The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, which kicks off its two-weekend run at the Empire Polo Club on Friday, April 10, marks the beginning of the ever-growing festival season in California and the United States. Rodrigo Pena, The Press-Enterprise
In July of 1999, riots marred the 30th anniversary reboot of the Woodstock festival in Rome, N.Y. The multi-stage, multi-genre music festival was, by many pundits, pronounced dead.
A few months later, on the other side of the nation, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival was born at the Empire Polo Club in Indio.
And 16 years after that modest birth, the reports of the commercial demise of major music festivals appear to be greatly exaggerated.
Coachella, and its site-sharing country cousin Stagecoach Country Music Festival, comprise a three-week artistic and commercial juggernaut. And they have, in recent years, ignited an ever-expanding list of multi-day music events in Southern California and beyond.
“Popular demand is driving all of these festivals,” said Jason Lipshutz, associate editor at Billboard.com. “Not all of them have been successful. Some have shut down, but a lot of them are continuing to go.”
Among the established events are indie rock-oriented FYF and Jay Z’s Made in America in Los Angeles and the electronic dance music festivals Nocturnal Wonderland and Beyond Wonderland in San Bernardino.
And there are plenty of new kids on the block this year:
• The motorcycle-themed Lost Highway festival, topped by Toby Keith and Social Distortion, will launch at San Manuel Amphitheater in May.
• Also in May, the amphitheater will also christen the pot-smokers’ playground called Blaze ‘N’ Glory festival with Slightly Stoopid.
• More of a Coachella clone is trendy Kaaboo, which kicks off in Del Mar in September with No Doubt, The Killers and Zac Brown Band.
It’s a trend that’s being seen around the country, too, with new festivals popping up in nearly every state, from Delaware to Alabama.
“I think that people are looking for different experiences with these festivals,” Lipshutz said. He said some music fans want to go all out and see icons like Paul McCartney at something like Bonnaroo in Tennessee while others want to have a more relaxed atmosphere at a lower-key festival where they can bring their kids, such as Pitchfork in Chicago.
CHORDS OF COMMERCE
Coachella was the top-grossing festival in 2014, raking in more than $78.3 million over its two weekends, according to Billboard Boxscore, the concert industry arm of Billboard. Stagecoach was ranked at No. 5, grossing more than $18.6 million.
So more festivals will mean for money for promoters, right? Not so fast. Dave Brooks, founder and executive editor of Amplify, an online magazine about the live entertainment industry, said some of the industry leaders he talks to fear that festivals are hurting the overall gate each year.
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival has set the standard for fests in Southern California. (2011/File Photo)
Mega-fests, with all the big name acts, newcomers to watch and the accompanying spectacle, could be training music fans to put away money and attend one or two big events per year.
“Your typical concert with headliner and one or two opening acts starts to look like a lot worse of a value,” he said.
Brooks said other industry experts, though, believe that festivals manufacture more loyal live-music fans.
“You convert more people earlier to start paying money for live music,” he said. “It’s really about competing for people’s discretionary dollars.”
More events will be founded, Brooks believes, by much smaller promoters than festival giants like Goldenvoice and Live Nation.
Laguna Hills-based SGE Entertainment has enjoyed success putting on niche festivals in Southern California such as Slipknot’s heavy metal-propelled Knotfest and the Oddball Comedy Festival.
SGE, seeking to diversify its audience, is also driving Lost Highway and Blaze ‘N’ Glory at San Manuel Amphitheater.
“We definitely see an opportunity in Southern California to provide different demographics of people, different groups of people, different themed music and entertainment experiences,” said SGE’s John Oakes.
Lipshutz said most festivals have to reach at least three or four years to establish themselves but that smaller, more targeted events are popping up around the country.
“Some of those guys are going to succeed and a lot of them are going to fail,” ,” Brooks said. “That will be the real retraction, when people start to lose money.”
Toby Keith tops the inaugural Lost Highway motorcycle and music festival. (File Photo)
VACATION SOUNDTRACK
Country superstar Toby Keith, who has headlined Stagecoach and will top the inaugural Lost Highway, wasn’t playing a lot of festivals when he started out in the 1990s. Now his itinerary is packed with such events.
“It just becomes part of people’s lifestyle,” said Keith. “And they’re wonderful.”
Keith captures the allure for many festivalgoers–hang-loose Disneyland park-hopper passes for music fans.
“They literally go camp and they get up when they want to get up,” he said, laughing. “And they start rollin’ in, wiping the sleep out of their eye, realize they’re half-dressed. It’s about then they wake up and go, ‘I ain’t got enough clothes on.’ And then they stumble out there—they haven’t had a shower. And the first thing they do is get two beers—they put one on their forehead and they drink the other one. And then about 10 o’clock at night, usually, or about somewhere round in there, give or take an hour, is about the time the headliner comes on. And by then they’re back to full tilt again.”
An annual Coachella camping trip is mandatory for Paul Bahou of Temecula, who will attend his 11th consecutive fest on the event’s second weekend.
“It’s my way to unplug from the buzz of modern life,” he said.
Last year, he also attended Life is Beautiful festival in Las Vegas and FYF in Los Angeles. He’s debating a repeat trip to Life is Beautiful, but only if the fest pulls off a big rock headliner. If not, he’ll go to the new Kaaboo festival in San Diego to see The Killers. “It’s our backup prom date,” he said.
For longtime Coachella attendee Jason Bowen, of Menifee, the proliferation of festivals just makes him hungry for more. So far this year, he’s been intrigued by festivals in Atlanta, Delaware and San Francisco. His wife Jaime, who will also be at Coachella, plans to attend another three-day music festival, BottleRock, in Napa Valley at the end of May.
He thinks the number of festivals is helping to diversify the music and gives him a chance to see bands he wouldn’t otherwise.
“I would never pay to go see AC/DC,” Bowen said, “but I would go see them here.”
Southern California’s festivals
(File Photo)
NOCTURNAL WONDERLAND
Where: Around Southern California. Now at San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore.
Established: 1995
Biggest headliners: Kaskade, The Chemical Brothers, Paul Oakenfold, Axwell
Before electronic dance music festival promoter Insomniac created the behemoth that is the Electric Daisy Carnival, Nocturnal Wonderland was there. It moved around a lot in its early years, but was previously held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio. It is expanding to three days this year to celebrate its 20th anniversary. It’s also been at the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino and more recently at San Manuel Amphitheater.
COACHELLA VALLEY MUSIC AND ARTS FESTIVAL
Where: Empire Polo Club, Indio
Established: 1999, but skipped a year in 2000
Biggest headliners: Paul McCartney, Prince, AC/DC, Red Hot Chili Peppers
Coachella kicks off festival season in the U.S. It’s six major stages highlight both established acts and up-and-coming artists in rock, electronic music, hip-hop and beyond. It helped launch the careers of The Killers, Amy Winehouse and Arcade Fire. Acts also go to Coachella to reunite on a big stage–like OutKast, Rage Against the Machine and the Pixies did. This year, the festival sold out in less than an hour. It attracts celebrities, including David Hasselhoff, and entire culture of fashion and brand parties in the Coachella Valley have spawned from it.
(File Photo)
STAGECOACH COUNTRY MUSIC FESTIVAL
Where: Empire Polo Club, Indio
Established: 2007
Biggest headliners: Kenny Chesney, George Strait, Brad Paisley, Carrie Underwood, Tim McGraw
Stagecoach is Coachella’s country brethren. Pretty much every major contemporary country star has topped the event and much like Coachella, it has been a breeding ground for new talent. Artists such as Jason Aldean, Miranda Lambert, Florida Georgia Line and The Band Perry started out low on the bill before climbing to the top tier. Other stages at the festival incorporate bluegrass, traditional country and Southern rock.
HARD SUMMER
Established: 2007
Where: Multiple locations in Los Angeles, now the Fairplex in Pomona
Biggest headliners: Skrillex, Bloc Party, Justice, A$AP Mob
This electronic dance music festival was created by Gary Richards, who performs as a DJ under the moniker Destructo. Under the Hard brand, he has done multiple festivals and shows for Halloween and New Year’s Eve in addition to the Holy Ship electronic dance music cruise.
MUSINK
Established: 2008
Where: OC Fair and Event Center
Biggest headliners: Blink-182, Bad Religion, Suicidal Tendencies, Rancid
The tattoo convention and music festival was helmed by tattoo artist Kat Von D when it started and in recent years has been helmed by Blink-182’s Travis Barker. Punk rules the day, but there have been rockabilly acts and hip-hop artists as well.
SUNSET STRIP MUSIC FESTIVAL
Established: 2008
Where: Started in the clubs of the Sunset Strip, now also takes over the street.
Biggest headliners: Ozzy Osbourne, Motley Crue, Jane’s Addiction
What started as an event created by the Sunset Strip Business Association has grown into a big annual event over multiple days. In 2014, concert promoter Nederlander joined the team to put it on.
BEYOND WONDERLAND
Established: 2010
Where: First the National Orange Show Events Center in San Bernardino, now San Manuel Amphitheater in Devore.
Biggest headliners: David Guetta, Afrojack, Calvin Harris
After its first year in San Bernardino, Beyond Wonderland, a springtime companion to Insomniac’s long-running electronic dance music fest Nocturnal Wonderland, held a second version first in Seattle and then in the Bay Area. In 2014, it skipped Southern California before returning last month.
KNOTFEST
Established: 2014
Where: San Manuel Amphitheater, Devore
Biggest headliners: Slipknot
Knotfest started in Iowa years ago, but the well-attended two-day event in 2014 set the groundwork for a heavy metal destination festival. Slipknot headlined both nights, with supporting sets from bands such as Anthrax, Danzig, Five Finger Death Punch and Volbeat.
MADE IN AMERICA
Where: Grand Park, Los Angeles
Established: 2014
Biggest Headliners: Kanye West, John Mayer, Imagine Dragons, Afrojack
Rapper and music mogul Jay Z teamed up with Budweiser for Made in America in Philadelphia in 2012 before adding a second locale in Downtown Los Angeles in 2014. The multigenre festival also included Kendrick Lamar, Iggy Azalea and Weezer.
KAABOO
Established: 2015
Where: Del Mar Racetrack and Fairgrounds, San Diego County
Biggest headliners: No Doubt, The Killers, Zac Brown Band
Kaaboo makes its debut in September with a deep lineup that incorporates multiple genres. The eclectic lineup also includes Snoop Dogg, Sheryl Crow, Los Lobos, The Roots and X. Comedians on the bill include Joel McHale and Lewis Black. The festival is also promising high-end local food and craft beer.
LOST HIGHWAY
Established: 2015
Where: San Manuel Amphitheater, Devore
Biggest headliners: Toby Keith and Social Distortion
Country, rock ’n’ roll and motorcycles join for this modern-day hootenanny at San Manuel Amphitheater at the end of May. Other acts include country group the Eli Young Band and psychobilly trio the Reverend Horton Heat. Among the activities are a motorcycle show, a run through the San Bernardino Mountains and a motorcycle helmet art exhibit.
BLAZE ‘N’ GLORY
Established: 2015
Where: San Manuel Amphitheater, Devore
Biggest headliners: Slightly Stoopid, Iration, Method Man, Redman
Reggae, roots, hip-hop and rock collide at this festival, which makes its debut in mid-May and is sponsored by a medical marijuana delivery service.