Outdoor Music Festivals

[RedAngie]

Has anybody ever attended any of those huge outdoor music festivals, such as Lollapalooza, Coachella, Ozzfest, Glastonbury in England, or similar? Anybody old enough to have attended the Granddaddy of them all, Woodstock in 1969?

I hope nobody tried to attend the disastrous Fyre Festival in The Bahamas last spring.


The first one I attended was called Heatwave in late August, 1980. Billed as a "Punk/New Wave Woodstock," it was held at a car race track about 40 miles outside of Toronto, Canada. I drove up with two friends, and we may or may not have smuggled natural and synthetic substances across the border. Organization at the festival was poor, but the music turned out to be pretty good. Main bands were The B-52's, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and Elvis Costello and the Attractions. The Clash was supposed to be the headliners, but when we arrived there were signs and announcements that they wouldn't be appearing. No reason was given, and there were rumors they were stopped and detained by Canadian Customs at the Toronto airport.

I wanted to go to Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, but the date conflicted with a previously scheduled and paid for vacation.

Lollapalooza #1 in 1991. The site was in a rural area of northern New Jersey about three hours away. Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails were the big draws, but I mainly went to see Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Violent Femmes, and the Butthole Surfers. Living Color, Ice-T, and the Henry Rollins Band were also on the bill.

Lollapalooza #5 in 1995. Camden, NJ, across the river from Philadelphia. Hole was the main draw for me, and Patti Smith on the secondary stage. The headliner was Sonic Youth. Cypress Hill and Beck also appeared, among others.

Anybody else care to share their experiences?

 

[Micca]

I went to an Amnesty International benefit show at Giant's stadium back in the 80s. Headliners were U2 & The Police. Bryan Adams & Peter Gabriel also performed along with several other acts. The show was 11 hours, tickets were $36. Pete Townshend was scheduled to appear but his father passed away a day or two prior so he was MIA.

I've since seen only a few shows in stadiums--the Rolling Stones a few times. I was done with big outdoor shows many years ago, just too much hassle and fatiguing.

 

[chicagodisneyfan]

I go to Lollapalooza every year in Chicago - I can walk there from my house. Was also at the 1st one in 1991.

I usually go to:
Bunbury in Cincinnati
Summerfest in Milwaukee
Bridge School Benefit in California
Jazz Fest in New Orleans
Global Citizen Festival in New York
Riot Fest in Chicago

I like to fest!

 

[wenrob]

There were plenty happening when I was coming up but I was right at an age where my folks could and did say no. (even though Dad went to his fair share back in the day) By the time I was grown enough to go on my own I either wasn’t interested enough in the bands or couldn’t take the time off work.

The closest I ever got was an event here called June Fest. Lots of classic rockers at these. Kansas, Eddie Money, Pat Benatar, The Almond Brothers, Ted Nugent, BTO, Bad Company, George Thorogood, Sammy Hagar etc. I don’t think we ever made it quite to the end of one though. A) We’d start drinking at breakfast (despite swearing every year we weren’t going to do that again) and would be good and hammered before the gates even opened. B) June. In Vegas. Outside + well, hammered. Not really a good combination. We had some good times though. Best: someone throwing a beer at Eddie Money, him catching it right side up, drinking it and never missing a beat. Worst: Ted Nugent going on a rant and realizing he’d descended into full on crazy town.

 

[wenrob]

double post

 

[LittleMissMagic]

I went to Coachella last year.

 

[AppleDumpling]

I went to an Amnesty International benefit show at Giant's stadium back in the 80s. Headliners were U2 & The Police. Bryan Adams & Peter Gabriel also performed along with several other acts. The show was 11 hours, tickets were $36. Pete Townshend was scheduled to appear but his father passed away a day or two prior so he was MIA.

I was there too. Yep, all day event, have never been to anything comparable, before or since. Amazing concert. It was June of 1986.

 

[low-key]

I love music but dont want to be around a bunch of stinky people all day

 

[RedAngie]

I love music but dont want to be around a bunch of stinky people all day

That's a main reason I stopped going to such events.

 

[wenrob]

Stinky, drunk people.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Stinky, drunk people.

You mean you can smell the alcohol above the toxic cloud of Reefer smoke? You have a very good nose.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Needless to say, I'd never go to one of these. Everything about them makes me less likely to want to go to one. And reading about the Frye Festival pretty much confirmed it.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

The closest I've ever been to one is Bonnaroo in Manchester, TN. I drove by on the freeway in the left lane because the right lane was totally blocked with those trying to exit. No thanks.

 

[OhMari]

Summerfest in Milwaukee was voted the best outdoor concert event. They have one major headliner each night, and At least a dozen or more bands on different free stages throughout the park. About 5 years ago, Imagine Dragons were on a free stage. The front gate got crashed down by kids calling and texting their friends and telling them to Get there. It was scary chaos, luckily no one got trampled and we made it out alive.

 

[usnuzuloose]

It was the US Festival in 1983. It was huge

 

[Julie's Haircut]

I wanted to go to Live Aid in Philadelphia in 1985, but the date conflicted with a previously scheduled and paid for vacation.

Lollapalooza #1 in 1991. The site was in a rural area of northern New Jersey about three hours away. Jane's Addiction and Nine Inch Nails were the big draws, but I mainly went to see Siouxsie & the Banshees, The Violent Femmes, and the Butthole Surfers. Living Color, Ice-T, and the Henry Rollins Band were also on the bill.



Anybody else care to share their experiences?

I went to Live Aid. It was both a fun and a miserable experience. I think it ran from 9am to about 1130pm. We got there about 130pm when George Thorogood was playing and left about 8pm when Eric Clapton finished his set.

For the most part, the music was good and the bands changed and set up very efficiently. It really moved along.

But the old JFK Stadium was a dump. Splintery wooden bleacher seats, some crumbling concrete steps in our section, lines for food and beverage were a mile long and slow moving. It was 95F and we were already hot and sweaty before we even got into the stadium. Bathrooms and portapotties were disgusting with long lines. Guys were just peeing against concrete pillars. One time in an actual bathroom I saw a woman (I think) giving oral pleasure to a guy with other guys watching. I don't know if she (?) was charging for the service.

We had enough before sunset and listened to the rest of the concert on the car radio.

Other bands I remember seeing were Tom Petty, The Cars, Madonna, The Thompson Twins, The Pretenders, and Neil Young.


I went to the first Lollapalooza, but Siouxsie and The Banshees didn't appear due to illness. There was supposedly a make-up event promised to ticket holders at a later date, but I never heard anything more about it.

Generally I'm not a fan of those large outdoor concerts.

 

[Colleen27]

The best one I've been to was Orion, on Belle Isle in Detroit. I was so disappointed when Metallica announced they weren't going to make it an annual event!

I went to Lollapallooza back when it was a touring festival, in I think '96. I'm not old enough for Woodstock but I was there for the semi-disastrous 30th anniversary festival in '99 and loved every minute of it, heat and mosh pits and sleeping in the back of a truck and all. For a long time I never missed the Downtown Hoedown in Detroit but when they moved it out of Hart Plaza it started to go downhill, and now that it is in the suburbs I'm just not interested. We go to Warped Tour every year, and I'm thinking next year will be the year I finally get to Faster Horses (country festival at Michigan intl speedway).

Lollapallooza in Chicago and Bonaroo are on my post-kids to-do list. Right now we have 4H or school conflicts every. single. year. so I've resigned myself to the idea that I'm going to have to wait at least until DD16 graduates before I can fit either one in.