Lollapalooza releases its full lineup today, and for some diehard fans and annual attendees, that makes today something of a holiday. To take advantage of this anticipation, summer music festivals across the board have been creative in their unveiling methods. First it was Bonnaroo, and now Lollapalooza represents the extreme. Apparently, the new thing for festivals to do if they want to be cool and exclusive is reveal their lineups in some creative way—or in the case of Pitchfork, lengthen the process and aggravate future attendees.
Festival announcement time is an exciting time of the year. Summer plans to drink excessively begin to develop, and you plan on seeing all the bands you've been freaking out about over the last year. However, This year started off with disappointment as several festivals are taking this summer off, undoubtedly because of tightened monetary belts. So shows at Tempe, Rothbury and Pemberton festivals, as well as the regionally favored 10,000 Lakes Festival, were some of the first let-downs. Now, the big festivals where the shows must go on have been trying to come through in big ways.
Coachella was one of the first out of the gate, and while it could have gone unnoticed without a creative unveiling, the underwhelming lineup held intrigue, in its Sunday headliners, which included ""Thom Yorke ????"" Since then we have discovered it to be a supergroup by the name of Atoms For Peace, who will play the same day as Pavement and the Gorillaz—maybe the stereotypically coolest day of headliners out there. But it was only after that when things got real.
Bonnaroo unveiled its lineup over the course of a day, revealing one group every five minutes on its MySpace page. It was a cool idea because it all went down in one day and the cuckoo clock animation was sweet. But again, with standard acts filling in an expected list of new indie hits, fans were left with a notably varied, but ultimately underwhelming lineup. Pitchfork Music Festival joined the mix by revealing only a handful of bands, mostly headliners like LCD Soundsystem, Raekwon and Pavement, before tickets went on sale. Not too surprisingly, they sold out of weekend passes in three days and have only revealed a handful more names to continue the tease (Freddie Gibbs!) since then. But so far the names have not disappointed (Freddie Gibbs!).
Lastly, and most annoyingly, Lollapalooza revealed its lineup one letter at a time over the last week, so fans can fill their Wheel of Fortune-like lineup card. This has music publications reporting everybody's speculations on what could fit in the blanks, such as what ""_ o _ _ _ i _"" can mean (gotta be Hot Chip, right?). Fortunately, full lineup is unveiled today, putting an end to this method before it gets too annoying. Unfortunately, the headliners were released a few weeks ago and they are the most disappointing acts of the year thus far.
Surprisingly, the biggest winner has been flying well below the radar way out on the west coast: The Sasquatch! Music Festival will be by far the most rewarding experience for those willing to make the 1800-mile road trip to Washington state. With names like My Morning Jacket, Broken Social Scene and Wale to keep casual indie fans happy—along with a plethora of the most happening bands around—a huge disappointment is unlikely; and the festival avoided huge mainstream bands—so, in a word, consistency is what they brought for fans of indie music.
Ultimately, however, bands are hitting the road to play as many festivals and shows as possible in an attempt to make some money in this fickle music industry. So to throw a rare public service announcement at readers: Go to any music festival and see as many shows as possible to support the entertainment and artform you love. God knows I will.
Do you think the Lollapalooza headliners are great? Explain why to Justin at jstephani@wisc.edu.
