Members vanlatte Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 ...and frustrated at the same time. I spent the better part of this past week at Summerfest and heard some great music as well as some awful music. While it's always inspiring seeing people who know how to rock and put on a good show, it's equally frustrating watching some local hacks open up for big names and just make fools of themselves, especially when we busted our butts to get a gig there and nothing panned out. One of the bands that opened for (can't remember, was a long week) was introduced as "The next band to get signed out of Milwuakee". They were totally forgetable; I can't remember what they were called or any of their music, what I *do* remember is between every song I heard "You guys are f'ing great, we f'ing love each and every f'ing one of you and we f'ing love Summerfest lets give up a f'ing hand for . Check us out at f'ing www.blahblahblah.com you mother f'ers!" That got old after the first 3 times, after 9 or 10 I was ready to jump on the stage and choke the guy. Maybe that's why we couldnt get a gig there...
Members Ender_rpm Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Never understood why some people lose thier entire vocabulary when they get on stage. Then again, I guess it is teh kewl to use swear words in front of adults....
Members PaulyWally Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by vanlatte One of the bands that opened for (can't remember, was a long week) was introduced as "The next band to get signed out of Milwuakee". They were totally forgetable; I can't remember what they were called or any of their music Who did they open for? Edit: Oops... nevermind. I think I misread what you wrote. I'm just really curious as to who it was (and hoping I've never played with them). Maybe that's why we couldnt get a gig there From my experiences... Summerfest booking is fairly political and bureaucratic. No reason to think twice about it. Never understood why some people lose thier entire vocabulary when they get on stage. I played with a guitarist once that lost his entire grasp of reality on stage. I swear, he must have seriously believed he was Jim Morrison.
Members bassplayer7770 Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by PaulyWally From my experiences... Summerfest booking is fairly political and bureaucratic. No reason to think twice about it. I think that's normal for just about any music festival... I've had at least one band applying for Community Festival every year, but they never give us the time of day (even when we sign up to volunteer). It's especially frustrating when you hear crappy bands who actually got the gig... I've heard it's largely about who you know...
Members MageZ Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Some bands are so awful that there should be put in jail for calumniation the music.
Members PaulyWally Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by bassplayer7770 I think that's normal for just about any music festival... I've had at least one band applying for Community Festival every year, but they never give us the time of day (even when we sign up to volunteer). It's especially frustrating when you hear crappy bands who actually got the gig... I've heard it's largely about who you know... Well... if I ever make it big, I'm going to book free live gigs during music festivals........... just to piss 'em off. Some of those bands they hire are simply god-awful-rotten!
Members Roswellian Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 I completely agree with you Tony! I hate to see bands who only play one gig a year getting booked a Summerfest just because they know someone on the board or know someone who sponsors the stage. It is so frustrating! But the capper for me this year was the Freaking DJs!!! What the hell are DJs doing at a live music festival???? For those of you who never heard of Summerfest; it is a 10 day live music festival held on the lakeshore in Milwaukee, WI The Festival features multiple stages, big name acts and (rumor has it) Local acts. I have beat my head against the wall for years trying to get booked there but have had no luck to date. Politics, Kickbacks (to the board members from the booking agencies) and good ole boys network effectively block the hardworking local acts (who are not represented by the big three agencies) from getting booked there. Call it sour grapes but I don't care anymore... we booked several smaller festivals this year and we will have a great time at those. So who needs Bummerfest? K.P.
Members vanlatte Posted July 11, 2005 Author Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by Roswellian I completely agree with you Tony! I hate to see bands who only play one gig a year getting booked a Summerfest just because they know someone on the board or know someone who sponsors the stage. It is so frustrating! But the capper for me this year was the Freaking DJs!!! What the hell are DJs doing at a live music festival???? No kidding! I wondered the exact same thing, forgot to point that out. D.J.s at a music festival...uh,yea. Especially when so many good bands (we know quite a few that have been banging their heads against the same wall) are left out in the cold. Originally posted by Roswellian For those of you who never heard of Summerfest; it is a 10 day live music festival held on the lakeshore in Milwaukee, WI The Festival features multiple stages, big name acts and (rumor has it) Local acts. We saw quite a few local acts...all of which were met with "WTF?! How did these guys get in here?!" Originally posted by Roswellian I have beat my head against the wall for years trying to get booked there but have had no luck to date. Politics, Kickbacks (to the board members from the booking agencies) and good ole boys network effectively block the hardworking local acts (who are not represented by the big three agencies) from getting booked there. Call it sour grapes but I don't care anymore... we booked several smaller festivals this year and we will have a great time at those. So who needs Bummerfest? K.P. Hehe bummerfest...it was actually pretty fun this year, the weather was gorgeous and the bands we went to see in the first place were all worth it. What really sucks tho is how the festivals kill off the club scenes, and if you can't get any festivals booked then you end up taking the summer off. Blarg! I have seen your band, Ros and believe me, I *know* you would have been a much welcomed sight (and sound) over the abysmal rubbish that was passing for "local talent". The fact that a band like yours can't get in is testament to the fact that ability has nothing to do with getting on the bill. It's such a shame, especially when out of towners see the "local acts" and walk away thinking "So that's what Milwaukee has to offer..."
Members bnyswonger Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Imagine that! Less than great bands getting attention & opportunities that they don't necessarily deserve... I've never heard of such a thing happening in the music industry. Sameasiteverwas mi amigo.
Members vanlatte Posted July 11, 2005 Author Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by bnyswonger Imagine that! Less than great bands getting attention & opportunities that they don't necessarily deserve... I've never heard of such a thing happening in the music industry. Sameasiteverwas mi amigo. Touche
Members fastplant Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 What big names played at Summerfest?
Members mike fitzwell Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by fastplant What big names played at Summerfest? Actually it's more like who HASN'T played at Summerfest over the years! Here's a Summerfest history lesson. This is the first year since 1989 I didn't go at least once.
Members Roswellian Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Thanks for the kind words Tony... Yeah Summerfest has come a long way and it is a wonderful opportunity to see some great talent. I just wish that the field would be a bit more level when it comes to booking there. I know several festivals that will not even consider booking a band if that band played at that festival in the last year or two. This gives everyone a chance to at least have a shot. I just checked MilwaukeeRocks.com. There are 5250 bands registered on that site. These are all local bands on this website and if you discount half as being defunct another 1000 that are teen garage bands that never played out it still leaves you with 1625 bands all going after the 150 slots at Summerfest. I understand that not everyone will get in but I'd like to at least know I have a shot... but alas it is not to be.
Members PaulyWally Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by fastplant What big names played at Summerfest? Here's who (big names) played this year: Particle Indigenous Doobie Brothers LeAnn Rimes Morris Day and The Time Willy Porter Chevelle Neville Brothers The Crickets Johnny Rivers Crossfade Rusted Root Survivor Sugar Ray Donovan Dave Mason Los Lobos David Lee Roth Pat Green Will Durst Steve Winwood Peter Himmelman Moby Shine Down Lucinda Williams Howie Day John Waite Galactic Ben Folds Bret Michaels (of Poison) Styx Kool & The Gang Gin Blossoms Seether Eddie Money Billy Dean Local H Violent Femmes Graig Morgan Ohio Players Night Ranger Skid Row Kenny Wayne Shepard Death Cab for Cutie Daryl Stuermer Whitesnake Isaac Hayes The Donnas Collective Soul O.A.R. .38 Special Living Colour Better Than Ezra Please don't flame me if there was anything disputable in this list. I simply copy/pasted a list of Summerfest headliners and weeded it out at a glance. Sorry... no energy left today.
Members no-logic Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 We, like you Ros, have no desire to play there although we've been told we should. It's who you know. In fact, I don't even go anymore. It's the same old crap every year. Many of the bands are from Chicago. And I don't have anything against Chicago(except that the Bears suck.) but wouldn't it be nice to have our own hometown bands in their first?
Members PaulyWally Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by no-logic wouldn't it be nice to have our own hometown bands in their first? I agree. I say we start our own Music Festival and knock Summerfest out of business.
Members mike fitzwell Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by PaulyWally Here's who (big names) played this year: Particle Indigenous Doobie Brothers LeAnn Rimes Morris Day and The Time Willy Porter Chevelle Neville Brothers The Crickets Johnny Rivers Crossfade Rusted Root Survivor Sugar Ray Donovan Dave Mason Los Lobos David Lee Roth Pat Green Will Durst Steve Winwood Peter Himmelman Moby Shine Down Lucinda Williams Howie Day John Waite Galactic Ben Folds Bret Michaels (of Poison) Styx Kool & The Gang Gin Blossoms Seether Eddie Money Billy Dean Local H Violent Femmes Graig Morgan Ohio Players Night Ranger Skid Row Kenny Wayne Shepard Death Cab for Cutie Daryl Stuermer Whitesnake Isaac Hayes The Donnas Collective Soul O.A.R. .38 Special Living Colour Better Than Ezra Please don't flame me if there was anything disputable in this list. I simply copy/pasted a list of Summerfest headliners and weeded it out at a glance. Sorry... no energy left today. Those are just the notables on the free stages. These were the headliners in the Marcus Amphitheater that you had to buy tix for: John Mellencamp with special guest John Fogerty Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers with The Black Crowes Kenny Chesney with Gretchen Wilson and Pat Green Santana with Los Lonely Boys & Salvador Santana Band Stevie Nicks with Vanessa Carlton The Allman Brothers with Gov't Mule, Derek Trucks Band & Oteil & The Peacemakers Journey Pixies / Weezer with The Fray BoDeans with special guest Wallflowers Tim McGraw with special guest Keith Urban & Hot Apple Pie James Taylor
Members MageZ Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by PaulyWally Here's who (big names) played this year: Particle Indigenous Doobie Brothers LeAnn Rimes Morris Day and The Time Willy Porter Chevelle Neville Brothers The Crickets Johnny Rivers Crossfade Rusted Root Survivor Sugar Ray Donovan Dave Mason Los Lobos David Lee Roth Pat Green Will Durst Steve Winwood Peter Himmelman Moby Shine Down Lucinda Williams Howie Day John Waite Galactic Ben Folds Bret Michaels (of Poison) Styx Kool & The Gang Gin Blossoms Seether Eddie Money Billy Dean Local H Violent Femmes Graig Morgan Ohio Players Night Ranger Skid Row Kenny Wayne Shepard Death Cab for Cutie Daryl Stuermer Whitesnake Isaac Hayes The Donnas Collective Soul O.A.R. .38 Special Living Colour Better Than Ezra Please don't flame me if there was anything disputable in this list. I simply copy/pasted a list of Summerfest headliners and weeded it out at a glance. Sorry... no energy left today. No Limp Bizkit?
Members no-logic Posted July 11, 2005 Members Posted July 11, 2005 Originally posted by MageZ No Limp Bizkit? Who?
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.