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Future Headliners


Mr. Snrub
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5 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Lizz needs a strong second album before I can place her in that category. I don’t think she’s quite there yet to be a bona fide headline but there is potential.

 

Yup. I think the festival market has definitely reached a stage where the booking focus is slowly changing.

I’ve been going through the European festival threads and looking at the complaints for the bookings being made this year. It’s sad to say but I think in the next few years a lot of seasoned festival goers (who... in the nicest way possible... don’t listen to new music) are going to be hanging up their festival boots.

I truly think the years of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Muse, Foo Fighters etc circling round Europe headlining every festival year on year are coming to an end. I think more festivals internationally are taking chances on newer acts and booking talent that the streaming generation wants to see.

The reactions to Nos Alive and Mad Cool this year have been really interesting. Unfortunately with such a swift (pardon the pun) market change in recent years it’s going to leave a lot of seasoned festival goers in a bit of a tricky spot. 
 

Of course there will still be older acts willing to jump on the circuit but I think there will be less and less of them as the years go on. Especially when artists like Billie, Taylor and Travis Scott are such huge ticket sellers and pull huge crowds!

Yeah I think this is largely true. I'd just add that it's not *because* it's new music and they're older ("seasoned festival goers"). As is often missed (especially in the debate over female headliners etc) it's the genre that's significant, rather that it being about new acts specifically - as highlighted by your list of rock bands. The festivals choosing to go with pop stars/rappers is the problem for these people but of course, whether there are enough quality new rock bands is another discussion.

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I also think streaming hasn’t just changed the game it’s ripped up the rule book. In the past it would take an act a few albums and a few tours to get to headline stage. This would be by getting their music played on the radio and having to do these big shows with mass exposure.

Now with the influence of streaming you can become a household name overnight. Big release pop albums are now being listened to even by those that don’t really care about the artist - they will put the album on just to see what the fuss is about. In the past you’d have to buy the record to even do this.

I think this is a change that the festival circuit is not yet equipped to handle. Billie Eilish is a great example of this. How do you place an act on your lineup who may only have one album under their belt, but one album that literally everyone has heard and everyone is familiar with. It seems now that breakout acts leapfrog steps that bands 5 years ago had to work night and day to overcome. Stormzy is probably a good example of this and I bet Lewis Capaldi will demonstrate this when he plays this year too.

The rule book has changed. You can do more with one album now. The audience for acts like Lewis Capaldi is huge even though their music output is nowhere near the size of more established acts. 
 

What I’m trying to get across here is that the headliner market for festivals is changing. Acts are becoming headline size quicker than in the past. The whole process of a breakout star is speeding up.

Arctic Monkeys headlined in 2007 with very little output. Glastonbury booked Stormzy in 2019 under the same pretences. Emily Eavis has her finger on the pulse more than I think we give her credit for. They are also following the development of the music market closer than we think to.

This change in booking policy is going to alienate seasoned festival goers that aren’t keeping on top of modern trends. Unfortunately that’s just going to be the way it goes.

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24 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Lizz needs a strong second album before I can place her in that category. I don’t think she’s quite there yet to be a bona fide headline but there is potential.

 

Yup. I think the festival market has definitely reached a stage where the booking focus is slowly changing.

I’ve been going through the European festival threads and looking at the complaints for the bookings being made this year. It’s sad to say but I think in the next few years a lot of seasoned festival goers (who... in the nicest way possible... don’t listen to new music) are going to be hanging up their festival boots.

I truly think the years of Pearl Jam, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Green Day, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Muse, Foo Fighters etc circling round Europe headlining every festival year on year are coming to an end. I think more festivals internationally are taking chances on newer acts and booking talent that the streaming generation wants to see.

The reactions to Nos Alive and Mad Cool this year have been really interesting. Unfortunately with such a swift (pardon the pun) market change in recent years it’s going to leave a lot of seasoned festival goers in a bit of a tricky spot. 
 

Of course there will still be older acts willing to jump on the circuit but I think there will be less and less of them as the years go on. Especially when artists like Billie, Taylor and Travis Scott are such huge ticket sellers and pull huge crowds!

Yeah have to agree. I think the foos will still be headliners for a while, definite ticket sellers. And Metallica and Iron maiden will stick to their metal festivals. But those other bands will slowly just do their own things 

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4 minutes ago, Garrett_Salas said:

I agree, I'm just not sure I agree with his thesis. I think there's generally been a mix of new acts, heritage acts and obviously contemporary acts are going to change over time. Whilst Swift certainly represents a change in musical style, she had a double platinum album 11 years ago.

The point I was trying to make is more about booking policy. Festivals are now trying harder to book acts like Taylor, Drake, Travis, etc because they know that’s a guaranteed sell out.

I’ve seen in some Euro threads (I’m thinking it was RW) that RHCP, Pearl Jam, Green Day, NIN etc aren’t even a guaranteed sell out anymore. It’s now common to see Euro fests doing co-headliners because bands like that can’t sell a day out on their own anymore. 
 

Time happens and nothing lasts forever I guess.

Edited by Matt42
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57 minutes ago, kingcrawler said:

It seems like they tried to book them for 2014 and possibly again more recently but the fee was too low for them. I think they'll headline in 2021 or 2022, as you say The Cure went down so well that I reckon they would see it as a great opportunity to do similar. Hopefully the reaction to their Isle of Wight set hasn't put them off British festivals too much.

DM have not historically played festivals but that changed on the last tour. I saw them at IOW and MadCool. So I definitely think it's possible on the next round, 2 or 3 years time...

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8 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

The point I was trying to make is more about booking policy. Festivals are now trying harder to book acts like Taylor, Drake, Travis, etc because they know that’s a guaranteed sell out.

I’ve seen in some Euro threads (I’m thinking it was RW) that RHCP, Pearl Jam, Green Day, NIN etc aren’t even a guaranteed sell out anymore. It’s now common to see Euro fests doing co-headliners because bands like that can’t sell a day out on their own anymore. 
 

Time happens and nothing lasts forever I guess.

I take your point, I just think that 'festivals want to book popular bands/artists' isn't anything particularly new and apart from a very select few, most bands aren't massive draws 30 or so years after their debut albums. Musical tastes are certainly changing though.

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still think the lead time from around now when the festival is firming up artists to when the festival takes place in June will mean they will stay on the side of caution as a lot can change. I dont think Billie Eilish was on 99% of peoples radar until Feb/March so what slot would have she been offered this time last year?

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5 minutes ago, august1 said:

I dont think Billie Eilish was on 99% of peoples radar until Feb/March so what slot would have she been offered this time last year?

I believe she was originally booked in an afternoon slot in the JP, and then got moved across to the Other during the re-jig caused by the sad news about Keith and the Prodigy's subsequent withdrawl.

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Not really into acts like Eilish or Capaldi but can totally understand them headlining. This would tie-in perfectly with me now being in my early 30s though now I'm spending more time at smaller stages moaning about the music people in their late teens/early 20s going for the first time are now into. The neverending cycle.

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5 minutes ago, waltere said:

I believe she was originally booked in an afternoon slot in the JP, and then got moved across to the Other during the re-jig caused by the sad news about Keith and the Prodigy's subsequent withdrawl.

Her moving to OS was nothing to do with Prodigy. Eavis moved her due to safety concerns and were even worried that she might pull out altogether as she can essentially command any spot she wants due to popularity.

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1 hour ago, Matt42 said:

In terms of reunions - R.E.M could happen - seems that there has been a bit of movement in that regard.

OK, allowing for the fact that nothing is set in stone, the future is unwritten and predictions are nearly always wrong....

No it couldn't and there really hasn't been.

Michael in particular has been particularly vocal about not reforming. They're all off doing their own things, either solo work or farming. More than any other band that I can think of, REM have been pretty consistent in their approach.  There's really nothing to suggest it's going to happen.

Edited by Quark
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6 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Her moving to OS was nothing to do with Prodigy. Eavis moved her due to safety concerns and were even worried that she might pull out altogether as she can essentially command any spot she wants due to popularity.

Fair.

Sound like a case of me putting 2 and 2 together and getting 5.

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2 hours ago, Havors said:

The same acts and bands get rehashes in these questions over and over....

A better question would have been... What new or up and coming bands/acts do we think will/could headline in the future?

Just my 2 pence worth...  

Dave | Fontaines DC | Lizzo 

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2 minutes ago, Fish Bulb said:

Dave | Fontaines DC | Lizzo 

Would absolutely love FDC to be up there one day but just can't see them reaching that demand, Idles would be a better shout... but headline is a massive push this way off, sub could happen... Lizzo i'm not sure on, she has a few albums out and nobody seemed to really be interested in her before 2019/confirming at the NME awards? Dave, yeah I guess so, made a decent enough start to his career with the Mercury?

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1 hour ago, Quark said:

OK, allowing for the fact that nothing is set in stone, the future is unwritten and predictions are nearly always wrong....

No it couldn't and there really hasn't been.

Michael in particular has been particularly vocal about not reforming. They're all off doing their own things, either solo work or farming. More than any other band that I can think of, REM have been pretty consistent in their approach.  There's really nothing to suggest it's going to happen.

As much as I'd like to see REM, it's not happening. I swear some people are just reading headlines regarding their promotion of Monster's 25th anniversary and presuming a reunion will happen, because in literally every interview with Michael when asked, he says a reunion won't be happening. 

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12 minutes ago, Matt87 said:

As much as I'd like to see REM, it's not happening. I swear some people are just reading headlines regarding their promotion of Monster's 25th anniversary and presuming a reunion will happen, because in literally every interview with Michael when asked, he says a reunion won't be happening. 

Exactly.

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