tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12340983.post3018155197103075196..comments2024-01-17T21:12:13.934+00:00Comments on Sweeping The Nation: A summer of rageUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12340983.post-67475924599866618082009-04-10T11:19:00.000+01:002009-04-10T11:19:00.000+01:00I didn't really cover the small festivals beca...I didn't really cover the small festivals because I don't know enough about them, but Truck is a case in point - three years ago when I first went it was £40 for a bill headlined by the Futureheads just after News And Tributes, so at the height of what they could pull in, and also featuring Regina Spektor, Battles, Chicks On Speed, Hundred Reasons, Seth Lakeman and The Organ. Over that same period some quick eFestivals research reveals Green Man has gone up £17, and the quality of this year's bill in comparisons more than bears that out. Secret Garden Party has gone up £47 in three years! That's more than Reading/Leeds or Glastonbury!<BR/><BR/>And yet R&L weekend tickets sold out in two days. If you bill it they will come.Simonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05834265575179460764noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12340983.post-31428963059096548252009-04-10T10:26:00.000+01:002009-04-10T10:26:00.000+01:00What about the uncomfortable truth that festivals ...What about the uncomfortable truth that festivals just aren't very good places to watch/listen to bands? <BR/><BR/>The correlation between increased price and number of people in the crowd always bothers me...if I was paying almost £200 for a ticket (so, what, best part of £400 by the time transport/food/pisspoor lager have been factored in) at Leeds then I'd want to be able to walk straight to the front of the crowd, not stuck at the back playing 'spot the band' and indulging in some very expensive kareoke. <BR/><BR/>Oh, and Mr. Benn, any chance the your customers could avoid a profit-protecting frisking for drink every time they want to walk into the fenced-off arena?<BR/><BR/>The real rip-off is the day tickets. Seven years ago a few of us barely teenage boys begged/borrowed the seemingly enormous sum of £35 for a Leeds day ticket to see our first live music. Totally ace, man...there was Sleepy Jackson AND Stellastarr* like within the first hour... Now they're £70 bloody quid. For twelve hours? You what? Another £10 if you want to sit in the field a day early and spend money at their burger stands?<BR/><BR/>Still, even Truck has more than doubled to £70 in four years. Not that I begrudge them a penny.*<BR/><BR/>*Quickly checked their website and found they've started announcing headliners: Ash and Supergrass, surely the exemplary "why are they here, have they released anything in years?" mid-afternoon Main Stage bookings of early 2000s festivals.<BR/><BR/>Oh and since I've ranted on a bit, how about a further tangent: about time that Johnny Boy re-released their only single of note? Or at least appointed them as head of the government's fiscal policy.Jim Whttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07687424858169635863noreply@blogger.com