09 September, 2006 (Saturday) Toronto - Virgin Music Festival
The Virgin Music Festival, Toronto Island. Two days of quality bands on two stages. 20,000 people. Beautiful city views. A last hurrah to summer. An outdoor extravaganza. Tickets were $60/day, or $117 (including tax) for both days. My expectations were high.
Things started falling apart when I first heard rumours that Massive Attack, the second-day headline act, had pulled out due to visa problems. Warning bells started to sound. There were sirens in the distance. But I hadn't seen Toronto Island before and I was music starved. Half-crazed from living at work the past few weeks I decided to go through and see it all.
My experience? All in all, it was probably the worst organised music festival that I've had the pleasure of attending. Perhaps I've been spoilt by my Australian experiences at the Big Day Out (1 day of musical mayhem for $150) and Homebake. Yes, Virgin was smaller, with only two stages - but there was more to it than that.
Distances: The two stages were too far from each other - ten minutes walk between stages isn't cool when you're going from act to act. I understand the need for traffic control with large groups, but it could have been handled more intelligently. Lanes could have been made or the stages could have been better situated.
Poor scheduling: Scheduling was nothing less than abysmal. Good bands overlapped (Star Sailor got robbed!). The main stage fell half an hour behind.
VIP areas: The various VIP areas (FutureShop, Nokia, Virgin VIP) seemed overdone and almost token. A covered area for customers or special ticket holders walled off from the rest of the plebs. Nice one.
Promotion: A lot of promotions, not a lot of alternative entertainment. While I got three AXE gift packs and a spin of the energiser wheel, there wasn't a lot else happening. Were they saving it for the second day?
Merchandise: Merchandising was pure amateur hour. Half the bands obviously didn't think to bring merchandise other than a few crusty EPs. Each stage had about 4 band t-shirts, most in black. Innovative.
Closing words: The Flaming Lips, the first evenings feature act, cut their set short after a huge build up. Four and a half songs in their lead singer, Wayne Coyne apologised because they had to finish up - other bands had taken too long and they were done. The band packed up. The crowd booed. It was pretty disappointing for a headling act to last 20 minutes (when they were scheduled for an hour) and then be booed off stage.
Better management would have just shifted things along as the day progressed, five minutes off this band's set, rush the setup. Event management should have expected some slippage. It happens. But it's not that hard to build a bit of flexibility in the schedule / contingency plan.
Am I done yet?
Well, here's how I felt that night:
I know it's bad when the headline act (Massive Attack) cancel 2 days before
I know it's bad when people are booing.
I know it's bad when the merchandise tent only holds 4 different t-shirt designs, all in black when there are 8 bands on the stage
Thoughts for next time
People have high expectations when they pay close to $70 (including taxes) for a ticket. They expect a full experience which justifies their expenditure. They expect it to be well planned an fun. They expect to have some options and to be able to see some great music.
The two day could have conceivably been done in one day over three stages. It could have crammed a lot more quality in there rather than trying to stretch it over two drawn-out days. The overcast weather probably discouraged quite a few punters, but putting on a poor show doesn't just affect fans, it affects reputation and branding.
Things started falling apart when I first heard rumours that Massive Attack, the second-day headline act, had pulled out due to visa problems. Warning bells started to sound. There were sirens in the distance. But I hadn't seen Toronto Island before and I was music starved. Half-crazed from living at work the past few weeks I decided to go through and see it all.
My experience? All in all, it was probably the worst organised music festival that I've had the pleasure of attending. Perhaps I've been spoilt by my Australian experiences at the Big Day Out (1 day of musical mayhem for $150) and Homebake. Yes, Virgin was smaller, with only two stages - but there was more to it than that.
Distances: The two stages were too far from each other - ten minutes walk between stages isn't cool when you're going from act to act. I understand the need for traffic control with large groups, but it could have been handled more intelligently. Lanes could have been made or the stages could have been better situated.
Poor scheduling: Scheduling was nothing less than abysmal. Good bands overlapped (Star Sailor got robbed!). The main stage fell half an hour behind.
VIP areas: The various VIP areas (FutureShop, Nokia, Virgin VIP) seemed overdone and almost token. A covered area for customers or special ticket holders walled off from the rest of the plebs. Nice one.
Promotion: A lot of promotions, not a lot of alternative entertainment. While I got three AXE gift packs and a spin of the energiser wheel, there wasn't a lot else happening. Were they saving it for the second day?
Merchandise: Merchandising was pure amateur hour. Half the bands obviously didn't think to bring merchandise other than a few crusty EPs. Each stage had about 4 band t-shirts, most in black. Innovative.
Closing words: The Flaming Lips, the first evenings feature act, cut their set short after a huge build up. Four and a half songs in their lead singer, Wayne Coyne apologised because they had to finish up - other bands had taken too long and they were done. The band packed up. The crowd booed. It was pretty disappointing for a headling act to last 20 minutes (when they were scheduled for an hour) and then be booed off stage.
Better management would have just shifted things along as the day progressed, five minutes off this band's set, rush the setup. Event management should have expected some slippage. It happens. But it's not that hard to build a bit of flexibility in the schedule / contingency plan.
Am I done yet?
Well, here's how I felt that night:
I know it's bad when the headline act (Massive Attack) cancel 2 days before
I know it's bad when people are booing.
I know it's bad when the merchandise tent only holds 4 different t-shirt designs, all in black when there are 8 bands on the stage
Thoughts for next time
People have high expectations when they pay close to $70 (including taxes) for a ticket. They expect a full experience which justifies their expenditure. They expect it to be well planned an fun. They expect to have some options and to be able to see some great music.
The two day could have conceivably been done in one day over three stages. It could have crammed a lot more quality in there rather than trying to stretch it over two drawn-out days. The overcast weather probably discouraged quite a few punters, but putting on a poor show doesn't just affect fans, it affects reputation and branding.
posted by the wastrel @ 11:10 PM
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