If Woodstock represented the North American music festival in its infancy, this year’s Virgin Festival is its midlife crisis.
Unlike the most famous of festivals 40 years ago, this weekend’s V-Fest has been acting strangely as of late – making impulsive decisions, fretting over the economy, and doing whatever it can to shake the sinking feeling that it’s just not as popular as it used to be.
But in a summer concert season that industry insiders say is perhaps the worst on record, it’s little surprise that this weekend’s event was scaled back.
“I’ve been doing this for 25 years and I think this is the hardest time it’s ever been to put on a concert,” says music promoter Elliot Lefko. “And festivals in general are one of the hardest things to do in the music business.”
With few exceptions, this year has been a dismal one for festival organizers. Many were forced to slash tickets costs. Edgefest, for example, cut prices in half, even though the show was held at the same venue (Downsview Park) and featured roughly the same number of acts as last year.
Others, like the recent inaugural 1000 Islands Music Festival, have seen fan turnout rates at about one-third of what was anticipated.
That brings us back to Virgin Festival. Citing fan complaints about the long drive to Burl’s Creek Park north of Barrie, on Aug. 14 Virgin organizers announced the two-day concert would move from the camper-friendly field to Toronto’s Molson Amphitheatre.
The move makes the show more accessible to anyone within the city, but it also downsizes the event. The Amphitheatre holds about 5,000 less people per day, and many of the tickets had to be marked down.
Other V-Fests across the nation have faced difficulties too. Calgary’s festival this month saw a 10 per cent drop in attendance from last year, and a July 4 concert in Halifax drew large numbers only when it was announced the show would be free after headliners The Tragically Hip withdrew from the lineup.
Unlike the proverbial 45-year-old accountant who buys a Harley on a whim, the music festival has more than just itself to blame for its midlife crisis. Reached by phone this week by the Star, several insiders gave some thought as to why festivals have taken a hit this summer.
Recession: Most promoters point to the sputtering economy as a chief reason for the festival downturn. This problem is magnified in cities like Toronto, where a seemingly endless line of concerts and other exhibitions provide plenty of cheaper entertainment options.
“People only have a certain amount of dollars to spend on entertainment,” says Ross Winters, a program director at the Edge.
This is especially bad news for shows like the Virgin Festival, which is sandwiched between the busy midsummer festival season and sold-out fall shows for big bands like U2 and Metallica.
“There’s already been a lot of money spent on concerts this summer,” Winters notes.
Who’s on the ticket: Having a strong lineup of popular bands is always one of the best ways to draw fans to a festival, organizers admit. But even with some of the biggest names in music on the bill, there’s no guarantee the fans will show.
This month’s 1000 Islands festival is a prime example. Held in the town of Gananoque, east of Kingston, many fans were skeptical the concert could draw the big names it had promised, organizers say.
“I don’t believe that people actually thought Snoop Dogg and Akon were going to come to play this festival on a farm,” says E1 Entertainment’s Eric Alper, who helped organize the concert.
Other factors can hurt too. Though Virgin Festival headliners Nine Inch Nails are among the kings of alternative rock, they already performed in the region twice in the past 10 months, meaning even some diehard fans might feel less inclined to shell out $60 to see them again so soon.
Weather: For an industry that relies on good weather, this summer’s storms and cool temperatures have been devastating. Typically, most festivals sell about one-third of their tickets in the week before a show, promoters say. But when forecasts are constantly calling for rain, those sales can dry up in a hurry.
“No matter how great the concert is, people don’t want to spend a lot of time outside if it’s raining,” says Alper.
“They just don’t want to sit around all day in the soaking wet.”
Worse still for organizers, the psychological effects of the rain can affect ticket sales for concerts that are months away, says Nathan Rosenberg, the chief marketing officer for Virgin Canada. “This is going to sound quite weird, but on days where it’s sunny, we sell more tickets than on days when it’s raining,” he says.
Logistics: Having to drive for hours to get to a concert is bad enough, but throw in the long lineups for entrance, food and beer, and many fans might rather just listen to their favourite CDs at home. The solutions aren’t always easy.
“You want people to have a really good time and just get them in as fast as possible,” says Lefko, a former Edgefest promoter from its days at the old Molson Park in Barrie. “But you want to make it as safe as possible too.” This leads to slow traffic on the roadways and, of course, long lines at the beer tent as security and police check for IDs.
Culture: “The heart of the concert business has always been the outdoor festivals in Europe,” says Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of Pollstar magazine, a trade publication. But aside from two or three annual American gigs, that success has never materialized in North America.
Part of the reason, Bongiovanni says, is that North Americans are more accustomed to bigger indoor shows. But because most European cities lack a big concert venue, their citizens are often forced outside, where they learn to enjoy the bad weather when it hits.
“(Europeans) may be a little bit heartier in their willingness to put up with mud and rain,” he says. “It’s almost a tradition in the summer in Europe.”
So is this the death of the music fest?
The good news is, despite the factors working against them, promoters will continue to run big North America festivals. But just like that middle-aged accountant on a motorbike, they may be going through some serious changes.
“I don’t think festivals are dying,” Winters says. “I just think they have to be done differently.”
Ticket prices will continue to drop, the experts agree, but so will the fee for bands. Corporate advertising might also go up.
In the end, Winters says, it’s innovative ideas like the “meet-the-band tent” at this year’s Edgefest that will likely keep the fans coming out.
“Like everything else, these festivals have to be rethought and innovated on,” he says. “People who put them on will just have to figure these things out.”
