Since I totally missing anything that related to the 80/35 Festival until the last minute last year, I must either be more in tuned with this year’s festival or they’re doing a better job of promoting it.I noticed a few weeks ago the organizers were offering early bird VIP tickets with the caveat that you needed to wait a few weeks before a line-up was announced. Not having enough information to determine the buying power of the festival’s promoters, I decided to wait before forking over any money just to see whose playing.
I’m glad I did.
They announced the line-up for this year’s festival and include a blend of both jam bands and alternative performers. It was confirmed that House of Large Sizes will be one of the local performers on the second stage and the press conference yesterday announced the following artists will be headlining.
G-Love & Special Sauce-I have a lot of friends who like music. None of them own an album by G-Love & Special Sauce. For the life of me, I can’t name a single song that these guys do. Maybe they’re great, but I wouldn’t know it. There’s something about the “special sauce” moniker that makes me wary. Childish? You bet. But I’m not forking over a bunch of cash to hear a band for the first time that loves Thousand Island dressing so much that they named themselves after it.
Ben Harper-I hear this guy is popular. I do know of a few friends that dig jam band material who dig his stuff. Evidently, what little I’ve heard was so uneventful that I didn’t feel inclined to pursue it more.
Steve Malkamus-Didn’t he just play in a club? I’ll wait until he comes around again. Guess Steve didn’t get the memo that we’re waiting for a Pavement reunion, not another go round with The Jicks.
Public Enemy-I should be excited about this. It Takes A Million and Fear Of A Black Planet are just awesome albums. I’m suspicious. Do they even tour with the Bomb Squad anymore? After all, vintage P.E. was 45% Chuck, 45% Bomb Squad and 10% Flavor Flav. Without the Bomb Squad, it still won’t equal half of what I consider to be Public Enemy.
Tempting? A bit. Worth every dime? Not so much. I think 80/35 needs more names to break out of its neighborhood festival mode. If I’m not psyched about it to the point where I’d drive a few hours, then what makes them think that others will drive any farther? I guess the only unknown would be Harper; I have no frame of reference to gauge his popularity. It wasn’t until a few years ago when I realized how popular Jack Johnson was. It was then that I realized how every album of his sounded just like the last one.
Check out the full lineup and comment if you think there’s an artist listed that is worth the price and drive.
1 comment:
Kinda excited about Malkmus, I actually think the Jicks are pretty good -- but overall, kinda disappointing so far, and I seem to be hearing that from a lot of folks. OTOH, another HOLS comeback, that can't be bad, and I swing by Girl In A Coma's MySpace and they sound pretty good. Maybe as they continue trickling out the rest of the lineup, there will be more of interest.
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