Has Rockness forgotten it's roots?

[ClaireJR]

Rockness used to be THE festival for dance music. It's not everyone's cup of tea, so of course it should be on a smaller scale than the likes of TITP, Glasto etc, who cross a range of genres and put on more commercial acts. Of late RN have been putting on more bands. I'm not hatin - I love electronic music and I love live music just as much - having bands on the Sunday in 2010 was a nice touch. However, when I go to Rockness it's all about the beat.

They are commercialising it far too much, trying to pull in more of a crowd and make the festival bigger - one of the reasons I loved Rockness from day 1 was the intimacy, compared to TITP - the lack of jakeys and the atmosphere at RN is electric. By doing so they're going to lose all that. Scotland is only big enough for one major festival. TITP sells out in a matter of minutes, RN doesn't. And I like that. But clearly the promoters don't. Now it just feels like it's about the money, rather than the music. They will never overtake TITP so why even bother trying? If punters want variety in Scotland they'll go to TITP. Keep Rockness the way it was intended to be - the way that set them apart from the rest.

If someone told you in July 2007 after THAT Daft Punk set that Paolo Nutini was going to be headlining RN at some point, what would you have thought? Before you know it Olly Murs will be headlining and ticket prices going up yet again!

Thoughts?

[rexclark]

You'll get plenty of replies saying that it's a business and they need to make money and you'll get people asking how you can judge a festival when only three acts have been announced but for me you've pretty much hit the nail on the head.

There is no way it's purely coincidence that all three headliners won Q Awards this year and IMO thats no way to pick your headliners. Rockness won best line up last year without having to resort to whoring themselves to a magazine but obviously the money offered was too good and they must need it.

At the end of the day Rockness is a business, set out to make people money, but they should remember the punters who helped make the festival what it is today. If people didn't go in the earlier years it would be dead already.

Rockness will still be a cracking weekend and i'm sure after it we'll all be raving about how good the line up was but I feel with the selection of headliners this year Rockness has lost a little bit of it's soul.

[irons]

In the current climate I can see where they're going, not that I agree with it. It's all to do with money.

Nutti and Kasabian will sell tickets, that's what they want to do at the end of the day.

[Paul ™]

The capacity of the event is not getting bigger, they just want more people there within that capacity.

[Louise.Reid]

I can see where you're coming from but its hard to criticise like that when were're yet to see the full line up. The organisers must be surely aware of the backlash from Paulo so I'm sure they'll be working on the electronic side to keep the natives happy!

[blackg1000]

What a load of bollocks. There's some real protentious sh!te gets posted on this forum and it's getting a bit boring. Get over yourselves and to be honest, if you don't like what is happening with Rockness (and the strategy always was probably going to turn a few people away) then bugger off. Go do your own festival if you think you are that high and mighty instead of trying to make it look bad for everybody else. This slagging off Rockness on the back of 2 acts is fu*king ridiculous.

Edited November 27, 2010 by blackg1000

[irons]

I can see where you're coming from but its hard to criticise like that when were're yet to see the full line up. The organisers must be surely aware of the backlash from Paulo so I'm sure they'll be working on the electronic side to keep the natives happy!

[goonerming]

What a load of bollocks. There's some real protentious sh!te gets posted on this forum and it's getting a bit boring. Get over yourselves and to be honest, if you don't like what is happening with Rockness (and the strategy always was probably going to turn a few people away) then bugger off. Go do your own festival if you think you are that high and mighty instead of trying to make it look bad for everybody else. This slagging off Rockness on the back of 2 acts is fu*king ridiculous.

[rexclark]

Everyone is allowed an opinion thats the whole point of this forum. What would the point be if everyone just agreed? If you don't want to read negative comments why don't you f**k off? People have the right to be annoyed. If you pay the money for a ticket you have every right to an opinion. Yes it's getting boring reading all the negativity, I don't want to be negative about the headliners but you can't change how you feel and I personally think Paulo Nuttini is easily the worst headliner this festival has had which says alot considering Razorlight have headlined in the past.

I've been using these forums for a few years and the thing I enjoy is there are healthy debates, there always will be when it comes to festival line ups, if there wasn't these forums would die. I for one will not hold back my opinion incase I piss anyone off and I wouldn't expect anyone else to either.

[irons]

Everyone is allowed an opinion thats the whole point of this forum. What would the point be if everyone just agreed? If you don't want to read negative comments why don't you f**k off? People have the right to be annoyed. If you pay the money for a ticket you have every right to an opinion. Yes it's getting boring reading all the negativity, I don't want to be negative about the headliners but you can't change how you feel and I personally think Paulo Nuttini is easily the worst headliner this festival has had which says alot considering Razorlight have headlined in the past.

I've been using these forums for a few years and the thing I enjoy is there are healthy debates, there always will be when it comes to festival line ups, if there wasn't these forums would die. I for one will not hold back my opinion incase I piss anyone off and I wouldn't expect anyone else to either.

[Gothenburg83]

I awful excited...currently listening Chemical Brothers Album further its brill like

[Paul ™]

I awful excited...currently listening Chemical Brothers Album further its brill like

[Gothenburg83]

Aye it's gonna be good hearing the new stuff live

[awkayethenoo]

paolo nutini is without doubt not the kind of act to close Rockness,I do however think that some chilled out music would be good on the sunday.. just not as the closing act. Its unfair to slate rockness at the moment on the basis of the 3 acts they have booked, wait until the rest of the line up has been announced then judge wether rockness has "lost its roots" which im confident it hasn't.

[Paul ™]

Me being a young loon which of there albums would you recommend?

[blackg1000]

Me being a young loon which of there albums would you recommend?

[rachbon]

it's pointless commenting on how commercial rockness is because it has always been like that.

i think rockness could change from the type of festival it was originally, although we will have to wait until the festival to see how much it has actually changed.

[Ali1874]

I'm going to be one of the people who say it's too early to judge, although I can definitely see your point. It's about finding the balance I think. Obviously the festival wants to sell as many tickets as possible and by announcing headliners like Kasabian and Paolo Nutini they are maximising their chances of doing that. Even though I'm saying it's too early to judge whether the festival has changed, it doesn't mean I'm not worried. By announcing these 2 acts to sell more tickets how far will they go for the rest of the lineup and how many more pop acts will be announced instead of dance ones?

Hopefully it is a similar lineup to last year, plenty of dance acts and a couple of bands thrown in and that Kasabian and Paolo Nutini aren't setting the tone for the rest of the festival. The lineup last year suited me perfectly as I like dance but wasn't massively into it (still amn't really, know a lot more than I did this time last year but it's still a case of listening to acts when the lineups announced) and couldn't go to a festival without a bit of indie.

[rexclark]

Well said that man.

Have you and Rachel got a ticket already Nicky?