cause quite frankly, i hate it. how can you seriously enjoy a show if you have to endure standing out in the heat/rain/cold/mud/whatever in a veritable sea of other human beings for a whole day just to get a tolerable view for when your favourite act comes on? or when you to a club show thats completely packed out and there's more smoke in the atmosphere than there is oxygen? and don't tell me "that's the beauty of it", i mean, really.

shows have gotta be fairly intimate or at least have an endurable crowdsize to be truly enjoyable. the way live music is marketed these days is a joke, i can't believe how quick everyone is to lap it all up and buy festival tickets for everything soon as they come on sale. i don't think even sp and bjork on the same bill could get me to come watch them at a festival.

couldn't afford a ticket for Leads and Reading then eh?

if someone offered me a festival ticket for free, i'd prolly turn it down

edit: or at least sell it to some other sucker.

stop saying "veritable" ffs

what festivals have you been to??

the last time i went to a summer festival i started fighting people in the crowd..

it was a couple summers ago..interpol and qotsa were the headliners, i was there for queens who were on last..spent my time getting as close to front as i could..i got crushed, pushed, kicked, stepped on, groped, sweat on, suffocated by smoke.. basically everyone around me was male, twice my size, and drunk. it was unbelievably hot and disgusting.

but, if it brings tha rawk, i will put up with it. in the case of that show it was worth it.

i figure i'll appreciate the experience someday when i'm old and frail enough to break a bone with a sneeze.

cause quite frankly, i hate it. how can you seriously enjoy a show if you have to endure standing out in the heat/rain/cold/mud/whatever in a veritable sea of other human beings for a whole day just to get a tolerable view for when your favourite act comes on? or when you to a club show thats completely packed out and there's more smoke in the atmosphere than there is oxygen? and don't tell me "that's the beauty of it", i mean, really.

shows have gotta be fairly intimate or at least have an endurable crowdsize to be truly enjoyable. the way live music is marketed these days is a joke, i can't believe how quick everyone is to lap it all up and buy festival tickets for everything soon as they come on sale. i don't think even sp and bjork on the same bill could get me to come watch them at a festival.


You get to see 5-15 of your favorite bands at the same time. Instead of taking 15 different trips.

Or maybe there are many bands that you just want to see once, but don't really need to see them in a solo performance

As much as I hate the cliche, there are certain points when the crowd sings along in unison to a song at a festival that you feel a bond or community feeling with the people around you. It can be a really transcendental experience...

i went to v-fest 2003 + reading two years ago. i enjoyed the music for the most part, but its just such an uncomfortable, ridiculous sort of experience. any of the big festivals would be a better experience of only half as many people could go see them, but that's not very feasible because the gig promoters would lose profit and the bands wouldn't make ridiculous money either, or get to experience the belated grandeur of playing to an ocean of very uncomfortable people who think they're having an awesome time.

To be fair Izzle, it is slightly pompous of you to suggest that people who attend festivals are sheep who think they are enjoying the festival experience..which of course is heavily marketed. Perhaps i misread you?

I have had plenty of bad festival experiences, and yes sometimes it can be stressfull and poorly organised, however I have also had some great times as well- TITP a few years ago was good because you could easily get around stages and see many many bands in one day, although It has moved towards the more soulless gargantuism of Leeds, Reading et al...

The concerns you voice are the ones which worry me most about these english festivals..

As much as I hate the cliche, there are certain points when the crowd sings along in unison to a song at a festival that you feel a bond or community feeling with the people around you. It can be a really transcendental experience...

i feel like its the "transcendental experience" of connecting with the music so heavily that you forget about the other schmucks in the crowd that makes it worthwhile.

Also a good interpretation.. It can depend on the band

i'll admit it is sorta satisfying singing along with the crowd on some NIN songs.
everyone is reasonably hostile, but in a warm, communal sorta way.

To be fair Izzle, it is slightly pompous of you to suggest that people who attend festivals are sheep who think they are enjoying the festival experience..which of course is heavily marketed. Perhaps i misread you?

I have had plenty of bad festival experiences, and yes sometimes it can be stressfull and poorly organised, however I have also had some great times as well- TITP a few years ago was good because you could easily get around stages and see many many bands in one day, although It has moved towards the more soulless gargantuism of Leeds, Reading et al...

The concerns you voice are the ones which worry me most about these english festivals..

soulless gargantuism, i like that. and yeah i know i'm being a pompous oaf with dismissive generalisations like that, of course not everyone's a sheep but i really believe that a majority of people who do to go to these huge commercial festivals just go for the sake of it. i think there are more people out there who go because they're just looking for "something to do" than because they really care about music and seeing all those bands at once. it used to be a very meaningful thing back when festivals like glasto and woodstock started out, because back then not as many people went as you would find there today and because there was genuinely alot more to be celebrating in popular music- the ratio of good to bad bands these days is very different to how it was then.

i mean, i'm really not just talking about festivals here, but individual concerts too. take radiohead in edinburgh last august; you and i were both there. radiohead are a great band, beck is a genius, and deerhoof are one of the best indie bands i've heard in years (imo, they blew beck and radiohead away). it was a rare and fantastic lineup. but why were all those people clamouring their way to the front so desperately? does it mean the world to be a few inches closer to RADIOHEAD, The Biggest Band In The Universe? there were plenty of seats free in the stands and alot of standing room further away from the stage, but everyone was absolutely crushed in that crowd, even though they could have gone further back and heard the music and seen the band just as easily. if that isn't sheepdom, then i don't know what is. its that way at so many gigs these days. sheep fight to get to front of stage just for the sake of it, as if it means something -> promoters see it and think wow, everyone's loving it, lets increase ticket availability and put prices up -> bands get more glory, even if they suck -> shows get bigger and stupider

i'll admit it is sorta satisfying singing along with the crowd on some NIN songs.
everyone is reasonably hostile, but in a warm, communal sorta way.

Biting wit. I love you.

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i don't care what people say, jerry supiran = bolly

/\ fo reelz.

ain't it the truth. actually i just want to come to america to see you. and maybe bolly. fuck those other guys.

/\ fo reelz.



np: robot lover

"im your cousin not yuor robot lover"

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i like how this is a small wonder thread now

interesting pics you get when googling jerry supiran:


http://www.jugo.it/fotoarticoli/musica/billy_corgan.jpg



http://www.netphoria.org/smlwht1.jpg


and with the tag "you go to hell and you die now":
http://myspace-580.vo.llnwd.net/01080/08/54/1080314580_m.jpg

http://i100.photobucket.com/albums/m7/irishkorean/mr-belvedere.jpg

man, i miss the beano. well...not really.

it's fun and interesting. a lot of strange people and potentially a handful of your favorite bands all playing in one place

yeah we're all stupid consumers 'lapping it up', just like how we buy ipods.

festivals can work, or they can suck. Just like any other gig.

http://img47.imageshack.us/img47/3071/b0llyge3.jpg http://img407.imageshack.us/img407/7719/basketball2wl6.jpg

i don't like festivals and big-ticket concerts either. if anything good is close (which rarely happens) i'll go though because of my inconsequent nature

just like how we buy ipods.

shut up

i hear its about camping out with friends, getting away from it all, and the happy communal experience. i believe it was woodstock 99 that set the precedent for this.

cause quite frankly, i hate it. how can you seriously enjoy a show if you have to endure standing out in the heat/rain/cold/mud/whatever in a veritable sea of other human beings for a whole day just to get a tolerable view for when your favourite act comes on? or when you to a club show thats completely packed out and there's more smoke in the atmosphere than there is oxygen? and don't tell me "that's the beauty of it", i mean, really.

shows have gotta be fairly intimate or at least have an endurable crowdsize to be truly enjoyable. the way live music is marketed these days is a joke, i can't believe how quick everyone is to lap it all up and buy festival tickets for everything soon as they come on sale. i don't think even sp and bjork on the same bill could get me to come watch them at a festival.

you need to grow a pair and live a little. the outside world is not a sterile G-rated environment. its not cleanly served up to you on-demand comfortably in climate-controlled weather like when you're at home on your laptop.

some of the funnest shows i have been at have been in rain or mud, mashed against tons of sweaty people, and just cutting loose and having fun. rock and roll lifestyle and all that jazz. that's the beauty of it.

i guess its not for the squeamish. cuz i would personally rather see my favorite band in a packed smokey venue than in a a church sitting by candlelights.

crowds fucking suck these days and i think its because of a similar mentality as the one you're talking about. so here's an idea -- STAY HOME.

i am going to Bonaroo, Lolla and Reading this summer and expect to be fucked up, dirty, stinky and happy the whole time. I'll wave to you from a web cam.

you need to grow a pair and live a little.
yeah grow soem ballz.. like amurica did when we invented the deep fried twinkie

at least izzle is consistently retarded

As much as I hate the cliche, there are certain points when the crowd sings along in unison to a song at a festival that you feel a bond or community feeling with the people around you. It can be a really transcendental experience...
yep. i also love small intimate gigs, but there's something about being outside in a huge crowd of people looking at the sky that can be like nothing else. when i saw modest mouse/metric/broken social scene on the island a few years ago, at one point bss had everybody waving their hands against the sunset to wish them goodbye.. i was in the front row and i turned around and took a picture.. it's still one of the most beautiful things i have ever seen.

but why were all those people clamouring their way to the front so desperately? does it mean the world to be a few inches closer to RADIOHEAD, The Biggest Band In The Universe? there were plenty of seats free in the stands and alot of standing room further away from the stage, but everyone was absolutely crushed in that crowd, even though they could have gone further back and heard the music and seen the band just as easily. if that isn't sheepdom, then i don't know what is. its that way at so many gigs these days. sheep fight to get to front of stage just for the sake of it, as if it means something -> promoters see it and think wow, everyone's loving it, lets increase ticket availability and put prices up -> bands get more glory, even if they suck -> shows get bigger and stupider

well, different people like to experience music in different ways. some people would rather be comfortably back from the stage, not touching anybody. some people like to be as rammed up to the band, so close that the speakers vibrate their bodies, not giving a fuck if they get bruised/bashed in the head. it's just different people enjoying music in different ways. some people like to listen to music with headphones quietly bobbing their head.. some like to blast it out of the speaker jumping around playing air guitar. i often feel more connected to a bands music when i'm right up against the stage, especially if it's someone i idolize, makes it bigger than life to me. just different strokes is all.

yep. i also love small intimate gigs, but there's something about being outside in a huge crowd of people looking at the sky that can be like nothing else.

very well said. :2thumbsup same goes for the post immediately above.

i guess i lack your tact, because i got disillusioned and irritated just thinking about this debate. :embarass:

well, different people like to experience music in different ways....

just different strokes is all.

I agree completely. But I know that because of this, it's easy to feel bitterness towards the recent popularity of festivals. I'm disposed towards seeing my favorite bands play for 2-3 hours in a club where I can see them clearly and the sound reverberates through the walls. I realize that a far greater number of people prefer to have the massive orgy of bands over 3 and 4 days, and that's why I'm able to enjoy fewer and fewer concerts. I don't go to festivals at all anymore, because the sound is poor, visibility is poor, the song selection is weak (because of lowest common denominator plus limited time) and I almost never like more than one or two bands.

I think it's just important to remember that the way you feel about shows doesn't make you superior, and it's self-congratulatory to insult people who prefer a different kind of setting than yourself.