Oldchella Festival. Would you go?

[n3glect]

As we've noted that there's a possibility of a fall festival emerging in the future, and the dichotomy of the bands/crowds from this year's fest. Would it make sense to have a separate festival for the fans of the bands of Stone Roses, New Order, Nick Cave etc? Would the turnout have been larger for Blur/Roses if tickets had been sold after they were announced as headliners?

Every year the same bands come up in request threads:

Tears for Fears, Simple Minds, The The, etc..

Yet with the dwindling attendance for these sets, their slot in the lineup might not justify the cost in the future.

Perhaps the answer could be a Stagecoach size fall festival with a focus on these acts. There are still plenty of headliners that could fit into this branding (Cure, Depeche Mode, etc..)

Would you go?

[HAIRYGOOMBA]

Nope

[TomAz]

not to Tears For Fears or The The, no.
I like Simple Minds but not enough to drive all the way to Indio

Get some rock and roll in there and I might like it. Limit capacity to 25,000. Headliners Joan Jett D1, Elvis Costello D2. 21+ and you can take your beer everywhere. RV camping.

[amyzzz]

I would go.

[ThatGirl]

I'd go.

[Rolwolf]

Honestly, probably not. Since I moved away from SoCal 4 years ago the cost of attending Coachella every year has risen a lot. One of the biggest draws is the unique diversity of the line-up. I love that I can see OMD and New Order at the same festival as Earl Sweatshirt and James Blake. If Coachella started parsing itself out into smaller, more categorized festivals, it would lose the appeal. I’d just drive out to Lolla to see the young bands, and see the oldies in more intimate venues when they tour through town.

[nathanfairchild]

they'd have to get a pretty huge headliner if they'd want that demographic to travel for something like this.

[scenicworld]

I'd probably go, but I'm only 90 minutes from the polo fields. I doubt I would travel if it was just a bunch of wash ups, but maybe with the right lineup. now if we're talking pipe dream stuff of Talking Heads and Oingo Boingo....

[Miroir Noir]

Oldchella as you describe it would fail because the people who would most be in to the idea aren't going to drive to the desert for a mulitiday music festival without assigned seating.

These sets, by the way, are crucial to Coachella's identity as a music festival distinct from all of the other major American festivals. It's all the same menu for the most part, but each (good) festival brings a slightly different flavor to the table. Coachella's brand is in part invested with reunions and remembrances of the early days of punk, new wave, post punk, and '80s alternative and indie.

[ThatGirl]

Honestly, probably not. Since I moved away from SoCal 4 years ago the cost of attending Coachella every year has risen a lot. One of the biggest draws is the unique diversity of the line-up. I love that I can see OMD and New Order at the same festival as Earl Sweatshirt and James Blake. If Coachella started parsing itself out into smaller, more categorized festivals, it would lose the appeal. I’d just drive out to Lolla to see the young bands, and see the oldies in more intimate venues when they tour through town.

I rely on festivals to see acts that I never get to see where I live. I never would have seen bands like New Order or OMD if not for Coachella; they don't come to Western Canada during tours.

[amyzzz]

I'm not sure it is a good idea for the reasons other have mentioned, but I would still go.

[Rolwolf]

I hear you. I live in Minneapolis, where OMD just played a venue that fits like 500 people, and Nick Cave played 4 months ago at a venue that caps out at 1,600. Sure, I'd never get a chance to see something like How To Destroy Angels out here, but where would that sort of act fit in the proposed Oldchella / Newchella breakdown?

[TomAz]

they'd have to get a pretty huge headliner if they'd want that demographic to travel for something like this.

yeah I think that's pretty good point. Not too many people my age are big enough music fans to devote 3 or 4 days to a festival with Joan Jett headlining. (Joan Jett is fucking awesome, however, so stfu). Now if you had Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen or someone like that, it might be different, but that would change the whole dynamic of what I would like.

What might work though is an Oldchella version of the Warped tour. take it on the road, play midsized outdoor venue, Dylan, Wilco, MMJ, Richard Thompson.. oh wait.

[Boourns]

I have to wonder about how many people who actually cared about Blur/The Stone Roses/Nick Cave got shut out for tickets and didn't want to bother with stubhub. A lot of people don't, surprisingly, even when passes are discounted.

Anyway, I'd love to see some fest with Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Elton John as headliners, plus My Bloody Valentine, Pulp, Blur, some incarnation of Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, and some 80s/90s acts that nobody under the age of 30 cares about like Tears for Fears, Erasure, Devo, Pet Shop Boys, Cibo Matto, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, Ride, Slowdive, Sparks, Lou Reed, Suicide, Joan Jett, etc. And definitely some newer acts, as well, just not the typical trendy synthpop bands and EDM acts. Would be all over that.

[Miroir Noir]

The type of "mini" Coachella fest that I would be most interested in is pretty much what they're already doing with FYF.

[ThatGirl]

Anyway, I'd love to see some fest with Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Elton John as headliners, plus My Bloody Valentine, Pulp, Blur, some incarnation of Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, and some 80s/90s acts that nobody under the age of 30 cares about like Tears for Fears, Erasure, Devo, Pet Shop Boys, Cibo Matto, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, Ride, Slowdive, Sparks, Lou Reed, Suicide, Joan Jett, etc. And definitely some newer acts, as well, just not the typical trendy synthpop bands and EDM acts. Would be all over that.

This. This. This.

[n3glect]

I have to wonder about how many people who actually cared about Blur/The Stone Roses/Nick Cave got shut out for tickets and didn't want to bother with stubhub. A lot of people don't, surprisingly, even when passes are discounted.

I know a few people who definitely fit into this demographic.

Anyway, I'd love to see some fest with Neil Young, Stevie Wonder, Elton John as headliners, plus My Bloody Valentine, Pulp, Blur, some incarnation of Nick Cave, Elvis Costello, and some 80s/90s acts that nobody under the age of 30 cares about like Tears for Fears, Erasure, Devo, Pet Shop Boys, Cibo Matto, Jesus and Mary Chain, Lush, Ride, Slowdive, Sparks, Lou Reed, Suicide, Joan Jett, etc. And definitely some newer acts, as well, just not the typical trendy synthpop bands and EDM acts. Would be all over that.

EXACTLY. Talk about the worst conflictchella EVER.

[footixy]

Fuck ya I would ....Journey with Arnell please!

[Miroir Noir]

Here's another problem with "Oldchella": by making a pure nostalgia festival, I think you lose a certain sense of, I don't know, urgency. It's easy for the nostalgia acts to punch the clock, to be compartmentalized as some sort of empty cash-in. One of the cool things about seeing, say, New Order this year was seeing Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand -- bands that absolutely worship at the New Order altar -- play before them. It makes New Order feel like a vital part of a continuing musical conversation, not just a band that we think of as being "influential" in some vague sense.

[TomAz]

The type of "mini" Coachella fest that I would be most interested in is pretty much what they're already doing with FYF.

why? cuz they had Refused last year? really there wasn't much else in the way of "older bands no one under 30 would give a shit about".

[TomAz]

Here's another problem with "Oldchella": by making a pure nostalgia festival, I think you lose a certain sense of, I don't know, urgency. It's easy for the nostalgia acts to punch the clock, to be compartmentalized as some sort of empty cash-in. One of the cool things about seeing, say, New Order this year was seeing Hot Chip and Franz Ferdinand -- bands that absolutely worship at the New Order altar -- play before them. It makes New Order feel like a vital part of a continuing musical conversation, not just a band that we think of as being "influential" in some vague sense.

If Hot Chip "worships at the New Order altar" then why do they suck so bad?

[Miroir Noir]

No, I just meant I would go to an-EDM free smaller-scale indie fest booked by Coachella's people.

[TomAz]

You should go to FFF this fall Mitch.

[Miroir Noir]

That would be awesome. I need to do something besides college football in the fall.

[nathanfairchild]

location is great too. very easy to get to.

[n3glect]

I should clarify that while the older acts and reunions might be a staple of Oldchella, I think it'd be critical to include newer acts that would appeal to fans of those bands listed above.

Savages is a great example of a band from this year's fest that's new, and would definitely be well received by an Oldchella crowd.

A pure nostalgia fest would be boring and counterproductive. The state fair has that base covered.

[TomAz]

That would be awesome. I need to do something besides college football in the fall.

UT is actually at West Virginia that weekend. But Baylor is hosting Oklahoma in Waco (~100 miles north of Austin) on the Thursday before FFF.

[RODGERRAMJET]

I would be down for an Oldchella Weekend in Indio in the fall, but I guess it depends on how one defines "old". I'd be up for a fall "Oldchella" that would include the likes of:
AC/DC
Aerosmith
Ted Nugent
Status Quo
Foghat
The Godz
Golden Earring
Sammy Hagar
James Gang w/Joe (of course)
Judas Priest
Max Webster
Rush
Ian Hunter and/or Mott
Lou Reed
Iron Maiden
David Lindley & Jackson Browne
Bonnie Raitt
Bob Dylan
Tom Petty
.....and maybe throw in some 80s acts like:
Adam Ant
Tears For Fears
Crispy Ambulance
New Order
The Adolscents
Firehose
Royal Crescent Mob
Psychedelic Furs
Monkees
The Adicts
Billy Bragg
Ministry
Pixies
Social Distortion
Fear
Guadalcanal Diary
Pylon
B-52s

[TomAz]

Everyone in this thread should go get a copy of Pylon's Chomp if you don't already have it. You should listen to it. Then you should listen to it again. Then you should thank me.

Guadalcanal Diary were pretty damned awesome too. If Stone Roses can headline, so can they.

[NachoCat]

My attendance to this would depend on the amount of lasers that would be there.