Here at NTSIB we try to stick to the positive, but today I’m making an exception, because I just cannot let something this dumb slide by.
The target of my irritation: the FarmBorough Festival, New York City’s first (only?) country music festival.
I saw it pop up on my Facebook feed and I was excited. Country music! Randall’s Island! Yes! Definitely something I’d probably want to attend.
The line-up – with the exception of Dwight Yoakam – is not super great, but it isn’t complete yet, so I was willing to be forgiving on that score. For those of you who just clicked on that link and muttered what??? under your breaths:
1) I’m not especially a fan of Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley or Luke Bryan, but I acknowledge their star power within the genre and
2) I am one of those people who sincerely enjoys going to music festivals early and wandering around catching snippets of multiple bands. It’s a good way to hear bands I’ve never heard of or have heard of but don’t necessarily want to pay to see at their own show. Some of them will be terrible, some of them will be great; I’m willing to roll those dice if there’s someone I know I like – say, Dwight Yoakam – in there to sweeten the pot.
And then I got to the tickets section and discovered there are no single day passes. And that’s why I’m annoyed.
I’ve attended a bunch of music festivals in the last several years including Bamboozle, All Points West, Great GoogaMooga, Northside Festival, Clearwater Festival and Warped Tour. With the exception of Warped Tour (which is only one day) and Northside, all of them offered single day passes.
A brief survey of summer music festivals being held this year indicates that outside of events held in remote locations – Bonnaroo, Coachella – single days passes seem to be standard. Most notably, Governor’s Ball, also on Randall’s Island this year, and featuring a similar line-up to the other events, has single day passes.
FarmBorough tickets are $225 for a three day pass – more if you want a three day ferry pass, VIP or Super VIP, the latter of which includes, among other things, a cowboy hat – which is, in the grand music festival scheme of things, on the lower end of the scale. But it’s more than I’m willing to gamble.
For those of you about to suggest volunteering or press passes: 1) they have no volunteer options and 2) I can’t even get a press pass for CMJ, never mind this and also 3) that is not the point. Forcing your attendees to buy three day passes is dumb for a multitude of reasons, and giving people – especially persnickety, frugal music consumers – more options and flexibility is always a good idea.
Cranky Commentary: FarmBorough Festival
Here at NTSIB we try to stick to the positive, but today I’m making an exception, because I just cannot let something this dumb slide by.
The target of my irritation: the FarmBorough Festival, New York City’s first (only?) country music festival.
I saw it pop up on my Facebook feed and I was excited. Country music! Randall’s Island! Yes! Definitely something I’d probably want to attend.
The line-up – with the exception of Dwight Yoakam – is not super great, but it isn’t complete yet, so I was willing to be forgiving on that score. For those of you who just clicked on that link and muttered what??? under your breaths:
1) I’m not especially a fan of Dierks Bentley, Brad Paisley or Luke Bryan, but I acknowledge their star power within the genre and
2) I am one of those people who sincerely enjoys going to music festivals early and wandering around catching snippets of multiple bands. It’s a good way to hear bands I’ve never heard of or have heard of but don’t necessarily want to pay to see at their own show. Some of them will be terrible, some of them will be great; I’m willing to roll those dice if there’s someone I know I like – say, Dwight Yoakam – in there to sweeten the pot.
And then I got to the tickets section and discovered there are no single day passes. And that’s why I’m annoyed.
I’ve attended a bunch of music festivals in the last several years including Bamboozle, All Points West, Great GoogaMooga, Northside Festival, Clearwater Festival and Warped Tour. With the exception of Warped Tour (which is only one day) and Northside, all of them offered single day passes.
A brief survey of summer music festivals being held this year indicates that outside of events held in remote locations – Bonnaroo, Coachella – single days passes seem to be standard. Most notably, Governor’s Ball, also on Randall’s Island this year, and featuring a similar line-up to the other events, has single day passes.
FarmBorough tickets are $225 for a three day pass – more if you want a three day ferry pass, VIP or Super VIP, the latter of which includes, among other things, a cowboy hat – which is, in the grand music festival scheme of things, on the lower end of the scale. But it’s more than I’m willing to gamble.
For those of you about to suggest volunteering or press passes: 1) they have no volunteer options and 2) I can’t even get a press pass for CMJ, never mind this and also 3) that is not the point. Forcing your attendees to buy three day passes is dumb for a multitude of reasons, and giving people – especially persnickety, frugal music consumers – more options and flexibility is always a good idea.