ARCADE: Guide to the Great American Music Festival

Different Notes For Different Folks

POP: Hosting Jay-Z to Dave Matthews, “mainstream” festivals get their reputations because they bring in these big acts and the normal people who like them. Essential to the American festival circuit, these well-known artists introduce most people to the idea of a festival. Festivals really started to become a typical part of summer when the scene finally embraced this aspect of popular music culture. They bring the ‘bros’ you’ll see pounding beers Thursday, who then uncharacteristically rage to the Disco Biscuits Sunday night as they unleash their inner hippie.

JAM/AMERICANA: Widespread Panic, Keller Williams, Phish and their brethren are the historic heart and soul of the American music festival. Chances are most of the vendors, promoters, production interns and volunteers you meet will be wearing at least one article of clothing with The Dead’s lightning bolt or the Phish logo. Hoopers, kids in crazy costumes, patchwork and tie-dye, LSD, peace and love — that’s the essence of the festival, and it all comes from the jam scene, and though we’re not partial to the sounds, the arcade gives it respect.

INDIE/ALTERNATIVE: Ween, Spoon, Grace Potter, Passion Pit, MGMT, Phoenix, Broken Social Scene, Sonic Youth, The Flaming Lips and many, many more are the primary reason why activities normally reserved for the flower children of flower children are now relevant to your average arcade reader. Indie acts are invading the festival circuit and bringing a certain air of musical and critical legitimacy with them.

DANCE: As Phish and the rest of the jam bands close out their sometimes four-hour-long festival sets, bands such as STS9, Particle and the Disco Biscuits took the stage, throwing late-night parties influenced by the burgeoning rave scene. These “electronic-jam-fusion” bands eventually gained their own massive followings and — in the case of STS9 and the Disco Biscuits — their own festivals. As electronic music becomes fully integrated into our national musical identity, DJs like Bassnectar, Girl Talk, MSTRKRFT and Shpongle began throwing “late-late-night” parties of their own. This has spawned an almost-unparalleled interest in electronic dance music as acts like The Glitch Mob and Flying Lotus have begun to introduce a whole new aspect of music to an audience and culture that appreciates and celebrates it far more than anyone expected.

A Festive History

Rothbury. PHOTO | COURTESY COLLEEN CATANIA

The music festival is a great American staple, and unlike jingoism and arrogance, it’s something to be proud of. Monterey Pop 1967 forged frontiers of music we’re still exploring, and Woodstock was an event that still typifies certain elements of our culture more than any other moment in history. Those happened, of course, more than 40 years ago, but their spirits live on in the great American music festivals of our time.

We’re not talking about Woodstock ’99, Ozzfest or the Vans Warped Tour. We’re talking about the almost-consciously clichéd “Spirit of the ’60s” that lives on as an appreciation of music, art and love.

As this spirit faded from the public eye as the next generation of American youth chose to spend their time coked out in disco clubs, but it was kept alive by the infamous jam scene, led first by The Grateful Dead and later Phish.

That festival spirit, however, didn’t carry the same appeal. The arcade would never wish to question the artistic merits or technical skill of America’s jam bands, but the point is the sound is unquestionably niche, and kids who would normally love camping in the woods for four days in a quasi-commune of free love and free spirits found themselves alienated by the sounds of Jerry Garcia and Trey Anastasio. The great American music festival became an afterthought. This all began to change around the time I was in middle school, when the only things America thought were important were Y2K and 9/11.

The seeds were planted in the early ‘90s by an unlikely Ian Astbury (of The Cult and, technically speaking, the new version of The Doors), when he worked with production manager Bill Graham to create “A Gathering of the Tribes,” the forerunner of Lollapalooza (established in 1994). His actions began to present critically acclaimed sounds of Soundgarden and Ice T in a festival environment; a tradition lost decades ago. It would be this inclusion of alternative music that would revive the American festival and bring its spirit to more than just Deadheads.

The Jam scene also began to evolve. In the wake of Jerry Garcia’s death, artists like Widespread Panic, String Cheese Incident, Keller Williams and moe. rose to prominence, playing events like Gathering of the Vibes (the name itself is a reference to Ian Astbury’s proto-Lollapalooza and it was first established as a memorial for Garcia and continues to this day as an historic staple of the festival circuit). Garcia’s death opened to the minds of his scene to musical exploration and set his followers on a collision course with the rest of the musical world.

Bonnaroo’s first year was 2002, and sold out completely even then. Trey Anastasio, Widespread Panic, Gov’t Mule, String Cheese Incident and Phil Lesh shared a bill with Amon Tobin, Old Crow Medicine Show, John Butler Trio, Jurassic 5 and Bela Fleck. The year after that had Sonic Youth playing with The Dead, and last year, Phish played on the same day as Animal Collective.

Bonnaroo, not the first but certainly the archetype, has been joined by Wakarusa, Rothbury (though not this year), All Good, Voodoo, Austin City Limits, Lollapalooza, Pitchfork, Coachella (which you already missed) and plenty more as the coming-of-age events of our generation.

Bonnaroo. PHOTO | COURTESY SWAMPPOLITICS.COM

need-to-know (kinda)

• “Tie balloons to your campsite” used to be the cliché tip for new festival goers to help them navigate, but the Arcade editors have found the best festival experience can only be had when you’re completely dazed and confused, stumbling around looking for your friends and your tent, so just tie those balloons to your backpack so you’ll look cool in your adventures.
• “Bring your own food and cooking equipment” is another time-worn piece of advice as food gets more and more expensive, but we’ve found that a more important tip is “remember to eat.”
• “Don’t eat the brown acid” were the parting words my father gave to me as I left for my first festival. First uttered by legendary DJ Wavy Gravy at Woodstock, we guess around the same time Pete Townshend allegedly cracked his guitar over Abbie Hoffman’s head after he stormed the stage during a bad trip. The Arcade would like to take a moment now to wink for no particular reason and then vehemently urge you not to do any drugs at all.
• The festival really comes out at night. Unless you actually accidentally smoked some methamphetamine (which our previous tip should help you avoid) you’ll have to make a choice between up-and-comers and local favorites regulated to the 11 a.m. – 5 p.m. stage times and the life-changing adventures that go on from 2 — 7 in the morning, and we urge you to choose the latter.
• Speaking of choices, unless you actually live in the city (exceptions for Pitchfork’s festival in Chicago), go to camping festivals. The hotels and clubs of Chicago are definitely extra crazy after Lollapalooza, but they can’t compare to the fields of Tennnesee, Arkansas, West Virginia and upstate New York after Bonnaroo, Wakarusa, All Good and Camp Bisco.