There’s no denying we’ve all spent days at a time meticulously planning which DJs we intend on watching at our next festival, right down to allowing for toilet breaks and bar trips.
When you see five top class arenas, all of which have at least three DJs you simply cannot miss – dropping £70 on a festival ticket seems like a bloomin’ bargain and money well spent.
In reality, what tends to happen is each DJ plays for an hour so you can’t quite get into it; the arenas are too far apart – and more importantly, your mate gets too fucked too early and won’t move for the first place she pitches up, meaning you end up watching a load of shit. That wasn’t in the plan, people.
Festival culture is growing, and as enjoyable as some of them may be, it is impacting night clubs which is a tragic occurrence – but whose fault is it?
There’s absolutely nothing wrong with getting messy in a field. If anything, nothing beats warm rays of sun on your back, feeling tipsy, watching Hot since 82 drop a few bangers.
The problem is a lot of festivals are rarely an enjoyable experience, with many, including some of the most established brands, continuing to let the punters down by keeping the sound levels to a minimum, having a shocking bar service, mile long toilet queues and forcing a thoroughly outdated drinks token system on you which benefits absolutely nobody.
This is exploitation on a massive scale and something you’d rarely get from a nightclub, which for some reason is becoming a less appealing option in the current climate.
Don’t get me wrong, there are a number of clubs which hit capacity each and every week; as well as a number of ravers who prefer spending their money on seeing one DJ go at it for five hours, rather than the watered down sets festivals keep offering up.
In an era where nightclubs are closing and festivals are growing, there is an obvious link between the two.
The modern day raver sees more value in spending their hard earned cash on going to an event which showcases hundreds of appealing names – and who can blame them? You are led to believe you will receive bang for your buck.
The problem lies with the promoter who at present, chooses to take advantage of this trend. A certain level of due diligence needs to be taken; not to save club life, but to not rip off festival goers by only offering 55 minutes of each DJ, on a sound system no louder than an iPod dock.
If festival promoters and booking agents were to give a minimum of a two hour set per DJ, it could well enhance festival culture, as well as save the night club, as fewer DJs would be booked (“not my problem” shouts every festival promoter on earth right about now).
Perhaps DJs and producers could take a look at themselves too? Stop allowing your agent to book you for an embarrassingly short set at a festival you know has a shoddy reputation.
Most of these guys were vocal enough about Brexit or Donald Trump because it directly affects their travel arrangements and earning potential in a negative way – so how about stand up against shit festivals….. or doesn’t that fit the narrative?
