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With all the recent competition from festivals all over the US, is Bonnaroo still part of thr big three with Coachella and Lollapalooza. Personally, I find the vibe and people at the Bonnaroo to be the best among these fests, however, in recent years Coachella, Lolla, and even Ultra/Hangout/ACL have all made huge strides.
If were looking at facilities, grounds, production value, and overall amenities Coachella is hands down the winner, and I would even go as far as saying they get more of the exclusive rare acts Roo misses out on. Also, their EDM is top notch for the most part.
Lolla has created a great fest with probably the biggest and most mainstream friendly lineup. Also, their location is beautiful and convenient to a major metro area. Their staging and EDM production value is again top notch.
Now, Bonnaroo, is by far my favorite due to its friendly town square type community vibe. We get probably the most diverse lineup and also have the longest sets. Roo is open 24 hours and really delivers the true Euro fest experience. The issue in recent years has been the lack of EDM, safety in the campground, and weather. Weather cannot be controlled so whatever but it seems like theres been an increase in crime in the campgrounds. Also, 2012 was the worst attended Roo in awhile, while fests like Coachella and Ultra are expanding to meet the demand.
By looking at numbers alone it looks like Roo will no longer be part of the big 3, for good or for bad. With Ultra and Coachella expanding to 2 weekends and Lolla and EDC having a higher capacity are we going to see Roo become less important on the festival circuit?
Who said attendance wasn't good last year? It felt like a packed house to me.
You really have to understand that fests like Ultra and Coachella tally their numbers each day. So someone could be there all weekend, but according to their attendance three people attended.
Who said attendance wasn't good last year? It felt like a packed house to me.
You really have to understand that fests like Ultra and Coachella tally their numbers each day. So someone could be there all weekend, but according to their attendance three people attended.
Who said attendance wasn't good last year? It felt like a packed house to me.
You really have to understand that fests like Ultra and Coachella tally their numbers each day. So someone could be there all weekend, but according to their attendance three people attended.
11/2/19: Tool 5/17/19: Blues Traveler 5/9/19: Tool 11/10/18: Tenacious D 9/20/18: White Denim 7/23/18: Radiohead 6/4/18: Jack White 5/20/18: Tool 5/18/18: A Perfect Circle 5/18/18: Alice in Chains 5/6/18: Blind Melon
11/2/19: Tool 5/17/19: Blues Traveler 5/9/19: Tool 11/10/18: Tenacious D 9/20/18: White Denim 7/23/18: Radiohead 6/4/18: Jack White 5/20/18: Tool 5/18/18: A Perfect Circle 5/18/18: Alice in Chains 5/6/18: Blind Melon
I agree some of the farm seemed not packed - but IMO it was because of the expansion and the insistence on fire lanes.. The back seemed more packed then the center. I don't think it was an absolute sell out - but Centeroo still felt crowded as ever during most of the day.
But I wonder what the official numbers were, and if VIP increased or not?
Last Edit: Nov 2, 2012 16:05:57 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
Anything more substantial then that? From all I've read attendance was pretty regular.
Uh oh, more snark.
no, itrain's question was just that, a question...and no, I don't have anything more substantial than that...I am not the originator of the idea that attendance was down in this thread, I was simply describing my personal experience to support the theory. Your comment, however, aruabear was suggesting that I didn't know that the place that I was exiting the festival was, in fact, an exit. Hence my comment about snark. No biggie.
11/2/19: Tool 5/17/19: Blues Traveler 5/9/19: Tool 11/10/18: Tenacious D 9/20/18: White Denim 7/23/18: Radiohead 6/4/18: Jack White 5/20/18: Tool 5/18/18: A Perfect Circle 5/18/18: Alice in Chains 5/6/18: Blind Melon
no, itrain's question was just that, a question...and no, I don't have anything more substantial than that...I am not the originator of the idea that attendance was down in this thread, I was simply describing my personal experience to support the theory. Your comment, however, aruabear was suggesting that I didn't know that the place that I was exiting the festival was, in fact, an exit. Hence my comment about snark. No biggie.
I was just poking fun, bud. And no, I wasn't suggesting that or being sarcastic. I was genuinely asking you a question. Sorry for the confusion.
In my opinion, the thing that keeps people away from Bonnaroo is the elements. Lolla is a piece of cake, compared to the endurance it takes to withstand Bonnaroo. I've never been to Coach, but imagine its the same. If you are a casual live music fan, and want a festival experience, you are way more likely to purchase tickets to a festival designed like Lolla and Coach. It takes dedication to do Bonnaroo. It also takes a lot of planning ahead and preparation. I would imagine that a lot of first timers, who aren't properly prepared for Bonnaroo, go and have a horrible time because no one clued them in on the intricacies of this festival.
On the flip side, that is exactly why Bonnaroo has a lot more die hard fans. It is hands down the most unique festival in America. I for one, am proud to be a Bonnaroo vet.
Last Edit: Nov 2, 2012 20:11:23 GMT -5 by Deleted - Back to Top
FWIW, Bonnaroo was announced as sold out on the Thursday of the festival this year. Obviously, there has long been skepticism about the organizers' definition of "sold out" but I'm not sure what else you can go by since it is rare that you find official numbers for a given year.
Coachella and Lolla are both much more convenient locations than Manchester. They are both a bit less of a commitment, too, with their more fixed schedule. I don't think that either one runs a Thursday line up, do they? It seems pretty apparent why they would sell out easier than Roo.
In my opinion, the thing that keeps people away from Bonnaroo is the elements.
..
On the flip side, that is exactly why Bonnaroo has a lot more die hard fans. It is hands down the most unique festival in America. I for one, am proud to be a Bonnaroo vet.
This is why I always laugh when people say they won't go back to Bonnaroo. It's never that they didn't have a good time..
It's usually "I don't think I could pay to get wiped out like that again" or "that's too crazy for me, too many people"... I try my best to not think they are just a little wimp-ish
With all these other festivals growing, why is Bonnaroo unchanging?
I mean, Coachella sells out in hours, 2 weekends. (Edit: at a much higher price) Roo couldn't sell out in 4 months this year.
So?
Demographic, Location, Lineup.
I think the biggest thing is location. The LA and Riverside metro areas have 17 million people. Without traffic those people are less than 2 hours away from coach. Then there is San Diego with 3, Phoenix, with 4, and the bay with another 6 mil that are all 5 hours or less away.
Lolla is in Chicago which has almost 10mil, plus is with in driving distance of many other major mid-west cities.
ACL has Austin with 2 mil and San Antonio, Dallas, and Houston all near by.
Bonnaroo has Nashville with 1.6,then there are no major cities closer than Atlanta with 5 mil.
I know for many of us distance is not a factor but for the normal person (aka not us) they aren't going to drive 6+ hours or fly to a fest. Roo just does not have the same kind of population base the other three have. When you look at the numbers its actually pretty amazing how big the gap is and considering I think Roo does pretty well.
PS all my population numbers came from wikis list of US metro areas
Post by Delicious Meatball Sub on Nov 3, 2012 11:56:29 GMT -5
Ok, first, the idea that Bonnaroo is losing it's place as a tier 1 festival behind Ultra or EDC is kinda silly. Those are fine events, but they are specialty festivals directed at a discrete audience. The key EDM festivals well have continued success, much like you can't kill the Warped Tour even though no one listens to pop-punk anymore, but no matter what Phi tells you we're not heading to a future where we all wear spacesuits and listen to future music while we scoff at the obsolescence of guitars.
You have to consider Bonnaroo's influence not just from the fan perspective, but from the artist's as well. Big artists use festival dates as "anchors" on their summer tour. They tend to have bigger pay days than a Tuesday night at your local municipal arena, so they'll get booked on a few festivals and then route the rest of their summer tour around it. Bonnaroo has a lot going for it in that regard. It doesn't have much competition geographically or date-wise. From TN you can route your tour N,S,E, or W. And with Bonnaroo, a major artist can probably make a lot more than they would just doing a summer date in Nashville. So Bonnaroo is going to continue to have access to tier 1 names.
Bonnaroo is also super conservative with it's booking, sometimes frustratingly so. It's not chasing hot artists or going real deep into any one genre. I definitely get the impression that their business model is "slow and steady wins the race" and so far that seems to be working.
