Festive Cheer?

Ten or so years ago festivals were big business largely because your choice was fairly limited with Glasto, Reading/Leeds, T in the Park and V festival being your own options. Things have changed over the past five years, however, and the number of festivals has increased steadily year on year. Glastonbury used to mark the beginning of the festival season but now that task falls to the Isle of Wight festival, and one could pick any weekend between June and September to comfortably find some kind of musical extravaganza worth throwing yourself around a muddy field for. Gone are the halcyon days when the major festival circuit consisted of the big four and no more.

A few days ago Mr Glastonbury himself, Michael Eavis, predicted that it’ll be about three or four years before Glastonbury and festivals in general start disappearing. Perhaps he’s been too optimistic about his timescale because I can name at least two Scottish festivals that didn’t take place this year. Call it what you like; economic viability, ticket price increases, that fact we’ve seen it all before – it doesn’t matter, the fact still remains that many festivals are doomed.

I’ve read a couple of blogs (which will remain unnamed) that kind of suggest that perhaps the internet has played a part in the decline of festival attendance this year. After all, the decline in record sales has had an effect on record labels, resulting in changes to the way the music “business” is run, inevitably having some kind of knock on effect when it comes to gigs. On the other hand, bands can still get a pretty nice pay day from playing festivals… if you’re one of those that are lucky enough to be signed to a reasonably sized record label. Consider this: if the decline in record sales means that bands make more cash from gigs and merchandise, is the explosion in popularity of internet based music services, and more bands distributing their own records online, really to blame for the festival downturn? Fans still want to see music, and are still willing to pay a premium to do so if T in the Park and Glastonbury selling out on the day tickets go on sale is anything to go by. It seems the problem is deeper than that.

No, it’s more to do with how generic festivals have become. Back in the good ol’ days festivals allowed you to see bands that might not necessarily come anywhere near your town, or even bands that weren’t currently touring – there was a certain amount of musical exclusivity at festivals, but things have changed. Take Pulp for example: initially their Isle of Wight festival slot was supposed to be the icing on the reunion shaped cake, however now that they have played, or will be playing, most of the big festivals this summer, the idea that this was going to be a Blur style reunion was washed away in a wave of festival announcements.

Chances are that if you’re reading this, you’ve come to Daily Dischord because we cover music that you don’t see covered in many other places. So perhaps you’re like me in spotting another problem with festivals of late – the addition of pop nonsense. Don’t get me wrong, catering to a wide range of tastes is great but some of the bigger names included on a few of year’s festivals leave a lot to be desired. Glastonbury, in its never ending attempt to cater for every taste (which it doesn’t, by the way, as I’ve yet to see more than a handful of punk/hardcore/metal/hip hop acts play it on a yearly basis) booked Beyonce, nestling alongside other poptastic artists that have graced the festival over the past few years. Not that these acts are selling points you understand – Glastonbury is one of the very few festivals that can sell out before even announcing a single act – but it at least tries to cater for everyone. The same can be said for T in the Park, in fact this year’s coverage of the festival demonstrates just how much younger the crowd was this year when compared previous years, perhaps because of the inclusion of some of this 2011’s finest pop merchants.

Frankly, the less said about V festival the better. The second stage on the Sunday is an absolute abomination.

Is it a generational thing? Once upon a time festivals were for the hardcore music fan but now, to most teenagers, they’ve become the “cool” thing to do with your summer. Hell, the BBC even devoted some airtime to the beauty parlour that was operating at T in the Park this year, proclaiming that people still want to “look good” in amongst the lack of showers, sweat, beer stains and mud. Now, before you accuse me of looking too much into this, when they were doing their vox pops of this year’s revellers one girl said without, the slightest hint of sarcasm or irony on her face, that festivals are about more than the music; that they were about fashion, and looking good.

On national TV.

Rumours abound that 40% of the tickets for Reading and Leeds festival remain unsold, and at nearly £200 a pop I’m hardly surprised, especially when combined with a lineup that consists of main stage acts that have played at other festivals this summer. And Muse (surely by now Muse fans have grown tired of the huge stage shows and samey setlists? Apparently so). For years Reading and Leeds offered the biggest, best and most diverse selection of artists that went above and beyond that of some of the other major festivals but it seems that it just cannot compete this year. Another thing to think about; apparently T in the Park’s Irish counter park, Oxygen, was only half full this year too.

Scary stuff indeed.

Maybe people just don’t want to spend £200 to get themselves into a booze induced stupor, slumming it around a field for a weekend with a group of inebriated miscreants who take great delight in drinking their consciousness into oblivion? It’s possible; there are surely are better ways to drop a couple hundred quid. I think the truth is that the same acts are not only popping up on a yearly or bi-yearly basis, but that there’s not a great deal of variety amongst the festivals. The internet has ensured that there are more artists kicking around out there than ever before, are the acts that generate the most amount of buzz worth the mud baths and extortionate gate fees? Probably not.

So Eavis is right – the market is too crowded. If the guy nearly bankrupted his festival booking Jay-Z is this a sign that the festival is becoming unsustainable? I’m in two minds about it – on the one hand, it’s completely necessary for some of the country’s biggest festivals to book some of the world’s greatest, most show stopping acts, if only to bring the “exclusivity” factor back to the festival game, but on the other hand, when these artists are also touring around the same as the festival, is it really wise to offer them obscene sums of money to play your festival? There’s no exclusivity there. Perhaps it would be better to bring acts who are not touring around the time of the festival in order to ensure that it’s money well spent for the festival and the fans. The complete lack of exclusivity is probably good for the casual music fan, but the hardcore gig goers that used to attend the festivals in the past no longer care enough to make a weekend of it if they’re pretty much guaranteed to see their favourite acts headlining their own tours.

I dare say the festival will continue, however I can’t help but feel that the choice we currently have will be dwindling sharply in the future.