Well, I’m starting to plan out my summer festival / show run, and Wakarusa Music Festival in Kansas definitely looks promising. It’s being held June 17, 18, and 19, so this is going to make quite a festival run for a) those fans that hit both Bonnaroo and Wakarusa (and I’m sure there are many of you out there), and b) those bands that are hitting both. The problem is that the festival is in Kansas in June, which is just asking for a tornado or something.
But, looking at this lineup, one might be persuaded to go against their initial reaction. Wilco, SCI, Umphrey’s McGee, Jazz Mandolin Project, and many more will be lining it up. This is sure to be interesting to see how the summer festivals do this year as opposed to 2004. Relix will be watching this closely as well. They originally ran a story on how the summer festival market tends to be somewhat saturated. What I worry about is when the market becomes saturated like this, it’s the big organizations that are the ones that will survive, become bigger, put on more uniform festivals with the same bands, and basically industrialize the summer festival experience. Let’s hope not…
Excuse my rant there. I’m currently reading Fast Food Nation by Eric Schossler, and I’m now left pondering the role that corporations played in shaping America’s tragic obesity epidemic, urban sprawl, and the decline of the classic potato farmer and rancher. It’s definitely much more depressing than what I set out to read…
