Mary Williams Williams is playing
columnist today. Give her encouragement at [email protected].
Walking around a music festival nowadays gives the distinct
impression that it isn’t about the music anymore.
Between the corporate sponsors and the exorbitant prices for
tickets, food and souvenirs, profit seems to have taken over as the
dominant message of festivals that, at one time, stood for the
power of music.
A few years ago, aging hippies and a new, younger generation of
music lovers gathered in a site near the original Woodstock
concert, only to discover that they could hardly afford to eat at
this newly-corporatized mess of a festival. The music may have been
the excuse, but it was no longer the point.
The same trend can be found closer to home, in the popular radio
festivals that boast big name bands and equally big name
sponsors.
Last weekend’s KROQ/Levi’s Inland Invasion and Power
106’s Powerhouse both fall into this category. Their stages
held some of the biggest names in their respective musical genres,
and right offstage were advertisements for the companies that
brought them there.
At the KROQ/Levi’s concert, the company’s name in
the concert title was not the only presence it had. Ads for their
jeans were projected onto the walls on either side of the stage
between sets, even during the performance by Mike D and Mixmaster
Mike.
A van where concert-goers could buy Levi’s products and
get fitted for custom jeans was parked near the side stage. Next to
it was a trapeze, and those adventurous enough to try it out
received a free pair of Levi’s jeans in return.
It seemed that wherever the audience members turned, it was made
clear to them that Levi’s was the company that brought them
there.
At Power 106’s Powerhouse concert the same day, the big
sponsor was the shoe company Skechers.
At one point in the show, the station gave away a Hyundai Santa
Fe filled with 106 pairs of Skechers, a gimmick that once again
placed a name brand in the center of attention.
More antithetical to the style of concert was the advertising at
the Vans Warped Tour, an annual haven for the once
anti-establishment punk music.
While bands like Pennywise raged against conformity, viewers
bounced Target beach balls and roamed around in the shadow of the
towering Yoohoo sign. A disquieting feeling, that the message of
the music was at odds with the message of the sponsors, pervaded
the concert.
Not only are viewers inundated with advertisements, but once
they are inside the venue they are subjected to whatever food and
souvenir prices vendors want to charge.
Concerts are one of the few places where booths can sell $6 hot
dogs and $4 lemonades. To buy a band T-shirt, a concert-goer will
have to pay $20, and this is all on top of the already high ticket
prices and Ticketmaster fees.
Yet somewhere, in between the vendors, the corporate sponsors
and the other distractions, there is still a lineup of bands in
these festival shows that deserves everyone’s attention.
Regardless of what message the music is promoting, it should be
the focus of the event rather than an excuse for intrusive ads and
obscene prices.