Idolator

I'll never go to another festival. Too many choads, too expensive, etc. As far as I'm concerned, the best thing about, say, Coachella is that it clears the douchebags out of L.A. for one sweet, sweet weekend.

I had a very similar experience at the Austin City Limits Festival a few years ago.

It was too hot, too dusty, too crowded, and too expensive. I left before Tortoise took the stage.

Festivals are for suckers. I used to be one of those suckers, and then I wised up and am proud to say I haven't been to one since at least the mid-late 90's. Probably the tibetan freedom thingy they had in DC that one year. Horrible....

Depends a lot on the setup and the crowd. Also what drugs you're on.

Um, I actually had a lovely time at Lollapalooza this year, and that was without sticking to the VIP area ...

Speaking on Lollapalooza specifically, the porta-potties were plentiful and clean. Of course, I was only thre the first day, but there were so many porta-potties spread throughout the festival, that I didn't have to wait in line at all. Sometimes I needed to move quite a ways toward the center of a bank of terlets to find an open one, but there was always an open one somewhere.

I think that they did have the trailer bathrooms for VIPs, though...

I didn't have a problem with the bathrooms at Lolla. Granted it's different for girls since there was rarely any paper and the seats were always soaked, but I never had to wait more than a minute or two, even between bands.

The guy's list of grievances seem a little exaggerated. Not to diminish his experiences, but I heard Amy Winehouse loud and clear from a fair distance (though Regina Spektor and a couple of other Adidas stage performers were overpowered by the PS stage's sound) and I never had to wait at the merch tent on my numerous visits.

Rock The Bells looked Woodstock-nasty:
[nahright.com]

My main problem with festivals is that a good number of attendees don't care about the music. Its a snobby thing to say but many just want to get drunk in a field.

The real problem is that many bands are seeing it as a way of not touring as much.

Scott Tobias, President and Chief Executive Officer of Village Voice Media, who slums at -- er, contributes to AV/Club, probably to "keep it real"?

Charming.

All of these festivals can't survive, can they? They've absolutely destroyed summer booking for clubs across America as bands want "festival" prices (i.e. way higher).

@TroubleonWheels: I think it's two different guys. COOs aren't generally known to be literary types, especially for the competition. But hey, 2007 is a crazy year!

The Live Earth comment threw me for a sec - the press bubble? You gotta step back and realize how skewed one's perception can get when you're getting press or VIP access on a regular basis. (Ignoring that trailer potties would be completely infeasible for a Lolla-sized crowd.)

At least you're not posting from Øya. Go to Coachella with the rest of the rubes and get the real festival experience. No VIP allowed!

    Outdoor concerts have ONE thing going for them, as far as I am concerned. With proper wattage on the P.A., you'll never get a better live sound. It's open air between you and the speakers. The engineer can add ambiance and e.q. at the board, and it will usually sound GREAT. Concerts in a hockey arena typically sound AWFUL. It's all boomy, and indistinct.

    On the other hand, outdoors, you're at the mercy of the weather. It can rain, turning the event into a mud bowl, shortened sets, or even total cancellation. It can (and usually is, in Alabama) be ridiculously hot. The potty issue is big, too. Males, of course, can use the "whip it and whiz" philosophy. Your date will hate you, though, if she has to piss in a sink, or on the ground. Not worth it...

    I'm an old, persnickety concert-goer, these days. If your P.A. sounds like crap, I'm going to be REALLY pissed. This is an easy item to keep maintained. Club owners spend a LOT more on their liquor and rent. There is no excuse for cabs not working, pops and buzz, etc.

    I want air-conditioning. I want cold alcohol available. I want a bathroom that is not nasty. And I'd like to sit up front in a chair that does not induce butt-fatigue. Oh, and artists? I paid my cover, and bought my drinks. I am not at the event to perform. Your efforts to shame me into little gimmicky audience-participation antics are going to result in me never buying your CD. Be warned.

@G3K: Dude, I would have sat in the stadium with everyone else had I been given a ticket. Believe me. (And the facilities would have been a lot nicer -- it was, after all, at a stadium.)

(Also, I guess you missed my wrapup of the day.)

@Maura: I did miss that post, but I think you missed my broader point - that experiencing the festival on the ground with everyone else is wholly different than seeing it from the VIP area, backstage, the photo pit, etc.

My comment had nothing to do with the Live Earth thing itself, although "press bubble" is a pretty good metaphor. Just pointing out that the AV Club writer's complaints (and, to a lesser extent, yours) are about the normal hassles of the music-festival experience for those without press passes.

@G3K: I haven't been in a VIP section for most festivals. Live Earth had the press bubble, yeah, but the facilities were actually better for the people who paid to get in. And Pitchfork's VIP section was also Porta-Potty-equipped, and rest assured, by about 8 p.m. each night I was fully grossed out.

(Also, I went to the first Coachella. It was hot. Morrissey was good though.)

But I have two other points.

Point one -- Are you a dude? Because I think that the bathroom experience alone would be *very* different for guys. I know that ladies are in the minority music-fan-wise to begin with, but seriously, the whole tampon-changing experience = nightmare in a porta-potty, and worse if you don't have a sink to clean up with afterward.

Point two -- I don't think it's elitist to say that people who paid a lot of money for a festival should be able to use decent bathrooms! The Rock The Bells ticket I bought was, after fees and such, $100 general admission, and the fact that the bathrooms were pretty much completely unusable by the time the second-to-last band got onstage was gross/appalling to me on a lot of levels. I was fine with paying $7 for a beer, and the puke/shit-stained toilets were how I was "rewarded." Wouldn't you think that the people who were running the festival would want to make a pleasant experience for people who shelled out to drink?

@ CHARLIE KERFELDS JETSONS TEE
When I attended Austin City Limits, the bathrooms were fine. It was hot & dusty because THE HURRICANES were drawing moisture out of the air. I suppose the evacuating people were a hassle to some as well.

BTW, you missed the best show of the weekend in leaving before Tortoise.

Can't wait for this year!

I admit, I like the city festivals moreso than the camping ones. Daily showers are a good thing.

You're too old =)

I love festivals. Yes, the toilets are rotten, but don't drink alcohol and you won't need to go to the toilet often.

And complaining about temperatures is priceless... I've been to outdoor parties in Australia where it's got to 44 celsius ... now that's a party!!

Lolla ain't too bad, but I was at a festival out west some years ago and the "contents" of the can formed a little mountain which was actually over the plane of the rim by a couple inches. How the hell does that happen? Ain't no room to squat in those things...

Go to DEMF Memorial Day in Detroit. I know, you have to like Techno and House Music, but the Hart Plaza site is kept scrupulously clean, there are a couple of on-site restrooms that never get too disgusting, and even the famous stone-henge-esque arc of porta-potties never get entirely disgusting. Plus, you can see Canada, looking south!

@Maura: Yeah, I guess not having to sit down most of the time skews my perception as much or more. Duly noted.