My 95 Theses for Summerfest
Okay, so it's not going to be 95, but seeing as how Summerfest starts tomorrow, and I have complained many times about Summerfest in the past few years, I will now voice my complaints...or at least post them. I think I have a fair amount of credibility to criticize Summerfest, seeing as how I have been to every one since 1987 and I have enough experience and good musical taste to know what a "good" Summerfest lineup is.
First off, Summerfest is expensive. 15 bucks for admission is a lot. Sure it's 8 bucks on weekdays, but that's only from noon to 4. It wouldn't be as bad if not for the lack of admission promotions. Sure there are some, but you have to buy the most random crap or donate stuff and you get free admission, but you have to enter the park between 12 and 3 to get in free and if you happen to have a job, you can't take advantage of the promotions because you're working. This raises two more points. First, the re-entry policy is absolutely horrible. Up until a couple years ago, the re-entry policy was basically that you leave the park, get a handstamp and can come back and show your handstamp. Recently, it's become that you can leave the park between 12 and 6:30 and you get a wristband, then you have to be back before 7 to re-enter the park for free. Moreover, there are no more free pin days. In fact, last year THERE WAS NO PIN!!! That was the first time in 15 years that there was no pin and I was royally pissed. For someone who has every pin since 1990 (when they first started producing pins) it was a huge disappointment. When they did have the free pin days, over the years, the time period in which you could enter the park for free became shorter and shorter. Morever, the Marcus Ampitheater has become really expensive, and that wouldn't be as bad if they wouldn't have got rid of the free lawn seating for most shows, but they did, and that really blows, because I wanted to see Tom Petty & Pearl Jam really badly.
Another beef I have with Summerfest is the phasing out of genre-specific stages. Back in the day, they had the Miller Jazz Oasis, Schlitz (and then Old Style) Country, The Pabst Blue Ribbon Blues Stage, as well as others (i.e. the Peaches Rock Stage, Sprecher Rhythm & Brews, the Potowanami Soul Stage), but those are the big three. If I want to hear blues, country, or jazz, I don't have a specific stage to go to. The only genre-specific stages that exist are the Mountain Dew Rock Stage and, more recently, the M&I Bank Classic Rock Stage (formerly the North Shore Bank Landing).
My biggest beef: the rather low musical quality of the lineup this year. Sure there's some good people/bands like Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Elvin Bishop, Kings of Leon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ray Davies, Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, NIN, Paul Simon...heck even I'll even throw in Steely Dan, REO Speedwagon, and Toto. However, then you have flash-in-the-pan derivative bands like The All-American Rejects, Nickelback, Chevelle, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Hoobastank, My Morning Jacket, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Counting Crows, and worst of all...Yellowcard and Ryan Cabrera. THose last two...come on. It looks like this year's mix of equal parts current and "classic" artists seems to be a response to the small minority who complained that last year's lineup was too heavily focused on older, "classic" artists, which was a response to complaints that Summerfest 2004's lineup was too focused on current bands (which it definitely was and that was why less than 1 million people went that year). Last year's attendance was well over 1 million because they booked bands that people with enough disposable income wanted to see (i.e. older people, not teenagers), not to mention the musical quality was much higher. I'd even say that last year was one of the best lineups in recent memory (for me at least, because nothing can compare to the lineups of the 70's and 80's which I was not alive to see).
Oh and a side note, the GameRiot tent is absolutely useless and is only for nerds who shouldn't even be at Summerfest in the first place.
Though I complain about Summerfest a lot, this does not mean I don't like it, I love Summerfest. In fact, all this talk about it has me craving some eggplant strips from the Venice Club. I plan to go, at the very least, two days, and I might even be going on July 4th, which will mean I will not have to put up with WFB's lame 4th of July celebration and I can miss the WFB lame fireworks for the 19th year in a row!
First off, Summerfest is expensive. 15 bucks for admission is a lot. Sure it's 8 bucks on weekdays, but that's only from noon to 4. It wouldn't be as bad if not for the lack of admission promotions. Sure there are some, but you have to buy the most random crap or donate stuff and you get free admission, but you have to enter the park between 12 and 3 to get in free and if you happen to have a job, you can't take advantage of the promotions because you're working. This raises two more points. First, the re-entry policy is absolutely horrible. Up until a couple years ago, the re-entry policy was basically that you leave the park, get a handstamp and can come back and show your handstamp. Recently, it's become that you can leave the park between 12 and 6:30 and you get a wristband, then you have to be back before 7 to re-enter the park for free. Moreover, there are no more free pin days. In fact, last year THERE WAS NO PIN!!! That was the first time in 15 years that there was no pin and I was royally pissed. For someone who has every pin since 1990 (when they first started producing pins) it was a huge disappointment. When they did have the free pin days, over the years, the time period in which you could enter the park for free became shorter and shorter. Morever, the Marcus Ampitheater has become really expensive, and that wouldn't be as bad if they wouldn't have got rid of the free lawn seating for most shows, but they did, and that really blows, because I wanted to see Tom Petty & Pearl Jam really badly.
Another beef I have with Summerfest is the phasing out of genre-specific stages. Back in the day, they had the Miller Jazz Oasis, Schlitz (and then Old Style) Country, The Pabst Blue Ribbon Blues Stage, as well as others (i.e. the Peaches Rock Stage, Sprecher Rhythm & Brews, the Potowanami Soul Stage), but those are the big three. If I want to hear blues, country, or jazz, I don't have a specific stage to go to. The only genre-specific stages that exist are the Mountain Dew Rock Stage and, more recently, the M&I Bank Classic Rock Stage (formerly the North Shore Bank Landing).
My biggest beef: the rather low musical quality of the lineup this year. Sure there's some good people/bands like Tom Petty, Pearl Jam, Elvin Bishop, Kings of Leon, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Ray Davies, Alice Cooper, Elvis Costello, NIN, Paul Simon...heck even I'll even throw in Steely Dan, REO Speedwagon, and Toto. However, then you have flash-in-the-pan derivative bands like The All-American Rejects, Nickelback, Chevelle, Kenny Chesney, Carrie Underwood, Hoobastank, My Morning Jacket, Panic! At The Disco, Train, Counting Crows, and worst of all...Yellowcard and Ryan Cabrera. THose last two...come on. It looks like this year's mix of equal parts current and "classic" artists seems to be a response to the small minority who complained that last year's lineup was too heavily focused on older, "classic" artists, which was a response to complaints that Summerfest 2004's lineup was too focused on current bands (which it definitely was and that was why less than 1 million people went that year). Last year's attendance was well over 1 million because they booked bands that people with enough disposable income wanted to see (i.e. older people, not teenagers), not to mention the musical quality was much higher. I'd even say that last year was one of the best lineups in recent memory (for me at least, because nothing can compare to the lineups of the 70's and 80's which I was not alive to see).
Oh and a side note, the GameRiot tent is absolutely useless and is only for nerds who shouldn't even be at Summerfest in the first place.
Though I complain about Summerfest a lot, this does not mean I don't like it, I love Summerfest. In fact, all this talk about it has me craving some eggplant strips from the Venice Club. I plan to go, at the very least, two days, and I might even be going on July 4th, which will mean I will not have to put up with WFB's lame 4th of July celebration and I can miss the WFB lame fireworks for the 19th year in a row!