Blogcritics: Comments on Summer Concert Stunner - Lollapalooza Cancelled

Comment by Ms. Tek

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:12:00 EDT

Shame. Pehaps you should try a festival in Canada, the UK, or Europe.

Comment by Mark Saleski

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:11:13 EDT

it's definitely an age thing for me. as i've gotten older i just can't put up with the beer-soaked asshole-mania that goes on at big shows. i'm their to hear the music and it seems like most guys are their to drink beer and yak during the songs they're not familiar with. screw that.

Comment by Ms. Tek

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 10:07:34 EDT

The age thing must be only an American problem. You go to the festivals in Europe and its awesome because you get so many people from so many age ranges enjoying the day out and the bands and the food and the rides and its just a ton of fun. Then again, that is another interesting cultural difference. Europeans don't have such a fixation on age as they do here in the states. If you find something you like and go you do it, say go to a nightclub or play playstation or whatever, no one cares how old you are.

Comment by Craig Lyndall

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 09:16:42 EDT

I think it is an age thing most of all. People who work don't want to waste 10% of their annual vacation time not to mention the money to go to an all-day festival. Lollapalooza was targeted to probably 20-35 year olds? The Flaming Lips, Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, etc are all an older demo than Warped and Ozzfest. Lolla targets a demo that has people who largely have to work. Warped hits up kids who still largely rely on their parents and have summers off. One demo will go to a festival and the other demo will not. I agree with the one day event idea. I would consider taking a long weekend once a summer to see a super lineup.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 08:02:51 EDT

Very good points all - I am not inclined to believe the political conspiracy angle either, just reporting a rumor. I agree with Lono about the difference between a single event (Bonnaroo, Coachella) and a traveling show, and I think it's obvious the presence of the Cure and Radiohead makes an enormous difference. And it makes perfect sense that Warped and Ozzfest still appeal to the teen-young adult prime age group, and with Black Sabbath, the old farts are digging Ozzfest this year as well. I think the bottom line is that the lineup wasn't as strong as they thought it was, that it was very poorly marketed, and that there is a lot more competition than there was 10 years ago.

Comment by Lono

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 03:16:19 EDT

Baba Booey, You mention two key gigs in your refutation of the business going under: Bonaroo & Coachella. one of the reasons these shows are HUGE is because they are one time only shows. A few years ago Tool did the first Coachella: it was their first gig in years, and years since. I believe the same with the Cure. Perhaps a way to resurrect Lolla is to make it a 3 day alternative festival somewhere in the middle of America (so we could all get to it).

Comment by Lono

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 03:02:00 EDT

Allow me to speak as the proto-typical Lolla fan. I have been to (I think) every single Lolla, including the very first one. Not the first year, mind you, but the very first Lolla ever! It was in Phoenix and the whole show was simply an elaborate farewell to Jane's Addiction. Being 32, I imagine I am still roughly the Lolla demographic. That being said, I had no intention of paying to see Lolla this year. I think my decision may speak of broader issues and trends. First off, no matter how low the ticket prices are set (and they are NOT set low), you can bet that fucking Ticketbastard will tack on at least $20 per ticket. Second, there isn't one band I really really wanna see that carries the bill. I would definately dig seeing Modest Mouse and Flaming Lips... but everything else I can leave. Third, it takes a hell of a concert to get me off my ass these days. This year I have already seen the Dead and the whole Clapton blues festival (both of which have reviews posted here)... so it would take an act of god to put up a better bill than that. I am a very serious concert goer, and have seen everyone in the rock industry. The only other show besides the Allman Brothers that will get me off my ass will probably be the Gypsy Kings. Lastly, I have been laid off 3 times in the last two years here in Colorado... so I am not in a rush to go get assfucked for $6 beers at the newly named 'Coors Pavilion' (which is where Lolla was sheduled to play). * on a side note, the whole industry is in mondo pain right now. Everyday in my e mail I get an offer for 2 for 1 seats to all HOB shows. Same as last summer, when I saw the reunited Janes Addiction Lolla for half price. Note to promoters: Stop overbooking the summers, and stop charging so goddamn much! The average consumer will see maybe one concert a summer. Thanks and take care, Lono

Comment by Bob A. Booey

Wed, 23 Jun 2004 00:11:18 EDT

Wow. I'm surprised that so much good commentary came out of the Lollapalooza discussion. See ... this is the kind of stuff you folks need to write about more often. I appreciate all the comments on your experiences. For what it's worth, I don't think Lollapalooza being cancelled was political. Clear Channel has been shady and hella pro-Bush (part of their reason for cancelling Howard Stern in their 6 markets, half in key swing states), but the Lollapalooza crowd would have been 95% pro-Kerry anyway and the tour was mostly scheduled for solid blue states. Perry Farrell had his fingers in Coachella the last few years, including DJing there both days this year, and I think he tried to make the festival very similar to the Coachella vibe this year, with many of the same bands. I'm surprised it didn't do well, but I think part of the reason was that the Day 1 headliners in particular were pretty old (Morrissey, Sonic Youth). If the Pixies and PJ Harvey were on the tour for all the dates and they had more hip, diverse supporting bands and/or DJs, it might have worked. I fully believe that ticket sales were weak and agree with the analysis given in this Reuters story: http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=musicNews&storyID=5487322 Boasting an eclectic but aging roster headlined by such alternative acts as Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, the Flaming Lips, Pixies and Wilco, the tour succumbed to sluggish demand that has been dogging the concert industry as a whole, organizers and industry watchers said. "This morning, tour organizers and concert promoters faced with several millions dollars of losses, made the very tough decision to pull the tour," sponsors said in a message posted on the official Lollapalooza Web site. The statement cited "poor ticket sales across the board," attributing the problem to the "weak economic state of this year's summer touring season." Gary Bongiovanni, editor of the trade magazine Pollstar, agreed that the concert industry has been suffering through a substantial slump since mid-April. But he said Lollapalooza also was a victim, to some extent, of a talent roster that is skewed to an older group than in its heyday in the 1990s. Many of the acts appeal less to the teen crowd that typically flocks to big, outdoor rock festivals and more to older fans who tend to shy away from such events. "I look at that lineup and I see a lot of acts that have been around a long time," he said. "They're probably not bands that are going to be in the top five acts that your average 15-, 16- or 17-year-old is going to be listening to. ... The older you get, the less inclined you're going to be to spend eight hours out in the sun with 15,000 other people." By contrast, the Vans Warped Tour has done consistently well because its heavy emphasis on the "skate punk" bands that are popular with young listeners, Bongiovanni said. Perry Farrell, co-founder of the event and lead singer of Jane's Addiction, also pointed to a sluggish concert climate in explaining the cancellation of the festival. But he also said organizers were "taking Lollapalooza back" and planned on "rebuilding and recreating the festival in surroundings more conducive to the cultural experience we've become known for." I'll translate: Lollapalooza has resigned itself to being for old farts and will play smaller venues next year instead of being a huge outdoor mega-festival. It's a shame, though. Check out this lineup that would have played the Randall's Island, New York show (especially the Tuesday lineup): Monday August 16th Morrissey, Sonic Youth, Modest Mouse, Le Tigre, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Von Bondies Tuesday August 17th Pixies, String Cheese Incident, Flaming Lips, PJ Harvey, Gomez, Polyphonic Spree, Michael Franti and Spearhead Keep in mind this was the best lineup. For many dates, several of the good bands weren't even playing. I'm not sure why something like Coachella did so well but Lollapalooza bombed so badly. Maybe it's all about the lineups and Radiohead and the Cure made a big difference, but you'd think that there'd be some overlap in interest. The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also laments the loss: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/pop/179040_lollagone23.html Bonnaroo, Ozzfest and Warped Tour weren't truly competition for audience since they'd attract very different crowds than the Lollapalooza bands would.

Comment by Dan

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 23:48:40 EDT

I guess Charlie Dickens said it best: "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times". I don't doubt that there are pockets of recession still around, but right now, I don't know anyone who wants to work that isn't. I love my work, and I wouldn't quit what I do, but I find myself daydreaming about all the opportunities there are. It's like being at a buffet and knowing you can only eat so much, but being afraid you'll miss something good. To top it off, I had an old drummer friend call me up the other night wanting to know if my chops were up enough to jump in and play at a string of gigs he had lined up. Apparantly, people are even willing to pay money for our crappy classic rock schtick again. Sadly, I'm not up to it. When the Bush tax cuts were voted in, I switched almost all of my 401-k into stock index funds. I'm seeing about a 50% increase in less than a year and a half. I'm thinking about selling some just to lock in profit now. It freaked me out to get $1300 back from our income tax return. That's never happened. My State restructured its property tax index, so I expected to pay more there. Surprise! $300 less. Virtually every long term economic indicator is moving in the right direction. Job creation, factory orders, unemployment, inventories. It looks to be a gradual sustained and stable recovery. The kind that doesn't create inflation or high interest rates. The best kind. I do sympathize with folks who's boat hasn't come in yet, but it just sounds weird to hear someone talk as if it is the Great Depression or something. The only bitchin' I've heard locally lately is a co-worker who's upset that his new in-ground pool is leaking water. He's very upset over this. It's over a 100 gallons a day.

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 21:19:11 EDT

I hope it gets better for us all.
But what about Britney's knee? Don't you little people have your priorities straight? What's the matter with you?

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:47:30 EDT

I don't doubt any of that and am not saying everything is swell everywhere, and I know you have had a very rough time. If I didn't do the MSNBC and Dawn wasn't working two jobs now, we'd be screwed, also. And maybe things are better in Cleveland than Chicago, or maybe it's just who I happen to be talking to, but it really does seem to me that things are loosening up and there is more money sort of flowing around than there has been for the last few years. I hope it gets better for us all.

Comment by Ms. Tek

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:39:03 EDT

"People are starting to have more money, according to the stats, and from what I have seen anecdotally." Yeah... just like the stats that said terrorism is down... no UP!! Gee... we fucked up. Sorry about that! I was having this converstaion this morning with my friends and I asked them "Hey, do you see all this money coming and this job market opening up?" All of them shook their head an one of my friends actually related to me about how she becomes out of her job on the 25th. This doesn't even enclude two other friends of mine who find themselves out of a job... One last week, one the week before. This was all before my run-in today up near DePaul where a few asshole were nearly making this chick cry calling her a terrorist and murderer because she was fundraising for Kerry and had a T-Shirt saying that she was working for the DNC. I dispatched with a quickness the people messing with her... Sometimes, looking like a mean biker chick has its advantages. She told me she was doing this because she couldn't find an internship in the city this year for what she wanted to do. She was also telling me how a lot of college kids were having a hard time finding summer jobs. I just nodded in agreement. I was ready to take on one of the stupid summer jobs in Chicago... Working for the trolley company or double decker buses... boat tours, fucking starbucks even... No. No. No. On top of it, I have been watching the hourly rate of some other jobs that I know how to do and they are far below what they were back when I did them in 97-98. So I wanna know where this big boom is because it isn't in Chicago. I read something telling recently- You can say that things are better... you can even show numbers "companies are planning to increase the workforce. But until you see your neighbor down the street get a job or you're not so worried about your own, then things aren't better because its not personal." And that is really what it comes down to, Eric. People are still really hurting. I recall not too long ago someone, perhaps even you saying something that if this site brought in $300 a month, that isn't enough money to feed your family. Yet in the next instance, these same people are saying "well you need to take a drop in pay and just deal with it... you must be doing something wrong if you can't live off of a thrid of what you used to make". I remember getting really fucked off at that comment but I kept my mouth shut. As I said before, its easy to say when you are on one side of the fence. I said the exact same things. Hell, I used to be a social worker and when I left that career knowing what I knew, I was even worse. Fuck the homeless. Fuck people who don't have a job, they must be lazy, etc... And true there are some really lazy people out there but that isn't the majority by a long shot. In between my jobs, I've had a lot of time to think, observe and talk to people and I have learned so much. Caribou Coffee and Starbucks... used to be places you could find tattooed college students with perhaps a piercing or two... now that is not allowed and more often than not I am finding older workers there who used to do "something else". College educated, experienced people... a barista at a coffee house. Finally, bankruptcies are up and once again some of that has to do with poor money management skills, but how much of that has to do with people who are out of work or working way beneath what they used to make or what they are even worth. Sure, the corporations may report profits and more orders but last time I checked, a corporation wasn't a living, breathing, person. Once again it comes down to this: I don't give a shit if Wal-Mart posts a profit when my friend is sitting across from me telling me that she is out a job. She and I are both people who might have bought a ticket to Lollapaloza... hell part of its problem was they didn have a current, *hot* headliner. It was all oldster, alterna-hippie shit. I would apprecate it at my age... my friends would appreciate it but many others wouldn't dare because KORN/LINKINPARK/MURDERDOLLSBRIGHTEYESGOTHEMONUMETALFAKEPUNKROCKCRAP wasn't on bill... but I know if I had the extra cash, I would have gone... I love outdoor music festivals and I am older than Craig. (age ain't nothin' but a number....) The truth of it is that none of us can afford it. We have doctors to pay for, bus passes to buy, food to put on the table. I indulge myself enough by paying for my language classes because I need a challenge and because I don't want to lose my skills in speaking German. Beyond that I scrimp and pinch. There are a lot of things I would love to do but I just cannot justify the expense. As I have said before- I don't even go out drinking anymore unless the beer is coming free or for a buck. C'est la vie. The world doesn't give a shit. Fine. But I'll be damned if I let the world shit on me. And I am going to post this to my blog because in truth went I was out today, this has been really bothering me all day.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:33:08 EDT

I have no doubt about your last statement

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:21:15 EDT

hmm, drug-addled sweaty jocks running round a pitch, or the bottom of a wine bottle. Thanks, I'll take my definition. And I still stick by my assertion that the problem with the concert business is that because it is so monolithic, it only takes at little shove to push it over.

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:17:09 EDT

come on, you guys have football up there, even though the field is misshapen - you and the Aussies are the only ones intelligent enough to cleave to the grand American sport

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:12:39 EDT

What does the semi-sphere shaped process at the bottom of a wine bottle have to do with the tour business (other than most of the people involved in mis-handling the business have spent most of their time looking through one?).

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:05:04 EDT

punt

Comment by Jim Carruthers

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 20:02:52 EDT

Considering the articles about the economic fallout from the cancelled Britney tour, this really shows the fragility of the tour monolith of ClearChanel and HOB. Sure, you can become a monopoly, but when a couple of bricks in your pyramid crumble, what do you do then?

Comment by Eric Olsen

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 19:53:21 EDT

People are starting to have more money, according to the stats, and from what I have seen anecdotally. The Pixies were only playing two Lolla dates, NY and Ventura, and the Lolla site now only lists the NY date, so they weren't a draw anywhere else. I've been poking around: one rumor has it that the sales were going pretty well and Baltimore was at or near sell-out, but that Clear Channel pulled out due to the obvious liberal slant of the show, with MoveOn promoting through the show and the like. I would think Clear Channel would have known in advance that there would be liberal political activity associated with the show, but that's the rumor. I will continue to look into it.

Comment by Ms. Tek

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 18:10:57 EDT

Because people don't have money. That is why. PEOPLE DON'T HAVE MONEY.

Comment by Temple A. Stark

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 17:58:03 EDT

PJ Harvey. I've seen her. She's good. At the Gorge at George in WA. Ya know, I'd kind of forgotten about Lollapalooza. Is it just that something that's 13-years-old ujst seems old? Like a car, not a person. I was going to wonder if the Iraq War had just taken the fun out of people, but then I remembered 1968 and 1969. They should change the name every couple of years. Are their other speculations for why the summer concert season is down this year?

Comment by Kurt Nordstrom

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 17:43:32 EDT

I had a limited interest in catching The Polyphonic Spree and The String Cheese Incident, but, ah well. Doesn't seem like a big deal in retrospect.

Comment by The Theory

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:43:58 EDT

I don't know, Eric. Wilco could headline a tour. Sonic Youth could headline a tour. The Pixies for SURE were drawing people. In message board posts a lot of people mention the pixies as the reason they wanted to go.

Comment by Craig Lyndall

Tue, 22 Jun 2004 15:16:52 EDT

I am 25 and I already feel too old for the festivals. It is no longer my idea of a good time to sit in the sun and watch bands ALL DAY LONG. The last festival I went to, I sat in my own sweat for an entire day and it took me two days to get rid of the headache despite drinking expensive water all day long. I am a curmudgeonly 25 year old I guess. Come to think of it, the only two festivals I have ever gone to were to see Tool. Lollapalooza and Ozzfest. Without Tool, I never would have gone to a festival period. Interesting.