Todays announcement of the lineup for the Austin City Limits Music Festival on Sept. 26-28 organized by C3 Presents, the same Texas promoters behind Lollapalooza in Grant Park offers new fodder to consider a question that many in the concert industry have been posing of late: Is there a festival glut?
The new model of a multi-day destination festival packed with more than 100 bands and presumably offering something for everybody at a bargain price has increasingly come to dominate the summer months in many markets.
But its resulting in a homogeneity of many of the lineups, which are starting to look all too similar and less special or distinct.
Consider the highlights from this recent article by Jeff Leeds in the New York Times:
In a slumping music business such events pack a box office punch: the top five American festivals generated a combined $60 million in ticket sales last year, according to Billboard magazines estimates At least four new festivals will make their debuts this summer, raising the total to more than a dozen. Various concert promoters are already warning of the dangers of oversaturation, and point to the clutch of stars headlining multiple festivals In general, rock festivals have built their reputations by offering fans the chance to pack months of club crawling into one weekend and discover new favorites. But some talent managers caution against the idea that emerging acts can build their names through playing the full complement of festivals, where artist sets are sometimes abbreviated, and fans can be distracted. Mike Martinovich, who manages the rock group My Morning Jacket, said the band had agreed to play the two most established festivals, Coachella and Bonnaroo, and turned down other offers to keep from seeming like too much of a commodity. Doing a whole tour of festivals would be disastrous, he said. And some promoters worry that similar talent lineups will limit the festivals collective appeal. [Coachella promoter Paul Tollett] said the fear was that it could become homogenized, and everyone have the same bill and the same sort of feel at the festival.
We are not at the point of all the festivals being the same quite yet, but there is a lot of duplication in the bills. Here is the lineup for Austin City Limits, with notes in parentheses if the artist is also performing at New Jerseys All Points West (A), Tennessees Bonnaroo (B), Californias Coachella (C) or our own Lollapalooza (L). (The full lineups for All Points West, Bonnaroo and Coachella follow after that.)
Foo Fighters
Beck
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (B)
Manu Chao
John Fogerty
David Byrne
Alejandro Escovedo
Gnarls Barkley (L)
The Raconteurs (B, L, C)
The Mars Volta
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band
N.E.R.D
Erykah Badu
Drive-By Truckers (B)
Five Times August
Ingrid Michaelson
Langhorne Slim
Stars (C)
Sybris
Eli Paper Boy Reed & the True Loves (L)
Jose Gonzales (B)
Bavu Blakes & the Extra Plairs
CSS (A, L)
AA Bondy
Del the Funky Homosapien
Christopher Denny
Man Man (C)
Mike Farris
Jamie Lidell (L)
The Lee Boys (B)
MGMT (B, L, C)
South Austin Jug Band
What Made Milwaukee Famous (L)
American Bang (C)
Jenny Lewis
Bobby Bare, Jr.
Robert Earl Keen
M. Ward
Massacoustics
Patty Griffin
Asleep at the Wheel
Bellville Outfit
Tegan and Sara (B, C)
Mason Jennings (B, L)
We Go to 11 (L)
Iron & Wine (B)
Heartless Bastards
Band of Heathens
G. Love & Special Sauce (L)
Antibalas
City and Colour
Neko Case
The Nachito Herrera All Stars
Sunny Sweeney
Band of Horses
Shooter Jennings
Elizabeth Wills
The Swell Season (B, C)
Xavier Rudd
Automata
Silversun Pickups
Yeasayer (L)
Bonnie Bishop
Gogol Bordello (B, C, L)
Octopus Project (L)
Ben Sollee
Gillian Welch
Joe Bonamassa
Ben Cylus
Eli Young Band
The Kills (L)
The Concert Supremes
The Black Keys (L)
White Denim
River City Christionettes
Against Me! (B)
Louis XIV (L)
Shields of Faith
Jakob Dylan and the Gold Mountain Rebels (B)
Delta Spirit
The Jones Family Singers
Okkervil River (L)
Mates of State (A, L)
Nakia & His Southern Cousins
Galactic
Nicole Atkins & the Sea (A, L)
Brotherly Luv
Kevin Fowler
Electric Touch (C, L)
The Hensley Ensemble
Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings (B, C, L)
Black Joe Lewis & the Honey Bears
School of Rock
Hot Chip (C)
Back Door Slam (B)
Jambo
Vampire Weekend (B, C)
Tristan Prettyman
Q Brothers
Slightly Stoopid (C)
The Strange Boys
Buck Howdy with BB
Duffy Ryan
Bingham
Uncle Rock
Flyleaf Scott
Biram
Big Don
Roky Erickson
The Freddy Jones Band
mr. RAY
Yonder Mountain String Band (B)
Colour Revolt
The Jimmies
ALL POINTS WEST (Liberty State Park, Jersey City, N.J., Aug. 8-10)
Radiohead (two nights); Underworld; Spearhead; the New Pornographers; the Go! Team; Girl Talk; CSS; Forro in the Dark; Juana Molina; Little Brother; Andrew Bird; Mates of State; Nicole Atkins; Kings of Leon; Animal Collective; Metric; Chromeo; the Roots; the Black Angels; the Virgins; the Felice Brothers; Alberta Cross; Sia; K’Naan; Duffy; Your Vegas; Jack Johnson; Cat Power; Rodrigo y Gabriela; Amadou & Mariam; Youssou N’Dour; Black Kids; Jason Isbell; Grace Potter and the Nocturnals; Rogue Wave and Neil Halstead.
BONNAROO (Manchester, TN, June 12-15)
Pearl Jam; Metallica; Jack Johnson; Kanye West; Robert Plant & Alison Krauss; Phil Lesh & Friends; My Morning Jacket; The Allman Brothers Band; The Raconteurs; Willie Nelson; Death Cab for Cutie; B.B. King; Sigur Ros; Levon Helm and the Ramble on the Road; Ben Folds; O.A.R.; The Bluegrass Allstars Feat. Luke Bulla, Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Bela Fleck, Edgar Meyer and Bryan Sutton; M.I.A.; Umphrey’s McGee; Iron & Wine; Yonder Mountain String Band; Swell Season; Talib Kweli; Derek Trucks & Susan Tedeschi’s Soul Stew Revival; Gogol Bordello; Broken Social Scene; Robert Randolph’s Revival; Rilo Kiley; Mastodon; Lupe Fiasco; Against Me!; Sharon Jones & the Dap Kings; Pat Green; Ozomatli; Tegan & Sara; Solomon Burke; Drive-By Truckers; !!!; The Avett Brothers; Israel Vibration; Abigail Washburn & the Sparrow Quartet featuring Bela Fleck; Phil Lesh / Larry Campbell / Jackie Greene; Aimee Mann; Ladytron; The Fiery Furnaces; Orchestra Baobab; Ghostland Observatory; Jose Gonzalez; Dark Star Orchestra; Minus the Bear; Donavon Frankenreiter; Lez Zeppelin; State Radio; Battles; Jakob Dylan; Two Gallants; The Sword; Vampire Weekend; Little Feat; Nicole Atkins; The Felice Brothers; Mason Jennings; MGMT; The Lee Boys; Black Kids; Serena Ryder; Steel Train; Grupo Fantasma and Back Door Slam.
COACHELLA (Indio, CA, April 25-27)
Jack Johnson; the Verve; the Raconteurs; the Breeders; Aphex Twin; Fatboy Slim; Tegan and Sara; Serj Tankian; Goldfrapp; the Swell Season; the National; Slightly Stoopid; Mum; Pendulum; Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings; Battles; Aesop Rock; Les Savy Fav; Midnight Juggernauts; Spank Rock; dan le sac Vs Scroobius Pip; Diplo; Redd Kross; Adam Freeland; Santogold; Jens Lekman; John Butler Trio; Vampire Weekend; Dan Deacon; Black Kids; Architecture in Helsinki; Sandra Collins; Busy P; Cut Copy; Black Lips; Datarock; Professor Murder; Porter; Rogue Wave; American Bang; Luckyiam; Prince; Portishead; Kraftwerk; Death Cab for Cutie; Cafe Tacvba; Sasha & John Digweed; Rilo Kiley; Dwight Yoakam; M.I.A.; Hot Chip; Cold War Kids; Animal Collective; Kate Nash; Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks; DeVotchKa; Flogging Molly; Mark Ronson; Scars on Broadway; Islands; Does it Offend You, Yeah?; Above & Beyond; Enter Shikari; Calvin Harris; Boys Noize; Junkie XL; Cinematic Orchestra; the Teenagers; VHS or Beta; CarbonSilicon; Erol Alkan; Man Man; Yo! Majesty; Little Brother; Bonde Do Role; St. Vincent; AkronFamily; MGMT; Surkin; Curses!; Para One; Orgasmic; James Zabiela; SebastiAn; Kavinsky; Minus the Bear; Dredg; the Bird and the Bee; 120 Days; Yoav; Electric Touch; Yelle; Uffie featuring DJ Mehdi; Jesse Murphy; Roger Waters; Love and Rockets; My Morning Jacket; Spiritualized; Justice; Gogol Bordello; Chromeo; Metric; Danny Tenaglia; Simian Mobile Disco; Booka Shade; Murs; Dimitri from Paris; Autolux; Stars; the Field; Linton Kwesi Johnson; the Cool Kids; Sons & Daughters; Sia; Holy F*ck; Black Mountain; Annuals; Kid Sister with A-Trak; Modeselektor; Duffy; I’m from Barcelona; Manchester Orchestra; Deadmau5; AUSTIN TV; Swervedriver; Grand Ole Party; Shout Out Louds; Plasticines; Vas DeFrans and Brett Dennen.