Summer Music Festivals

An Analysis and Comparison of Major Music

Festivals All Over the USA

Joseph Kardos
April 14, 2009
ENG 352
Music Festival
 Definition:
an entertainment event featuring a number of
musical performers or bands of a certain genre or
centered on a theme (Webster's New Millennium™ Dictionary of English,
Preview Edition (v 0.9.7)

 Focus of Presentation
 To understand and review various music
festivals in the United States in anticipation
of attending one over the summer
Music Festival Criteria
 Some of the criteria in evaluating each music
festival:
Date/Time
Location
Type of Music
Format
History
Recent Acts
Success
Manchester, Tennessee
 Location: Great
Stage Park on a 700
acre farm in
Manchester,
Tennessee
 Date: 4-Day Festival
in Mid-June
 Type of Music: indie
folk, world music,
hip hop, jazz,
americana,
bluegrass, country
music, folk, gospel,
reggae, electronica,
and other
alternative music
 Bonaroo – "a really
good time“
 24-hour festival
 Venue has:
 Centeroo
 What Stage
 Which Stage
 This Tent, That Tent,
and The Other Tent
 Comedy Tent
 Main acts for 2009:
 Bruce Springsteen
and the E Street Band
 Phish (2 shows)
Indio, California
 Location: Empire
Polo Fields in
Indio, California
 Date: 3-Day
Festival in April
 Type of Music:
alternative rock,
hip hop, and
Electronic music
as well as large
sculptural art
 Coachella – Valley
in Southern
California
 Desert setting

 Doors at 11am,
ends at midnight
 Main acts for 2009:
Paul McCartney
The Killers
The Cure
Jersey City, New Jersey
 Location: Liberty
State Park in
Jersey City, New
Jersey.
 Date: 3-Day
Festival in
July/August
July 31-August 2
 Much like
Coachella
 “Coachella East”
Run by
Goldenvoice/AEG
Live events
 Same host
 Second-year;
corrected many
issues
 Noon-11:30pm

 Main acts for 2009:

Beastie Boys
Tool
Coldplay
Chicago, Illinois
 Location: Grant
Park, Chicago,
Illinois
 Date: 3-Day
Festival in
early/mid August
 Type of Music:
alternative rock,
hip hop, and punk
rock bands
 Lollapalooza
 “Remarkable or wonderful person or thing“
 Large lollipop (or "all-day sucker")
 Created as farewell tour by Perry Farrell of Jane’s
Addiction
 Originally toured
around country
 More people saw
and participated
in Lollapalooza
than any previous
music festival
 Ended 1997;
revived 2003;
Obtained Chicago
location in 2005
 Acts will be
announced April
23, 2009
Austin, Texas
 Location: Zilker
Park, Austin
Texas
 Date: Annual 3-
Day Festival in
Sept/Oct
 Type of Music:
rock, indie,
blues,
world/ethnic
contemporary
and traditional,
reggae, eclectic,
fusion,
electronic, soul,
folk/Americana
 Named after
PBS Series
 Started in 2003
 Attracts a
crowd of about
65,000 visitors
each day
 Produced by C3
Presents, who
co-produces the
Lollapalooza
 Line-up
announcement
East Rutherford, NJ
 Location: Held in the
Giants Stadium Parking
Lots, East Rutherford, NJ
 Date: 2-Day Festival in
early May
 May 2-3, 2009
 Type of Music: punk,
pop-punk, rock
 Venue has nine
stages
 Main acts for 2009:
Fall Out Boy
No Doubt
Touring in USA
 Touring music and
extreme sports festival
 Date: One Day in the
Summer
 July 17 – Susquehanna
Bank Center, Camden,
NJ
 July 19 – Monmouth
Racetrack
 Type of Music:
Originally punk rock
music, but now features
electronica, alternative
rock, emo, post-
hardcore, metalcore
and Christian rock
bands
 Bands play for up to
30 minutes over
approximately 10
stages, although the
biggest bands
generally play the two
main stages 24-hour
festival
 Tour brings a half pipe
for skaters and bikers
 Developed by Kevin
Lyman in 1994, who
got the idea while
working on
skateboarding shows
Touring in USA
 Location: Great
Stage Park on a
700 acre (2.8 km²)
farm in
Manchester,
Tennessee
 Date: 1-Day
Festival
 Cancelled for this
year due to Ozzy
recording
 Type of Music:
heavy metal and
hard rock
 Founded by Ozzy and Sharon
Osbourne who organize
festival with son Jack
 Originally created as a 2-day
festival in Phoenix, Arizona
and Devore, California in
October
 Organized after Lollapalooza
refused to let Ozzy join the
tour
 Reduced to one-day event in
2008 at Pizza Hut Park in
Frisco, TX
 Known in New Jersey for
arrest of 83 attendees, most
of them underage and
arrested prior to 8:00 and
death of 2 men due to
overdose of alcohol and
energy drinks
Austin, Texas
 Location: Austin,
Texas
 Date: Each of
three parts runs
relatively
independently,
with different start
and end dates
 Music festival as
well as a film and
interactive
conference
 First began in
1987
 1,400
performers
playing dozens
of venues
around Austin
over four days
 Highest revenue-
producing special
event for the
Austin economy,
with an estimated
any questions?

any questions?