Corndogorama 2009: Wrap-Up And Final Thoughts
All photos by Clint Miller
Corndogorama has come and gone again, so it’s time to break down the experience. The parcel of land in the East Atlanta Village served as a nice new venue for the festival providing plenty of space to grow into. The overbearing heat in the middle of the summer in Atlanta was probably the biggest drawback to the festival grounds as there were very little options to escape the sun near the music, and this sent many festival goers into the village to take refuge during the day. Although other than that, I thought it was a great location. The field in front of the main stage sloped upwards farther back and the sound was pretty good most everywhere inside the area. I hope this place gets used for other events.
This year’s weakest element in my opinion was the lineup. That’s not to say there weren’t good bands, but recent years’ mammoth lineups eclipsed this year’s by far. It was great to have some Ohmpark favourites like Nomen Novum, Today The Moon, Tomorrow The Sun, and This Piano Plays Itself in early slots to compete against the oppressive weather, but the bottom end of the schedule was destined to fail in regards to attracting a big crowd. Dead Confederate and Abby Go Go were fine choices, but the fact they played a free show at The Earl just weeks prior significantly cut into their drawing power. Judi Chicago and Noot d’ Noot are very popular bands, but they also play more local shows than anyone, and while that is part of what make them such local favs, that also will prevent them from hauling in large crowds for a big ticket fest like this. Outside of those bands, the closing portion of each night was extremely disappointing. Also, the 3 hour Jazz Fest block in the middle of Sunday was serious overkill. It’s not that any of those bands are bad, but Corndogorama’s target audience is done a disservice to have no options outside of music styles at least half a century old for such a long portion of the day. A complete absence of hip-hop and a low representation of the metal scene were unfortunate. The experience as a whole would have greatly benefited by involvement from smaller venues in the Village providing extra stages for more variety of options and reprieve from the sun’s beating beams.
But most of the negatives from this year can be explained away by the festival’s complete retooling and scaling back for this new version of Corndog, and regardless of some missteps, there is obvious potential for this new incarnation. The festival can grow into this format, and if it can find support with day shows from The Earl or 529 or other Village venues, it could become greater than it has ever been before.
In the end, the festival was a success to me as I had a really fun weekend. The crowds were sparse (especially Sunday), but I always prefer that anyways. The vibe was very chill and everyone who was there seemed to be having a good time. I want to shout out to my fellow bloggers, it was fun hanging out with Tessa from Drive A Faster Car, who covered the fest as well, and Adam Trimble is the man. I can’t wait until next year.
- Posted by Davy Minor on July 6, 2009 at 5:14 am
