I watched a superb documentary the other night on BBC18 about the history of British Music Festivals and it has to be said, they have a tainted past and a pretty dark future
From the early days of Glastonbury to today’s version there is an absolute world of difference between the two and once again, yes, you’ve guessed it: they’ve been ruined by money!
Gone are the days when people only cared about the quality of the music compared to today’s uber-rich and over pampered Z List celebrities comparing how much they spent on their brand new Luis Vitton welleys!
Rolling around in the mud twenty or thirty years ago was basically down to the fact that the people doing it were out of their faces on some serious acid and had an outlook for peace and love. Today’s crowd do it to gain personal notoriety with a good chance of gaining a bed in the following year’s Big Brother household!
The music seems like a mere back drop to the money making machine as the organisers are quicker to sort out sponsorship deals quicker than they are to book the bands! But of course, the organisers will never tell you that as they don’t want to lose face with the ‘old guard’ who still see it as a last bastion of hippyism!
As for today’s bands, none of them really grind on my balls that much, but one thing about festival appearances really does: stage invasions!
A good few years ago at one of our gigs in The Picket, Liverpool, there was a sort of stage invasion led by a good mate (you know who you are, Jones) and the truth is it was a fucking right laugh! When you see it done now on the likes of Glastonbury or the V Festival by the likes of Iggy “Sell-Out” Pop and The Kaiser Chiefs, you can’t help but think it’s a load of pre-planned carefully orchestrated bollocks!
Now I know the festival scene of today has obviously changed a lot since the dark days of Altamont and Woodstock with regards to safety and the lack of knife-wielding maniac Hells Angels, but you really can’t help but think they have had their hearts and soul ripped out and replaced with corporate bank-rolled by big companies (who also avoid paying tax, no doubt) who really don’t have anything in common with music apart from the fact that they’re there to promote their product! You scrub my back, I’ll do an encore!
Now I know it’s not all doom and gloom at most festivals as some people do actually love going to them and they do generally have a good time. Good for them! But things do need to change as, the truth is the world of music and, to a certain extent, light entertainment is slowly but surely losing its integrity and respect from the public who buys their records and attend their concerts/festivals as the public ARE being ripped off by the companies who supply them with over-priced food, drink and above all tickets and shows from musicians who are simply in it for the money who gladly produce half-arsed performances in a country that is already blighted by constant shit weather!
Doesn’t sound like a good weekend to me!
No wonder people go on caravanning holidays with their guitars and a crate of Carling!
Mol
No comments:
Post a Comment