Wren Graves writes about trends in the entertainment industry and publishes a pop culture crossword puzzle every Tuesday and Thursday in the Consequence Newsletter. Subscribe here so you never miss a number, and if you want, you can also check out this week's easy mini-crossword, “Exit the Matrix,” and Thursday's more challenging puzzle, “Enter the Matrix.”
The big general interest festivals seem a bit boring this year, but in general live events are getting wilder. Small capitalists continue to challenge the Live Nation-AEG duopoly, which has resulted in a Fyre Fest (so far), a Diet Fyre Fest (a little more competent planning, a lot more poop), and a variety of lineups and experiences ranging from Meh to iconic.
As the world's most important events face anemic sales or even cancellations (We hope the splendor returns to Australia's grass soon), smaller and medium-sized festivals have become petri dishes of experimentation, at least by the boring standards of corporate-sponsored music. Even Live Nation and AEG are varying their strategies.
Many of the best festivals have one thing in common: they don't try to please everyone. They focus on a certain type of experience, they do it well, and people who like that type of thing are happy.
This is nothing innovative, although until recently it had been less common in the world. But the Internet leans towards niches. Our social media algorithms are as individual as snowflakes, and that expectation of personalization is extending to all aspects of life. Today, few people are happy with a typical festival experience, especially at modern festival prices.
The point of specialization is that every niche is a little different. But in recent years four dominant strategies have emerged. Even if they're not what you or I would look for, they've clearly found an audience and seem to have room to grow. Let's call these strategies gender issues, lifestyles, selfiesand Destinationsand let's look at the advantages that each of them has over the larger gen-fests:
Gender issues
What if the public wanted to see all of the artists?
I didn't fully appreciate this until a few years ago, when, within a couple of weeks, I attended Lollapalooza with strong headliners followed by the punk-focused Riot Fest with a mediocre (by their standards) lineup. At that Lolla, as I do every year, I had time to read or take a nap during what I considered dead spots in the agenda. The artists who performed at that time had large audiences but they were not for me. But at Riot, almost every hour brought a multi-stage conflict, even if I was nothing more than mildly curious about some of the acts.
More festivals are being built around a specific scene or sound: think Lovers & Friends with Millennial hip-hop and R&B, Kilby Block Party and blog rock, or the emo nostalgia of When We Were Young. If these bills are your thing, usually the whole Your thing is your thing, and instead of blank spaces in the schedule, you'll have to deal with FOMO for the other stages.
However, I wonder about the sustainability of some of these festivals. What is the tenth year of When We Were Young like? Are there different bands headlining and who would they be? Then again, no one went broke betting on Boomer nostalgia, so maybe Millennial nostalgia is no different.
Lifestyles
What if everyone at the festival was worth talking to?
Sometimes festival-goers are united by our personal beliefs, such as that our planet is worth protecting or that Insane Clown Posse is tolerable. In these spaces, our bond with other attendees can be stronger than our connection with the musicians on stage, and making small talk with strangers becomes the easiest thing in the world.
The Øya Festival in Oslo, Norway, is perhaps the greenest festival in the world, and a commitment to sustainability influences almost every moment of the audience experience. Everything, even the way you eat, is carefully planned. Pickathon has a similar concern for the environment, and campers wake up in the morning to see nearly pristine grounds, untouched by festival trash. It is only possible because everyone commits together to shared values.
But there could be as many types of lifestyle festivals as there are lifestyles. For proof, look no further than Inkcarceration, where everyone in attendance appreciates hard rock and tattoos, or the annual Gathering of Juggalos, which is driven less by a love of ICP's music and more by, let's call it shared values. If you like painting your face and having a drink while smoking a cigarette, then the Gathering of the Juggalos is an incredible time, even if you don't know a single letter of ICP.
These festivals may curate a specific sound, but they pay even more attention to the environment and vibes. If I had to bet on one type of niche festival becoming more popular, it would be live experiences like these.
Selfies
What if you could take pictures of famous (sort of) people?
At the intersection of concerts and ComicCons is a growing network of cruises, unique and novel events that make former superstars more accessible than ever. You may not be sitting next to Randy Blythe at dinner aboard the Lamb of God's Headbangers ship, but there's a good chance you'll run into Eyehategod in the hallways of the cruise ship or catch some sun in Puerto Plata on Dethklok Beach.
A version of this strategy has been successfully employed by the Innings and Extra Innings franchise, which books appearances by retired baseball players alongside aging hitmakers. Of course, admission to GA won't allow you to take one-on-one selfies with Ryan Dempster or Flea from the Chili Peppers. But also, Ryan Dempster might be a fan of RHCP and you might see him swinging a few feet away from you during the show. Part of the appeal, presumably, is that there will be so many famous people there.
There is a lot of overlap between this category and the definitions of lifestyle and destination. These are just rough ideas. But it does seem to me that certain parasocial interactions that were previously limited to Cons are now being packaged with live music and aggressively monetized.
Destinations
What if you were on a beach? What if you were on a mountain? What if humans weren't made to sit in an office all day? What if you have credit card debt?
I don't need to explain the appeal of good music in a beautiful place away from daily stress. These festivals are prolific and popular. As many grains of sand as there are on a beach, as many stars as there are in the sky, this will be the parties that will be held on the coasts of California and Florida, or as the Bible says.
The most interesting part of this trend, at least to me, is how artists use festival promoters to book their vacations. Wilco has used Sky Blue Sky as a semi-annual reason to visit Mexico, and Brandi Carlile's Mothership Weekend celebrates mothers in their natural habitats (drunk on a Florida beach). As someone who currently expects my job to send me to review Phish at The Sphere in Las Vegas (another destination event), I get it.
In all of these cases, festivals have tried to give everything to some people, instead of offering something for everyone. In the process, they are innovating new types of live experiences. Festival season is exciting again.
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