airwaves Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Hi Who do you think has been the most 'overbooked' main stage headliner - just those 3 acts per festival alone. That is, not someone who for 'taste' reasons you may or may not have thought should have headlined eg Metallica, Jay-Z, Beyonce etc etc who each split opinion but were (probably) big enough on the world stage to be 'worthy' of a headline spot. No, rather someone who came from nowhere AND did relativly bugger all since/disappeared into oblivian. I start you with 1999 and Skunk Anansie !!! Who the F were/are they?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaledonianGonzo Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 They were big enough at the time, but posterity is already making Mumford & Sons look like a bit of an odd call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nal Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Travis, Arcade Fire, Florence, Kasabian, The Verve, Mumfords. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernintendo Chalmers Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 (edited) Basement Jaxx, Gorillaz, Florence and Ash, although they were replacements in fairness. Mumford & Sons (as CalGon says, they were big at the time but in hindsight they've bombed since). I'd argue that Rod Stewart was a strange booking. Actually, 2002 was an awful trio of headliners. I don't think they get it wrong that often, to be honest. They're getting pretty good at this festival organising lark, aren't they? Edited January 22, 2018 by SPTFRE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rose-Colored Boy Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Arcade Fire for definite. Didn't 'come from nowhere and then go away again' as such, but far too niche an appeal for a modern Pyramid headliner. Really do think it's overstated how much the Mumfords have dropped off - of course they didn't sustain the mental popularity they had on the Babel tour, but they haven't suddenly become a pub-size band. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaledonianGonzo Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Though I think few would have predicted the extent to which The Arcade Fires have pissed on their own chips in the last year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomicide Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 52 minutes ago, airwaves said: I start you with 1999 and Skunk Anansie !!! Who the F were/are they?? Joint headlined one night at Bearded Theory last year along with Slaves, though were on last. Apparently they were quite good. Anyway... Shakespeare's Sister somehow headlined in 1992. They were on their second album by then which peaked at number 9 in the UK. Apart from Stay, only 2 other singles troubled the top 10. Sub headliner was Lou Reed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supernintendo Chalmers Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 13 minutes ago, Gnomicide said: Joint headlined one night at Bearded Theory last year along with Slaves, though were on last. Apparently they were quite good. I saw them play mid-afternoon at Highfield Festival in Germany a couple years ago. They were actually pretty good, Skin was on great form. Not sure if they warranted a Pyramid headline slot though, even at their peak. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dentalplan Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Moby is someone you’d have to notice at the time to identify as a headliner. Saying that though, they need more overbookings (zeitgeisty shunts up the lineup) than overbookings in the other sense (repeats, legacy acts doing all the festivals, etc). However, I can’t believe Skunk Anansie were ever big enough. They must’ve known where the bodies were buried. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Moby and Arcade Fire were both really f@cking good (if that counts for anything!). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaledonianGonzo Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Skunk and the lads were basically the last gasp of the 80s/90s style of headline booking policy when acts like The Black Crowes and Lenny Kravitz wound up at the top of the tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomicide Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 56 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said: Skunk and the lads were basically the last gasp of the 80s/90s style of headline booking policy when acts like The Black Crowes and Lenny Kravitz wound up at the top of the tree. Black Crowes is a bit of a shocker, isn't it. I mean, I absolutely love them and would be delighted to see them back in action but it's quite the thing to think of them as headliners. Looking at some of the old lineups, they were back a couple of years later as sub headliners to Oasis. Strange times. The only time I saw them at a festival around the same period, they were the opening act at Donington in 1991. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfool01 Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 isn't coldplay the answer ? haven't they been booked a few times ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaledonianGonzo Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 18 minutes ago, Gnomicide said: Looking at some of the old lineups, they were back a couple of years later as sub headliners to Oasis. Strange times. I think there"s a bit of footage of that on YouTube. From memory it involved a lot of fairly stoned jamming and an extended percussion interlude from yer man during My Morning Song that went down like a tonne of bricks with the crowd. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt42 Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 I guess all bookings can be justified at the time. I'm quite glad Glastonbury never went and booked Biffy as a headliner, would of definitely been a Mumford and Sons scenario. Coldplay have definitely played too much, but I guess every festival has a house band. Will be quite shit if they reappear in the next few years though - I imagine they probably will in 2020. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matt42 Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 4 hours ago, The Nal said: Travis, Arcade Fire, Florence, Kasabian, The Verve, Mumfords. I'm intrigued by people saying Florence was a bad decision. She was booked as a sub and (in my opinion) did a very good job at a headline slot. I imagine once she returns she will be taking headline bookings only, so will it look that strange in retrospect? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Nal Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 12 minutes ago, Matt42 said: I'm intrigued by people saying Florence was a bad decision. She was booked as a sub and (in my opinion) did a very good job at a headline slot. I imagine once she returns she will be taking headline bookings only, so will it look that strange in retrospect? Maybe not but as you say, she was booked as a sub which is about right. Good decision at the time. They didn't have too many options though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mr gumby Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Marc Bolan. I mean, where the fuck is he now? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyhack Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Mr B may have stepped in when the Kinks no showed at the first fest but Ray Davies has made up for it since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amy Lawn Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 Arcade Fire, Florence, and Kasabian were all fine. Owen Pallett & The Lads and Ran His Dad Over & The Lads have both headlined a good crop of the other big UK fests before and since they headlined G, and Florence is just big and popular. If your headliner pool doesn't include them, then your headliner pool is too small/unrealistic. And if they're too small then your favourite off-pitch yodeling virgins Radiohead are as well. And what is more; if you're only having incredibigs at the top of the lineup-, then tickets getting hoovered up by normie-ass, out of town shopping centre patronising, mason jars to drink out of buying, Radio 2 listening, ITV2 watching, some e-cards meme sharing, instagramming themselves on an inflatable couch in front of the Pyramid all day BELLENDS is completely YOUR FAULT YOU DISGUSTING FESTIVAL WRECKING TURD. I'm fine with some of these shitty people turning up, maybe it will cure them, but it's just wrong that theres like three hundred and four of them to every one crusty. Which band do crusties like? Overbook them. 2 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grumpyhack Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 There's a fair few crusty favourites who've played - like Hobo Jones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnomicide Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 24 minutes ago, grumpyhack said: There's a fair few crusty favourites who've played - like Hobo Jones. I can see my hat from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Crazyfool01 Posted January 22, 2018 Report Share Posted January 22, 2018 42 minutes ago, grumpyhack said: There's a fair few crusty favourites who've played - like Hobo Jones. Im just out of shot ... love these crusty favourites ... a festival tradition for me seeing these guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strummer77 Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 I’d be far more up for some of these bands mentioned who are ‘too small’. Increasingly many Pyramid headliners are getting worse atmospheres than they deserve because people expect wall to wall huge hits. Yes the bands should be big, but it doesn’t have to be karaoke throughout Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaledonianGonzo Posted January 23, 2018 Report Share Posted January 23, 2018 5 hours ago, strummer77 said: Increasingly many Pyramid headliners are getting worse atmospheres than they deserve because people expect wall to wall huge hits. Any specific examples? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.