the J Giles Band! Absolutely incredible! They played at Pine Knob (once DTE) and once again renamed Pine Knob.
Ticketmaster and the like need to fuck right off. Why do we need a middle man to sell tickets?
We should be able to buy them from the band or venue directly.
I don’t do crowds so I don’t do a lot of live music to begin with but I’m certainly not spending anywhere close to $600 for live music, even if I love them.
Ooh, this reminds me of an Austin tradition: Blues on the Green. It's a summer concert series in our largest city park. I've only been once (I'm not specifically a blues fan, but I love all music), when I was maybe a preteen or young teen. My mom's partner at the time was into blues music and took the whole family. It was the first time I remember smelling pot in public and knowing what it was, ha!
Music Midtown. Atlanta. Till corporations killed it. Shaky Knees has taken its spot. Yes, music is life. Art is life. Thanks for the fun rabbit-hole essay!
Corporate America is squeezing us dry.... It's as simple as that. Definitely dividing the Have and the Have Nots. Systematic division of society.... As the chaos reigns, they grab more in the shadows.
My brother and I had this discussion not too long ago. We vowed after the pandemic to start seeing more shows like we used to when we were in our early 20s. And then we realized the prices of these shows were so outrageously expensive compared to the early 2000s. But these festivals are so important for people to get together in a community and feel a part of a group. They are historically a place where movements take momentum. Music is powerful and a sense of belonging and connection is just as powerful.
My first club show was Black Flag, 1981, and it was probably $3-5 to get in, at the most. My first big outdoor show was Cheap Trick. To see Cheap Trick for zero dollars we climbed over a 12 feet chain link fence. I went to the first Lollapalooza, it was just okay. Later I attended many of New Orleans Jazz Fests, and saw many fantastic music performances there. It had an incredibly good vibe. But when I was forced to buy plastic bottles of water because there was no option like a drinking fountain or water station, and then saw them oversell the capacity of the track until I couldn’t move,I felt the best days at Jazz Fest were over for me. Small clubs like those on Frenchman Street in New Orleans have always provided my favorite music experiences. I’m picky now that I’m an older audience member. I prefer to put on my vintage t-shirts and listen to music at home or at a small venue. I still love finding new artists to listen to, but I’m putting the big ticket money in retirement savings. 😆
It is really sad that we have this ticket seller monopoly in North America. We have the same ticket gouging issue in Canada. It is so hard to justify the cost of going to a concert when I also have to factor in ferry from the island to the mainland and the insane hotel prices as well. My best friend lives in Germany and goes to multiple concerts and festivals a year. There the ticket prices are reasonable. Hotels prices are manageable and airfare is cheap. The only reason for this is that they have laws in place that controls what the ticket sellers can price tickets and scalping or reselling is illegal and if caught there are hefty fines. We need to get some of these laws here or we will be priced right out of our music scene.
Philly (technically Camden) hosts the XPoNential Festival every year, sponsored by the non-commercial radio station WXPN, and this year tickets for the whole weekend are around $250 for non-members of the station. That's not cheap, and in years past they were able to draw bigger acts for evening shows at the next-door, Live Nation-owned amphitheater which a weekend pass got you into gratis, but that's out the door since COVID. In my years of going, though, I've seen folks from Steve Earle to St. Vincent to k.d. lang to Brandi Carlisle to the Preservation Hall Jazz band and it still feels like an old-school music festival. They have tables for local arts organizations. They have a kids area. There's no green room there since it's outside and the artists are all just over in some tent and you can wander over and say hi. It's pretty sweet.
My favorite music festival growing up was Inland Invasion (in the Inland Empire in California). I went every year with my best friend at the time and her dad, and to this day I'm so grateful to her dad for those amazing memories and really kickstarting my passion for live music. I saw so many amazing artists like The Cure, Duran Duran, The Violent Femmes, Billy Idol, Devo, and so many more! Tickets were around $40.
I grew up in the IE but went to high school and college in San Diego. I didn’t know about Inland Invasion but saw a bunch of these same bands at the Del Mar Fair (Devo, Cake, the Violent Femmes, Flaming Lips, Weezer). The kicker is you just had to pay for the entrance to the races ($5-7?) and the show was free. Now they’re charging $150 to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Also, fun fact, my Dad saw Jimi Hendrix at the Orange Show growing up. Imagine seeing him live?!
I'm a born-and-raised Austinite, so of course my idea of a music festival is shaped almost exclusively by SXSW. When I was a kid, it was ONLY music, and it expanded to include film, TV, and tech in the decades since. I distinctly remember being a teenager at an unofficial South-By show on a Sunday afternoon. It was FREE. Los Lonely Boys played, around the height of their fame for "Heaven." I had to Google it to see if I could find out what year that was (seems like 2004 is about right), and it turns out they are regular performers at SXSW, including this year!
I love music, I'm old so my bands were/are The Clash, Elvis Costello and the Attractions, David Bowie, etc. I am also a classically trained pianist, or was since I haven't played in decades, but I listen to classical music still, all the time.
I've never been to a music festival. Maybe being 11 when I saw in the news what an unholy horrifying mudsplattered disorganized mess Woodstock was turned me off to the idea? Maybe never having enough money to travel to one, pay admission, and accommodation? I could rarely afford concert tickets and they were hard to get anyway. I have no idea what accommodation is like at these things but my idea of camping is a hotel without room service, so there's that.
My memorable concerts here in Michigan when I was a young teen were; Bob Segar and the Silver Bullet Band and the J Giles Band! Absolutely incredible! They played at Pine Knob (once DTE) and once again renamed Pine Knob.
LOVE this post. Music is the flow of LIFE.
Ticketmaster and the like need to fuck right off. Why do we need a middle man to sell tickets?
We should be able to buy them from the band or venue directly.
I don’t do crowds so I don’t do a lot of live music to begin with but I’m certainly not spending anywhere close to $600 for live music, even if I love them.
Pearl Jam tried to fight it and warned everyone. They saw it coming almost 30 years ago.
Lilith Fair. Twice.
Out west in Oakland we had Days on the Green! I saw Elton John when he was 24 years old! Great day in the sun on the grass! listening to great bands!!
Ooh, this reminds me of an Austin tradition: Blues on the Green. It's a summer concert series in our largest city park. I've only been once (I'm not specifically a blues fan, but I love all music), when I was maybe a preteen or young teen. My mom's partner at the time was into blues music and took the whole family. It was the first time I remember smelling pot in public and knowing what it was, ha!
These were my all time favorite concerts! Bill Graham was a genius!!
Music Midtown. Atlanta. Till corporations killed it. Shaky Knees has taken its spot. Yes, music is life. Art is life. Thanks for the fun rabbit-hole essay!
Corporate America is squeezing us dry.... It's as simple as that. Definitely dividing the Have and the Have Nots. Systematic division of society.... As the chaos reigns, they grab more in the shadows.
My brother and I had this discussion not too long ago. We vowed after the pandemic to start seeing more shows like we used to when we were in our early 20s. And then we realized the prices of these shows were so outrageously expensive compared to the early 2000s. But these festivals are so important for people to get together in a community and feel a part of a group. They are historically a place where movements take momentum. Music is powerful and a sense of belonging and connection is just as powerful.
Forgot to mention, I went to several Buzzfest shows in Houston in my 20s and they were some of the best memories I have from my youth 🩷🎶
My first club show was Black Flag, 1981, and it was probably $3-5 to get in, at the most. My first big outdoor show was Cheap Trick. To see Cheap Trick for zero dollars we climbed over a 12 feet chain link fence. I went to the first Lollapalooza, it was just okay. Later I attended many of New Orleans Jazz Fests, and saw many fantastic music performances there. It had an incredibly good vibe. But when I was forced to buy plastic bottles of water because there was no option like a drinking fountain or water station, and then saw them oversell the capacity of the track until I couldn’t move,I felt the best days at Jazz Fest were over for me. Small clubs like those on Frenchman Street in New Orleans have always provided my favorite music experiences. I’m picky now that I’m an older audience member. I prefer to put on my vintage t-shirts and listen to music at home or at a small venue. I still love finding new artists to listen to, but I’m putting the big ticket money in retirement savings. 😆
Jazz Fest!!
It is really sad that we have this ticket seller monopoly in North America. We have the same ticket gouging issue in Canada. It is so hard to justify the cost of going to a concert when I also have to factor in ferry from the island to the mainland and the insane hotel prices as well. My best friend lives in Germany and goes to multiple concerts and festivals a year. There the ticket prices are reasonable. Hotels prices are manageable and airfare is cheap. The only reason for this is that they have laws in place that controls what the ticket sellers can price tickets and scalping or reselling is illegal and if caught there are hefty fines. We need to get some of these laws here or we will be priced right out of our music scene.
Philly (technically Camden) hosts the XPoNential Festival every year, sponsored by the non-commercial radio station WXPN, and this year tickets for the whole weekend are around $250 for non-members of the station. That's not cheap, and in years past they were able to draw bigger acts for evening shows at the next-door, Live Nation-owned amphitheater which a weekend pass got you into gratis, but that's out the door since COVID. In my years of going, though, I've seen folks from Steve Earle to St. Vincent to k.d. lang to Brandi Carlisle to the Preservation Hall Jazz band and it still feels like an old-school music festival. They have tables for local arts organizations. They have a kids area. There's no green room there since it's outside and the artists are all just over in some tent and you can wander over and say hi. It's pretty sweet.
Clear Channel. The root of it all. Evil muther fuckers. The beginning of the end.
Matt Stoller helped explain the LiveNation situation pretty well
My favorite music festival growing up was Inland Invasion (in the Inland Empire in California). I went every year with my best friend at the time and her dad, and to this day I'm so grateful to her dad for those amazing memories and really kickstarting my passion for live music. I saw so many amazing artists like The Cure, Duran Duran, The Violent Femmes, Billy Idol, Devo, and so many more! Tickets were around $40.
I grew up in the IE but went to high school and college in San Diego. I didn’t know about Inland Invasion but saw a bunch of these same bands at the Del Mar Fair (Devo, Cake, the Violent Femmes, Flaming Lips, Weezer). The kicker is you just had to pay for the entrance to the races ($5-7?) and the show was free. Now they’re charging $150 to see the Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
Also, fun fact, my Dad saw Jimi Hendrix at the Orange Show growing up. Imagine seeing him live?!