The Year of the Underwhelming Festival Headliner

The post The Year of the Underwhelming Festival Headliner appeared first on Consequence.

Welcome to a Consequence Chat, a feature that finds Consequence staff members debating the biggest stories in pop culture. Today, we look at the shifting festival landscape, and why so many fans have expressed headliner disappointment. The transcript below has been edited for clarity and length.

Wren Graves (Features Editor): Festival announcement season is in full swing, but it feels like something’s missing. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Post Malone, and Fred Again.. are headlining Bonnaroo. Boston Calling booked Ed Sheeran, Tyler Childers, and The Killers.  And after a long delay, Coachella will be led by Lana Del Rey, Doja Cat, Tyler, the Creator, and a reunited No Doubt.

These are undoubtedly great artists. Apart from No Doubt, they are also familiar: I’ve seen five of them at Lollapalooza just in the last three years. And if you lurk in comment sections and message boards, you’ll encounter a lot of music festival malaise. People just don’t seem excited.

Is it just that we’re early in announcement season? Or does 2024 really feel different?

Paolo Ragusa (Associate Editor): I definitely think we’ve seen a homogenization of music festivals. I started noticing it in 2021 as pandemic restrictions began to lift — Billie Eilish, Post Malone, Remi Wolf, and Phoebe Bridgers seemed to be on every lineup card that year. But as our publisher Alex Young has pointed out, Live Nation and AEG were consolidating their festival empires years before the pandemic. The homogenization is by design, as they booked artists for packages that included three or more festival appearances.

Jonah Krueger (Editorial Coordinator): It seems like the trend of the post-pandemic festival has been to rely on the “classic” artists, as seen most prominently with last year’s Glastonbury headliners (Guns N’ Roses, Elton John, and Arctic Monkeys) and the discourse that stirred. I have a feeling people will genuinely be excited for No Doubt. It’s been almost a decade since their last show, and the novelty of that (plus “Just a Girl” live) should be able to sustain some genuine hype. As an aside, it’s heartening to see a major market festival have 75% of their headliners be female or female-fronted.

Wren: Our love of ska aside, it hasn’t translated to buyers. Coachella is seeing their worst ticket sales in a decade.

Abby Jones (Associate Editor): Coachella ticket buyers: not just girls

I definitely think exciting headliners exist. This is an easy complaint to fall back on, but there’s once again a disappointing number of women on many non-Coachella lineups. People like Doja Cat, Rosalía, SZA, all seem like shoo-ins. I wouldn’t dare expect another Beychella, but when there are such dude-heavy lineups in the era of The Eras (sorry) and Renaissance Tours, it’s no wonder fans are disappointed.

Wren: Yeah, Taylor Swift’s “The Era’s Tour” is going to make a billion dollars. She’d be a great headliner, but no festival can afford her. I’m reminded of a recent interview by Sharon Osbourne, who said she hoped to revive Ozzfest as long as bands didn’t charge “trillions.” It sure sounded like Ozzfest had stopped feeling profitable when it died in 2018. Maybe, as concerts get ever more expensive, there’s no incentive for headliners to headline. Why expose yourself to Tennessee summertime heat when you can sell out MSG?

Abby: I think this may also be a reflection of the complaints we’ve been hearing about the touring industry. Even for pop stars, touring is really difficult right now, hence Harry Styles’ residencies in just a handful of cities rather than a full world tour. Headlining a festival where you’d have more limitations than you would at an arena show is probably just way more trouble than it’s worth.

Wren: I’m glad Abby brought up residencies, because there’s an American city we haven’t mentioned yet that is absolutely warping the touring landscape.

Las Vegas has come a long way since the days of Liberace’s residency, but the appeal remains the same. Touring sucks, concerts bring money, so what if you could do concerts without travel? In the early 2000s, Celine Dion became the first modern superstar to enjoy the financial benefits of a long road trip from the comforts of a Vegas suite.

Abby: As someone who is passionate about sleeping and bathing, I get it.

Paolo: I do think these residencies are impacting festival lineups when it comes to the availability of headliners. Adele and Silk Sonic are two exciting, in-demand artists that would look exceptional on a 2024 lineup, but after their residencies, they’re simply not interested and/or available.

Wren: The likes of Billy Joel, U2, and Harry Styles all topped bills in the last decade, but now they all seem to choose residencies over festivals: Joel at MSG, U2 at The Sphere, Styles in every major market. It all points in the same direction: Headlining a festival is either not as lucrative or as prestigious as it used to be.

Jonah: Just look at Frank Ocean at last year’s Coachella — both his reported attitude about it behind the scenes and the backlash to his performance. Seems to exemplify that exact idea.

Abby: I also think we’re feeling underwhelmed by this year’s headliners because they’ve almost all headlined major festivals before. It used to be a lot less predictable, so each year was like a little surprise. It seems like festival organizers aren’t necessarily willing to bank on relative rookies.

Paolo: I also want to bring up When We Were Young, and how much online fervor there was in 2022 for My Chemical Romance and Paramore. Even for a “nostalgia” festival featuring a once-dominant genre and scene, the relevancy of those two particular acts continues to extend to today, and their respective returns were, by most accounts, very successful.

All of this is to say that as festivals have continued to fracture outwards towards genre-specific (or nostalgia/scene-based) lineups, they offer some fans a better chance of seeing a headliner they care about than at Coachella or Bonnaroo. Just Like Heaven, Riot Fest, When We Were Young, and the newer Kilby Block Party all seem to be in service of this strategy.

Wren: So then this brings up an interesting question: Who are the general interest festivals even for?

Jonah: If I let my cynical side win, I’d say mostly influencers. From an outsider’s perspective, going to Coachella these days is more of fashion and status statement than it is a musical one. It’s the Met Gala for online micro celebrities, complete with the out-there clothing.

To my eyes, the Coachellas and Lollapaloozas are social parties set to music, and the residencies are for the die-hard fans. Looked at through the right lens, residencies aren’t too dissimilar to a highly curated festival, as the expectation is that fans come to the artist rather than the artist touring close to the fans.

Abby: Not to age myself, but I think the influencer-ification of Coachella marked the downfall of prioritizing music in music festivals. The big guys realized it could be more profitable as an “experience” rather than a place where music fans could go see a bunch of shows. I think these special interest festivals are trying to nudge us back to the pre-Instagram era.

Wren: The influencers get all the attention, but I think we’re giving them too much credit. Even in LA there aren’t enough wannabe-influencers to sell out four days.

Abby: Maybe, but I do think a lot of larger festivals are trying to make themselves an “experience.” When I went to ACL in 2022, there were countless “exclusive lounges” and like 20 beverage sponsors, which wasn’t the case at all when I first started going in [redacted year]. I immediately saw that as a sign that organizers aren’t narrowing their focus on the music.

I also think the “experience” factor is a huge marketing point with the MSG Sphere in Vegas. How many people are buying those tickets because they think U2 is a great band?

Wren: Abby brings up an interesting point. Every year, it seems, the VIP sections get bigger and bigger. In an age of vast income inequality, it doesn’t make sense for festivals to focus on GA. We weren’t going to spend that much anyway.

Paolo: I noticed this at last year’s Outside Lands. It seems that the festival is more concerned with getting the Silicon Valley tech bros in their VIP sections than, say, a frequent concert-attendee from Oakland.

Jonah: And who are buying those VIP tickets? Likely, it’s financially stable Gen Xers and Baby Boomers rather than young kids. They’re also the ones that’ll cough up $19 for a Bud Light and $40 for two slices of pizza. If you’re looking towards that audience, acts like the Chili Peppers make a lot more sense than an Olivia Rodrigo.

Wren: Before we wrap up, let’s turn our attention to the future. Is this a new normal? And how do you see the festival landscape evolving over the next few years?

Paolo: As Abby said, I think we’ll be seeing a lot more special interests festivals pop up. That being said, I do hope they stop trying to group 30-40 acts onto one day of music. Just make it two days!

Wren: My blistered feet are cheering right now.

Paolo: Part of me feels like certain headliner-level reunions will no longer take place at festivals. If Talking Heads had reunited back in 2013, I could absolutely see them headlining Coachella, Glastonbury, or Bonnaroo. If they do it this year, however, would they opt for a traditional tour or a residency instead? My inclination is yes.

Abby: I think we need to see some holistic changes in the touring world happen before the benefits can trickle up to festivals. I want to see more investments in smaller and mid-size venues, where artists can make a living touring without being signed to a major label or having a viral TikTok hit. Make artists want to tour and play festivals.

Wren: Who wouldn’t love more healthy small venues? All we have to do is fix the real estate crisis, break up ticket conglomerates, and create a robust social safety net so small business owners can take risks without ending up destitute forever.

Abby: I’ve literally been saying this for years.

The Year of the Underwhelming Festival Headliner
Wren Graves

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