Rockitt Rant – A Breakdown of the 2010 Music Festivals
It seems to me that this year, as well as in years past, Europe has been kicking the United States ass when it comes to major music festivals. I decided to breakdown some of major festivals this year and see which ones provided the most bang for your buck.
The Download Festival is quite possibly the biggest music festival anywhere. The promoters for this festival understand that if you want to draw a lot of people, you have to have a major headliner. This year, the Download festival has more than one with AC/DC, Aerosmith, Megadeth on the same bill. Add Motorhead, Rage Against The Machine, and Stone Temple Pilots to the bill, and you have the makings of one incredible rock show. The lineup for this festival is already stout, and they will be adding more bands soon. Will Aerosmith implode before then? Who knows? I imagine the paycheck must be pretty fat for big rock shows. Maybe money has healed all wounds with them. I know that if I lived in Europe, there is no question where I would be that weekend. This festival drew 120,000 in 2009, and will probably exceed that in 2010.
The six festivals I chose are Download, The Stockholm Rockout, The Sweden Rock Festival, Rock on the Range, Rocklahoma, and M3. There are many more that I didn’t consider in this including Sonisphere and Hard Rock Hell. Any way you look at it, Europe has the U.S. beat on major rocks festivals.
Why is the United States getting the major shaft on major festivals? What can be done to turn this around? What are your thoughts about this? This rock fan is fed up!
HRH Grade: A
Download Festival June 11 – 13
Donnington Park, Derby, United Kingdom
(196.35 – 244 prices include camping)
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Megadeth
Rage Against The Machine
Billy Idol
Them Crooked Vultures
Deftones
Stone Temple Pilots
Bullet For My Valentine
Thirty Seconds to Mars
Stone Sour
Wolfmother
Motorhead
Lamb of God
Volbeat
Five Finger Death Punch
Stockholm Rock Out is a newer festival that is comparable to M3 in Columbia, Maryland. This festival has a solid lineup, although there are no real headliners. There are twenty bands performing over the two days of this festival, many of which you will not see perform in the United States. Is it worth $166 dollars? Probably not.
HRH: Grade C+
Stockholm Rock Out (April 30th – May 1st)
Stockholm Sweden
2 Day ticket $166.07
Slaughter
Great White
Steelheart
KIX
Keel
Dizzy Reed of Guns n Roses
Pretty Boy Floyd
BulletBoys
XYZ
Vains of Jenna
TUFF
Tigertailz
Nasty Idols
M.ILL.ION
Shameless
CrashDiet
Chris Laney
Badmouth
Dynazty
Killer Clan of F.U.N.
The Sweden Rock Festival has been around since ’98, and seems to get bigger and better every year. This multi-day festival has a good mix of hard rock and heavy metal. It would be this metalhead’s dream to see some of the band’s on this bill play live. With 4 days at $295.00, the price is pretty steep for the average rocker. I am guessing most folks will buy a single day ticket, and catch some of their favorite bands and live with it.
HRH: Grade A-
Sweden Rock Festival (June 9th – 12th)
Sölvesborg, Sweden
4 Days $295.00
1 Day avg $165.38
Guns N’ Roses
Aerosmith
Gary Moore
Slayer
Billy Idol
W.A.S.P.
Bachman & Turner
Danzig
Cinderella
Rick Springfield
U.D.O.
Opeth
Sabaton
D-A-D
Saga
Suicidal Tendencies
Unisonic
Stratovarius
Magnum
Nazareth
Behemoth
Watain
Aldo Nova
Pendragon
RATT
Y&T
Death Angel
Alestorm
Steel Panther
Anvil
Big Elf
Blackberry Smoke
Raven
JORN
The M3 Rock Festival is a hair metal festival in Columbia, Maryland that is celebrating its second year. This is the only music festival that I attended last year, and will probably be the only one in 2010 as well. If you are really low on dough, you can cough up $35.00 for a lawn seat (an pray it doesn’t rain). The average price in the pavilion is $75.00. For 14 bands this isn’t a bad deal at all, although I admit there are a couple of bands on the bill that I could skip. Seeing the Scorpions on their farewell tour is a must! I am looking forward to this one!
HRH Grade: B+
M3 (1 Day $35 – $175.00) Saturday June 19th
Columbia, MD
Scorpions
Cinderella
Kix
Vince Neil
Winger
Trixter
Jetboy
L.A. Guns
Warrant
Dizzy Reed of G&R
Nelson
Bang Tango
ZO2
Black Mambooza
Rock on the Range has become the premiere modern rock festival in the U.S. This is the festival’s fourth year, and the festival promoters always manage collect a large amount of radio friendly bands. This year, I believe the festival lineup is a lot weaker than the 2009 bill which had Motley Crue, Slipknot, Alice in Chains, Avenged Sevenfold and Buckcherry but it is still a solid bill nonetheless. No single day tickets are available for this show, which is a complete disappointment to me. Is Godsmack or Rob Zombie a true festival headliner? I don’t think so. This festival typically draws about 60,000 over the two day event. My guess is, this year it will be less.
HRH Grade: C+
Rock on the Range (May 22nd & 23rd)
Columbus, Ohio
US $99.50 – US $119.50 (for 2 day ticket)
Godsmack
Rob Zombie
Three Days Grace
Limp Bizkit
Seether
Slash
Deftones
Papa Roach
Theory of a Deadman
Mastodon
Killswitch Engage
Bullet For My Valentine
Coheed & Cambria
Puddle of Mudd
Sevendust
Drowning Pool
Apolcolyptica
Halestorm
Airbourne
Mushroomhead
Skillet
Escape the Fate
Cold
Anberlin
Nonpoint
Violent Soho
Janus
Shaman’s Harvest
Year Long Disaster
Taddy Porter
Like A Storm
Noise Auction
Wow, I understand that the folks at Rocklahoma nearly lost their shirts last year, but this new direction is not a good one. Something had to change, as the attendance was absolutely abysmal in 2009. AEG has taken this hard rockin’ hair metal festival and turned it into Rock on the Range part 2. In years past, Rocklahoma was a destination music festival. Now it is a regional one at best. They still haven’t figured out that you need a headliner to draw folks to a show. While I like ZZ Top & Godsmack, they really are not headliners. While I love Tesla and Cinderella, having them on the bill isn’t enough for me to travel to a multi-day festival. They at least got it right by moving the date to Memorial weekend, when it isn’t 105 degrees in Oklahoma. I am betting that they have alienated the majority of the folks who attended (or played) in this festival in the past. M3 will continue to grow as a result of this. Will the attendance be better than last year? Yes. Will it exceed 25,000 for the three days? Highly doubtful.
HRH Grade: C-
Rocklahoma ( May 28th – 30th)
Pryor, Oklahoma
(95 – 749)
ZZ TOP
GODSMACK
BUCKCHERRY
TESLA
Cinderella
Chevelle
Stone Sour
Theory of a Deadman
Saliva
Saving Abel
Adelitas Way
Janus
Aranda
Burn Halo
Richy Nix
Shaman’s Harvest
Taddy Porter
Like A Storm
Taking Dawn
New Medicine
Year Long Disaster
Brookroyal
Within Reason
Wildstreet
Firstryke
Krank
The Glitter Boys
American mainstream radio, print and television turned a deaf ear on Heavy Metal and Hard Rock back around 1990. I’m not blaming other Rock genres either… the blame is on the promotion in America, it doesn’t compare to the 70′s and ’80′s. Major American television networks are scared straight of Heavy Metal period. “Pop” is king in America as well… The Grammys and The Rock and Roll Hall of Shame are proof of this.
The FM and Satellite stations, Music Choice and any other outlet in America that do carry Heavy Music should be proud of what they are providing to the fans.
The mainstream media, (overall), has dictated what’s supposedly “real” and “cool” when it comes to pop culture and popular music for a couple of decades now in America. The funny part of it all is… the mainstream media is so disconnected with Middle America that it is outright pathetic.
American Heavy Metal and Hard Rock fans are just as loyal to their favorite bands as European fans are. The deal breaker is… it’s all about promotion.
Stone.
How the hell did Rick Springfield get on the Sweden Rock Fest bill? In the game of “which doesn’t belong?” his name is an obvious standout.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Rock on the Range start selling 1-day tickets closer to the date. I can’t imagine people being willing to spend so much on that lineup. But I might buy a $50-60 ticket for the day Slash will be there.
Just sayin’.
Rob, your dead balls on with the grading!
Hey Rob!
I hear ‘ya on a lot of this. The whole America vs. Europe festival thing really bums me out, too. I think it’s the entire culture of festivals that causes the problems. I wrote about the whole VIP thing in America being bad for festivals. I mean, in Europe, you snag a ticket and you go. Over here, you buy your way up front. Europeans hate sit-down festivals and therefore a lot of foreigners don’t want to travel to America for shows. Events in Europe honestly draw from all over. More attendance = more ticket revenue = bigger headliners. Plus, European fests are legacy at this point.
There aren’t very many in America that have been around a long time.
Also, did you see Heavy MTL in Canada? Pretty great for fans of commercial heavy metal.
Allyson/BBG