Of those I know, I'll plan to see chance, arcade fire, the xx, lorde, alt-j, RTJ, glass animals, milky chance, banks, sylvan esso, charli xcx, and bishop briggs.
Would add that I saw bishop briggs at mamby last year and she was fucking awesome live. Hoping she puts out some new music b/t now and August.
Anyone been to Lolla? I don't know if a festival being in a big city takes away from the festival atmosphere.
It depends on the weather at lolla Kind of nice to crash at a friends, sleep in ac etc after 90 degree august heat in Chicago
It's definitely a different atmosphere, but great in it's own way. Music with the skyline around you is awesome, especially at night.
Went to Lolla last year, which was my third of the big ones after Coachella and Bonnaroo. Here are some thoughts on it. Again, this is my experience from one year, so don't claim it to be gospel. Pros: -Getting there was super easy. Crashed with a buddy; 5 min walk to train stop, 15 mins on a train, 5 min walk to fest. Hard to beat that -Grant Park is a really cool location. It's absolutely enormous and has a good blend of open space and shade, grass and other surfaces. Watching Radiohead and looking around to the skyline and seeing fireworks go off over Navy Pier was pretty sweet. -You can drink at the stages. Maybe this is more standard than I think, but Bonnaroo, Coachella, and FYF all have drinking tents/gardens while this one just lets you go wild with drinks all around -A lot going on. With 6-7 tents/stages all playing music, you're bound to see something you like. -Bit of a pro and a con, but music is over by 10 PM. Good news is you're back at your place ready to go out by 11 PM, bad news is it's a much shorter music day than Coachella/Bonnaroo Cons: -Accessibility to the fest makes the crowd weak. A lot of high schoolers and people that look like they're there to get drunk instead of enjoy the music. Youngest and rudest crowd of the major fests I've been to -Dueling headliners was an idea I didn't love. The top two acts of each day usually play against each other on the opposite ends of the park. Stinks that you normally have to miss someone else you'd be interested in catching because they have to play against each other -Definitely not as communal of a feel as the other fests where it feels like a destination and almost an "achievement" to be there -It's frickin' packed. I think they oversell this thing. Hardest fest to get a good spot at around a stage for big acts and waited super long for crappy food lines and every time I went to the bathroom
Agree with all of this, the biggest con is with a compacted day to day schedule you will have a ton of conflicts with who you want to see.
Because you have all the nightlife, restaurants, bars after each night that a City has to offer. Usually have great skylines as the backdrop (my favorite being o.g. governors ball at governors island....Lolla and Osheaga great too). Also the After Parties --> going to get great late night sets at cool spots from acts performing or affiliated that you're not going to find in a middle-of-nowhere festival.
Would you say Bonaroo/Coachella after shows are the exception than the norm for quality of "camping" festival after shows? Youre more experienced than me - just think generally, city setting provides a lot for that kind of fun.
Jazzfest kills aftershows, but late nights at festivals are usually a lot of fun. What did you mean here? Because went I went to Roo from '12-'14, there was plenty of open drinking.
I think late shows are strong at any camping fest. Depends on your tastes, as with any festival, but I think most know that the freaks come out at night. Especially since so many camping fests are in the hotter months where people will end up laying around in the shade trying not to die for half the day.
Whoops, went to Bonnaroo in 2011 so my mind is hazy, but I thought I remember drinking in a beer garden type area and you couldn't just go to the stage with drinks. That's how it is at Coachella and FYF - they have a few designated drinking areas throughout the festival and you can't drink in tents/stages.
Not sure on Coachella, but Bonnaroo gets really weird (in the best way possible) after the sun goes down. All these people just come out of nowhere in costumes and glow stuff. Lots of guest surprise shows and random music until 6 am or the sun comes up. With no curfews it's a free for all. For example last year they had a Tame Impala set that didn't start until 1 am central time. Bonnaroo in the daylight isn't much different than any other fest imo, it's the late night stuff that gives it its character.
There is a beer garden at Roo, but they had beer stands at the two biggest stages. One of the great things about smaller festivals is having a stage out in the campgrounds too, so you can byob. Lockn is a lot of fun for that reason at late night, plus they have some great late night shows (Gov't Mule, JRAD, Umph, Dumpstaphunk). Run back to camp, pack a bag full of beers and head to the late show. Also have an early show in the campgrounds every day too, which is always nice to wake up to some music.
Bonnaroo is a premier event tho. On the whole is that quality what youre getting generally at a field/camping festival? Think of a non-city event on par with Shaky Knees here. You finding variety of fun like this, etc. https://www.shakykneesfestival.com/late-night-shows/ Guess so. Just think the late night stuff a city has to offer enhances the festival experience. Cities just have a variety of venues and options. At least in my experience. Just circling back to the guys original post - I dont think there is reason to be skeptical about non-camping festivals. I've always had a blast but Im also a City dweller.
Okeechobee has DJ's going on as late as 5 am. Thousands of people still out dancing and food vendors still up. My thought process on all this is that you can do Chicago anytime.
Coachella doesn't really have "after shows" - the music just goes on until 1 AM whereas Lolla was 10 PM IIRC. So the headliners usually play like 11 PM to 1 AM and there is 3-4 hours of quality music after sun-down (~7:15 PM) before the headliner starts. Lolla was kind of a bummer ending at 10 PM, but I guess then you can go out. Just really cool seeing the whole festival buzzing to a big headliner past midnight.
Tell me more about Sloss. When does the daily schedule usually come out? I want to see Sturgill this summer, and this fest may be my only hope.
Friends all dropped out of FYF due to being away that weekend or festival fatigue, but gonna buy a 3-day and maybe go alone
Not worried about that. Are one day passes a thing? Hard to imagine a 2 day event with people selling wristbands on Sunday.
prob doesn't classify as music festival really but hey it's a flyer with a couples of good band names on it. Tex fsugrad99 Tony Ray Bans hood b. goode Det. Frank Bullitt
Yea plus the DFW/Houston/San Antonio TMBers also have the same lineup the next few Saturdays I believe.