And the experience that comes with music festivals

Country Culture

And the experience that comes with music festivals

“It’s better than Spring Break”

Country Culture

How do country festivals compare to other music festivals?

At every music festival you see individuals excited to see their favorite artist live. Usually at most music festi-vals you are able to identify a few artist you want to see and plan accordingly. Most music festivals will get some pretty familiar names so that festival- goers are intrigued to go. Music festivals in the United States such as Coachella, Bonn-aroo, and Lollapalooza always put out great lineups and are expected to sell out every year. But when it comes to country music festivals it appears to be a different thought process behind it.

In the Midwest country music festivals such as Country USA and Country Thunder attract a handful of country lovers from all over the country but lately it’s seemed as though there has been a change of heart. Yes it is obvious that at any music festival people consume alcohol and a various amount of drugs. But at country music festival’s it seems that the focus is more upon the alcohol/ experience then it is on the actual lineup of the festival. When personally going to one of these country music festivals

When personally going to festivals such as Bonnaroo and Lollapalooza I asked individuals who they were excited to see. They were able to list several individuals that were playing that day. The results of asking people who they were excited to see were dramatically different. After this quick questionare when asking these people this at Country Thunder I began to question what was the real reason these individuals came hours away to a camping trip to only see a few artists they knew?

I decided to ask a few individuals who seemed to be around my age who there favorite artists were that they wanted to see. There responses were very similar and were only limited to about 5 artists. All of them that were named were only bands that were play at night (around 7 or 8pm). What seemed strange is that there weren’t a lot of individuals that were being viewed in the afternoon time, mainly shows at the end of the night (like most other music festivals) were the most popular shows. The difference between the other music festivals verses the country music festival is that there is a larger percentage of people who go to the shows that were during the day.

is playing that night, which would predominately be only one artist. There was a significant increase of people coming to see a big name at the one stage festival, versus during the afternoon when the grounds barely got to 25% capacity.This was a continous process throughout the entire weekend, that people will hang out majority of the day in their campsite to party versus experience the concerts itself.

A common theme is that people didn’t find that artist enjoyable to watch and that they found more satisfaction drinkng in the comfort of their own camp site rather than enjoying the experience of the concert and seeing countless artist play. It was a hard thing to try and understand

Forget the ShowWhat is the real reason people are attracted to Country Festivals if attendees don’t attend most of the shows?

As festival-goers are anxious to get in and set up their site you see within the fenced area an array of RV’s and tent’s set up. With that you also see countless American flags and random flags are raised high for everyone to see. As people continue to drive down dirt roads to lead to the main gate you see an array of people decked out in flannel shirts and cowboy boots, and hear country music being played atevery other campsite. When people finally get past the check in, they are directed where to camp and they are set for anexperience for the next 3 days.

When it comes to actually seeing first hand what a country festival is about versus reading about it, they are two completely differentthings. Reading about it, articles may say that it’s a fun time and that it’s an incred-ible experience seeing countless artists preform throughout the day. What the articles don’t inform you of is what goes on throughout your entire day. What the articles don’t inform you of is what goes on throughout your entire day. The article doesn’t inform you that only later those nights will most people know when an artist is playing. When you wake up you will have people starting their day at 10:00 AM by cracking open a beer and starting to play music.

While performances are going on people notice that a handful of individuals don’t seem interested in the concert, but seem more interested in consuming alcohol. They seem to be only interested into who

becuase, when personally going to different music festivals, I felt that I was always moving to go see one show to an other and before I knew it the concert day was over. The day actually flew by seein-gover eight or nine artists within that one day, versus the one of Country Thunder only seeing one or two artists. There are countless comparrisons that can be made when looking at Lollapalooza and Coun-try Thunder but the underlining idea is brought to my attention that it is very evident, as a concertgoer, that people at Country Thunder attend for the purpose of being within the experience that sur-rounds the festival. Lollapalooza-goers go for the countless artist that attend within a big city atmosphere.

“More money is spent on alcohol then on the concert tickets.”

“It seems like people actually care about the music.” At Lollapalooza everywhere you go you are able to see someone playing. A total of five stages encompass Grant Park for Lolla, as for Country Thunder it’s kept to just one stage. With more variety of music at Lolla you also bring in different crowds of individuals as well as different attire. At Country Thunder you bring in just strict-ly country attire, which typically consists of flannels and jean shorts. Personally I have had the opportunity to experience both of these festivals and have been able to see the difference in what each has to offer. Country Thunder brings in a hand-ful of people, majority around the 18- 24 year old range.

According to Billboard.com in 2011 they did a survey in Nashville, Tennessee to find out more about country music lovers. What they found out was that only 13% of the 3,600 people they interviewed were of the 18-24 year old range. Of those numbers over 40 underage drinking tickets were given out during the course of those four days. So about on average every day a minimum of 10 underage kids were getting drinking tickets, not an aw-ful statistic considering the large number of people attending the festival. With the drinking tickets added to it there was also a total of about 230 tickets written over the course of the weekend. But contrary to what most people think the idea of the typical country fan isn’t a “hick”.

As stated before when comparing festivals there are a lot factors that need to go into it such as location, atmosphere, performers, setup, etc. Festivals such as Lollapalooza and Country Thunder are very renown throughout the United States that attracts some of the largest numbers. When looking at the two festivals it’s difficult to compare because Lollapalooza is located in a major city and Country Thunder is located in a very rural location in Twin Cities, Wisconsin. Lollapalooza offers a wider variety of music ranging from hip-hop to some country acts and even some electric dance music. Country Thunder is strictly country music (obviously given the name). The atmosphere is different because at Coun try Thunder you are away from any major city in a rural area, and the only thing you can hear is the country music that is being played, or the music being played from different camp sites.

Student in reference to why Lollapalooza is better than Country Thunder.