Welcome to a Consequence Chat, a feature that finds Consequence staff members debating the biggest stories in pop culture. Today, we look at the shifting festival landscape, and why so many fans have expressed headliner disappointment. The transcript below has been edited for clarity and length.
Wren Graves (Features Editor): Festival announcement season is in full swing, but it feels like something’s missing. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone, and Fred Again.. are headlining Bonnaroo. Boston Calling booked Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers, and The Killers. And after a long delay, Coachella will be led by Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat, Tyler, the Creator, and a reunited No Doubt.
These are undoubtedly great artists. Apart from No Doubt, they are also familiar: I’ve seen five of them at Lollapalooza just in the last three years. And if you lurk in comment sections and message boards, you’ll encounter a lot of music festival malaise. People just don’t seem excited.
Is it just that we’re early in announcement season? Or does 2024 really feel different?
Paolo Ragusa (Associate Editor): I definitely think we’ve seen a homogenization of music festivals. I started noticing it in 2021 as pandemic restrictions began to lift — Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Remi Wolf, and Phoebe Bridgers seemed to be on every lineup card that year. But as our publisher Alex Young has pointed out, Live Nation and AEG were consolidating their festival empires years before the pandemic. The homogenization is by design, as they booked artists for packages that included three or more festival appearances.
Jonah Krueger (Editorial Coordinator): It seems like the trend of the post-pandemic festival has been to rely on the “classic” artists, as seen most prominently with last year’s Glastonbury headliners (Guns N’ Roses, Elton John, and Arctic Monkeys) and the discourse that stirred. I have a feeling people will genuinely be excited for No Doubt. It’s been almost a decade since their last show, and the novelty of that (plus “Just a Girl” live) should be able to sustain some genuine hype. As an aside, it’s heartening to see a major market festival have 75% of their headliners be female or female-fronted.
Wren: Our love of ska aside, it hasn’t translated to buyers. Coachella is seeing their worst ticket sales in a decade.
Abby Jones (Associate Editor): Coachella ticket buyers: not just girls 🙁
I definitely think exciting headliners exist. This is an easy complaint to fall back on, but there’s once again a disappointing number of women on many non-Coachella lineups. People like Doja Cat, Rosalía, SZA, all seem like shoo-ins. I wouldn’t dare expect another Beychella, but when there are such dude-heavy lineups in the era of The Eras (sorry) and Renaissance Tours, it’s no wonder fans are disappointed.
Wren: Yeah, Taylor Swift’s “The Era’s Tour” is going to make a billion dollars. She’d be a great headliner, but no festival can afford her. I’m reminded of a recent interview by Sharon Osbourne, who said she hoped to revive Ozzfest as long as bands didn’t charge “trillions.” It sure sounded like Ozzfest had stopped feeling profitable when it died in 2018. Maybe, as concerts get ever more expensive, there’s no incentive for headliners to headline. Why expose yourself to Tennessee summertime heat when you can sell out MSG?
Abby: I think this may also be a reflection of the complaints we’ve been hearing about the touring industry. Even for pop stars, touring is really difficult right now, hence Harry Styles’ residencies in just a handful of cities rather than a full world tour. Headlining a festival where you’d have more limitations than you would at an arena show is probably just way more trouble than it’s worth.
Wren: I’m glad Abby brought up residencies, because there’s an American city we haven’t mentioned yet that is absolutely warping the touring landscape.
Las Vegas has come a long way since the days of Liberace’s residency, but the appeal remains the same. Touring sucks, concerts bring money, so what if you could do concerts without travel? In the early 2000s, Celine Dion became the first modern superstar to enjoy the financial benefits of a long road trip from the comforts of a Vegas suite.
