Langerado Cancelled!?! 2009 Festivalogy
In very disappointing news, due to sluggish ticket sales, Langerado 2009 has been canceled. So I guess I’m not giving away a pair of tickets after all. This is the first well established American Festival based in one city to go down like this and it begs the question, has the US Festival scene gotten too saturated?
Certainly there are now a ton of fests to choose from, and the economy is probably playing a big part here as well, but I really think had Langerado thrown the festival in the same location they had last year that they wouldn’t be in this trouble. Maybe the Indians kicked them out of the reservation and they didn’t really have a choice, but Miami’s Bicentennial Park was an extremely poor choice of venue. Going from offering camping for free to requiring your festival attendees to secure hotels in an expensive city like Miami completely changes the total price, and Langerado’s jamband heavy fan base was not going to double up on that money instead of going to the other major events of the same weekend such as Phish‘s first shows or the Harvest Of Hope fest going on in north Florida with many of the same artists for a tiny fraction of the price.
So while a bad economy and increased competition has made the margin of error very small, I really believe Langerado needs to look to their own lineup/venue choices as the primary reason for their downfall this year, and hopefully they can go back to the drawing board and come back next year with a new and improved version. I mean, here are the acts at the top of the lineup when it was initially released: Death Cab For Cutie • Snoop Dogg • Thievery Corporation (Live) • Slightly Stoopid • Ryan Adams and the Cardinals • Dashboard Confessional • The Pogues • Matisyahu • Flogging Molly • Michael Franti & Spearhead Is it really any surprise people weren’t flocking down to get tickets? While they had plenty of quality smaller acts, the top of this lineup was completely uninspiring.
So I don’t think there is going to be a major festival scene collapse due to the economy or anything. I mean if Coachella can get away with having The Killers as a headliner and not go under this year, I would say there is still a ton of breathing room for fests. I think Bonnaroo is going to probably sell out faster than it ever has this year, so the moral of the story is choose the right lineup and the right location and there are still plenty of kids who will spend their trust funds to party.
- Posted by Davy Minor on February 3, 2009 at 4:18 pm
One Response to “Langerado Cancelled!?! 2009 Festivalogy”
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puertorricandan Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I wish I had a trust fund – Bonaroo would be so much more attainable.
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puertorricandan Says:
February 4th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
I wish I had a trust fund – Bonaroo would be so much more attainable.
