Little rant here. Semi-roo related.

Okay, here's my beef.

Why can't the United States just have a big, all-encompassing music fest rather than have all of our festivals cater to a certain crowd. You guys know what I'm talking about.


It seems like no American festival is daring enough to stretch beyond their scheme. Sure, Bonnaroo is becoming more diverse, but if you look, there are still all of these bands and artists who "Don't belong at the 'Roo". I don't like that. Good music is good music. I don't see anything at all wrong with festivals that DO center around one genre or 'type' of music fan, but in the US, we don't have any JUST music festivals.

We have Bonnaroo, of course, which, in my opinion, is the best and most diverse of the major US Festivals. But it's still limited, and certainly still tilted toward the jam band/"hippie" music fans.

We have Coachella, which is probably right behind Bonnaroo, but has definite diversity problems. Sure, there might be a few exceptions, but generally Coachella hinders to the indie/alternative/nu-hipster crowd.

We also have Lollapalooza, which I believe is far behind the other two in terms of size, quality and diversity. While there are, on any given festival a certain amount of high and ultra high quality artists, I believe Lolla, moreso bases their artists on ticket sales than artist quality (not that the others don't, mind you...I simply believe Lolla takes it more into account). Also, Lollapalooza is obviously aimed at the nu-indie/nu-hipser scene. I had much more respect for this festival in the 90s.

Then we have a series of other festivals around the US that focus to some degree on both the jam scene and the nu-hipster scene. Langerado, Sasquatch, ACL, etc.

Then we have festivals like the New England Metal and Hardcore Festival, which is a wide variety of heavy metal and hardcore genres.

Then you have touring festivals like Ozzfest and Warped Tour, which focus on hard rock and heavy metal genres, and pop-punk and punk genres, respectively.

Finally you have many small music festivals that cater to very specific genres, beit heavy metal or jam bands or indie or jazz or country.

Bottom line is, I would like to see a festival in the US built in the vein of Bonnaroo or Coachella, that has NO artist limitations. I would simply like to see one, big full MUSIC festival.


Sorry if I started rambing in there. It's after 5. I should sleep. I just don't like hearing that a certain artist should not be at a festival because they don't fit in with the rest of the bands. Variety and Diversity is a GOOD thing. The only thing that matters is if the tunes are good, and since thats very much an objective thing, that should lean that much more toward artist diversity.