OVERPRICED MUSIC FESTIVAL GETS MARGINALLY LESS SUCKY
Wednesday, March 11th, 2009 at 1:57pm by Gary Suarez
All Tomorrow’s Parties festivals have a pretty irksome format. Essentially, no matter where they’re held, it’s so out-of-the-way that in order to attend you’re compelled to stay at some overpriced resort. Ticket prices aren’t exactly cheap to begin with, so what started out as a neat weekend with bands you love rapidly becomes tough to justify in these doleful economic times. Up until now, this coming September’s lineup for the Catskills, NY weekender didn’t have much for heavy music fans to get pumped about, but today’s announcement that both The Jesus Lizard and The Melvins are scheduled to perform on the Friday and Saturday nights, respectively, changes that – sorta.
Does news that two of the greatest noise rock bands that ever noise rocked make me more likely bite the proverbial bullet and blow my diminishing wad of crumbled bills? Hardly. A three day festival pass currently costs about $250, with single day tickets ranging from $80-$100 per day. That’s a lot of gas money–and we haven’t even broached transportation or accommodations! As already reported here, those Melvins are playing a bunch of silver anniversary gigs this May (new dates just added for Seattle and Portland), so chances are you can see them for a lot cheaper elsewhere even if you have to travel. The Jesus Lizard is the lone enigma, but given the potential for filthy lucre and the number of ATP acts that played American dates surrounding their appearances at the 2008 Catskills festival, I’m willing to gamble that there will be other American opportunities to see David Yow’s wrinkly wang.
-GS
[Gary Suarez would like to make him another Boilermaker. He also writes for Brainwashed and usually manages the consistently off-topic No Yoko No.]
I think I see taint
It looks like David’s legs are not attached to his torso in that pic?
I’m lucky enough to live in Los Angeles, where David Yow’s other band Qui regularly rocks small venues, at least whenever Yow isn’t suffering a collapsed lung and the guitarist isn’t in the middle of a stroke. I once saw Yow cut off his hair during a set and hand it to members of the audience. That’s nothing compared to the stories of the Jesus Lizard days though…can’t wait to see ‘em live.
Yes, Gary, the festival isn’t cheap, but I can say with utmost certainty that the Melvins/Patton curated ATP last December was far and away the best festival experience I’ve ever had. The fact that it’s out of the way in a different country is actually APPEALING to some people, myself included.
The Jesus Lizard is one of my favorite bands of all time, and the Melvins are my favorite band of all time, and maybe I could see them closer to home. But where’s the fun in seeing them at another Emo’s show on a random Wednesday? I want to almost die on a tiny winding country road in rural England, driving on the wrong side of the road, only to arrive and drink until I’m blind with a bunch of British weirdos for 3 days. And see some amazing shows with lineups I could only dream up. That’s fun, and worth the dough.
The ATP festivals in the UK have had consistently incredible lineups across the spectrum of genres, but yes, it is overpriced.
I don’t even want to know what the full line up is this year, I can’t bloody afford it.
Aren’t Sleep and Electric Wizard playing one of these dates? I could’ve sworn Pike mentioned that last time I saw him.