Part 1: Year of the Launch

By Dan Ruby

Now that the dust has settled in New Jersey with one new mega rock festival set for August and another one postposed till 2009, this is a good time to review the state of play and try to make sense of the spate of major festival launches in 2008.

So far, the big new events for 2008 are All Points West, a Coachella-style event for the New York market, Rothbury Festival, a Bonnaroo wannabe in western Michigan, both produced by divisions of entertainment conglomerate AEG Live, and Outside Lands, a Bonnaroo offshoot in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

The big event in southern New Jersey, Vineland, was announced with great fanfare in November by AEG competitor Live Nation but later postponed. More shoes may drop in the weeks ahead with a Mile HIgh Music & Arts Festival widely expected for July in the Denver area (AEG again) and another probably less likely one near Vancouver in Pemberton BC (Live Nation).

Meanwhile, another festival powerhouse, Festival Network, producer of the Newport festivals and others, plans to roll out a series of new festivals in resort locations, including Whister BC and Jackson Hole WY.

All this activity comes in a market with established players like Bonnaroo, Coachella, Lollapalooza, Virgin and many more. The next tier of festivals contains a dozen or more successful festival brands: Langerado, Wakarusa, High Sierra, Sasquatch, 10,000 Lakes, All Good, Voodoo....the list goes on and on. Many of those are also looking for opportunities to expand, as with High Sierra's brand-new DelFest coming to Maryland in May.

And that is not to mention the more eclectic city festivals that draw huge audiences for top name talent: New Orleans Jazzfest, Bumbershoot in Seattle, Summerfest in Milwaukee and many more.
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Article updates

March 19: AEG Live Rocky Mountain Division announced the first annual Mile High Music Festival, July 19-20 at the outer fields at Dick's Sporting Goods Park. Headliners are Dave Matthews Band, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, John Mayer and The Black Crowes with many others also named.

March 13: Based on Billboard's reporting, it appears that Pemberton Music and Arts Fetival is now a sure thing for July 26-29 in Pemberton BC, a co-oprduction of Live Nation Canada and Good Boy Productions, the latter a partnership of Coldplay's and Depeche Mode's business managers. Attached artists include Coldplay, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, My Morning Jacket, The Tragicaly Hiip, Flaming LIps, Death Cab for Cutie and lots more.

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