x

The latest industry news to your inbox.


I'd like to hear about marketing opportunities

    

I accept IQ Magazine's Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy

Study: 1 in 4 people attend festivals sober

Streaming platform Cloud Cover Music has examined the changes in music festival experiences across the United States over the last few decades in a new survey asking respondents about sobriety, drug intake, sex, memorable acts and life-changing experiences.

The study finds that 24% of those surveyed reported being sober at music festivals. Alcohol consumption at festivals has been higher in the past decade than previously, rising from 64% in the noughties to 71%.

The survey finds that festivalgoers in the 1980s were more likely to consume marijuana or hard drugs, witness violence and rioting, have sex and witness nudity at a festival than they are now. 83% of attendees in that same decade described festivals as life-changing, compared to 53% in the 90s, 62% in the noughties and 65% now.

Burning Man consistently proved to be the least sober event, with 45% of festivalgoers saying they drank alcohol and consumed a mixture of drugs at the event

82% of respondents stated that Woodstock 1969 was life-changing, making it the most impactful music festival on the survey. However, the festival had only 17 survey respondents. Ultra Music Festival was voted the second most life-changing music festival with 78%, followed by Electric Daisy Carnival (75%) and Burning man (73%).

Burning Man consistently proved to be the least sober event, with 45% of festivalgoers saying they drank alcohol and consumed a mixture of drugs at the event. The results coincide with secondary ticketer TickPick’s survey of drug consumption at festivals last year. In contrast, 72% of respondents say they did not consume any substances at Warped Tour.

Across genres and festivals, Red Hot Chili Peppers were ranked the most memorable act at music festivals, with Jane’s Addiction, Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé and Tiësto also making the top five.

The full study can be read here.

 

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free digest of essential live music industry news, via email or Messenger.

LN, SGE present new touring rock festival Disrupt

The Rockstar Energy Disrupt Festival, a Live Nation and Synergy Global Entertainment (SGE) touring festival, will make its debut across North America this summer.

The 25-city rock roadshow kicks off on 21 June in Dallas, Texas at the Dos Equis Pavilion (20,000-cap.) and make stops in Austin, Atlanta, Toronto and Denver, among others, before wrapping up on 28 July in Albuquerque, New Mexico at the Isleta Amphitheatre (15,000-cap.).

The touring festival will feature unique line-ups in each city, with performances varying from artists including The Used, Thrice, Circa Survive, Sum 41, The Story So Far, Atreyu, Sleeping With Sirens and Andy Black.

Disrupt Festival will take place as a one-day event across two stages in each city it visits. The event will be the United States’ only major touring festival, following the final edition of travelling punk rock festival Warped Tour last year.

Warped Tour founder and promoter Kevin Lyman cited an increasingly competitive festival market, a lack of available talent and declining ticket sales as the reasons for the travelling festival’s cancellation after 24 years.

Fans who bring an empty can of Rockstar Energy Drink to recycle at the main gate will skip the queue and enter a prize draw to win a signed festival guitar and exclusive meet and greet with festival headliners.

Tickets for Disrupt Festival go on sale on Friday 29 March at 10 a.m. local time for each city. The full list of festival dates and line-up details by city are available here.

 

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free digest of essential live music industry news, via email or Messenger.

Kevin Lyman calls time on Warped Tour

The 2018 edition of iconic punk rock festival Warped Tour, the US’s last remaining major touring festival, it to be its last, founder and promoter Kevin Lyman has announced.

In a statement released yesterday afternoon, Lyman (pictured) said the 24th edition of Warped Tour, since 1996 sponsored by Vans, will be the festival’s “final, full cross-country run”. After working with more than 1,700 bands over 23 summers, he says, “with many mixed feelings” the time is right to step away.

“In 1995, I had already worked many years in the music business, including spending four summers on the Lollapalooza tour, and I thought, ‘For one summer, I would like go out and put on my own show’, mixing music and action sports,” explains Lyman. “With the support of so many people, I have now spent the last 23 summers bringing that show to a city near you. We have brought that show to over 11 million people around the world and watched that same world change while doing so.

“I have been proud to work with so many artists who have grown to be some of the largest stars in the world. Countless bands have played in hot parking lots and through summer storms for you at some point.

“Bands like Quicksand, Sublime, L7, No Use for A Name and No Doubt jumped on in the very first year. Touring many summers with my friends and peers like – Pennywise, Social Distortion, NOFX, Bad Religion, the Descendents, Less than Jake, Dropkick Murphys, the Bouncing Souls, Rancid, Flogging Molly, Anti-Flag and the Offspring are just some of my fondest memories. More include having Blink-182 travel on my bus in 1997 when the world opened up to them and made them the superstars they are today.”

He continues: “The Vans Warped Tour was the platform to witness the rise of pop punk, with Sum 41, Simple Plan, MXPX, New Found Glory and Good Charlotte, [and] the birth of emo, with bands like Thrice, Thursday, the Used, Taking Back Sunday, the Starting Line, Motion City Soundtrack and Jimmy Eat World.

“Fast-forward to the summer in 2005 when TRL and Warped Tour helped launch the careers of Fall Out Boy, My Chemical Romance and Avenged Sevenfold.

“I have been proud to work with so many artists who have grown to be some of the largest stars in the world”

“I witnessed Warped alumni like the Black Eyed Peas, Katy Perry, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, No Doubt and even Kid Rock play the Super Bowl. I’ve even had the pleasure of seeing Green Day play the Rose Bowl.

“More recently, I’ve watched bands start out on a small stage and work their way up to the main stages by meeting as many fans as possible and continuing to hone their craft while on the tour. Bands like Paramore, A Day To Remember, Sleeping With Sirens, Pierce The Veil, Echosmith, Motionless in White, Black Veil Brides, Every Time I Die, Neck Deep, Beartooth and so many more.

“What has always made me proud was when I read that Warped was the most diverse show of the summer, where you could find Eminem and Ice-T on the same stages as Sevendust, Pennywise, and 7 Seconds.

“I am so grateful to have worked with more than 1,700 bands over the last 23 summers. I wish I could thank every band that has played the tour.”

Elaborating on the end Warped Tour in an interview with Billboard, Lyman said a range of factors – including an increasingly competitive summer festival market, a shrinking pool of available talent and declining ticket sales among the festival’s teenage demographic – had all contributed to his decision to cancel.

As for the 2018 line-up, Lyman says he’s “gotta have Less than Jake and Every Time I Die”, with the Maine, Mayday Parade, Eminem, Fall Out Boy and Blink-182 also on his wishlist.

The 2018 tour kicks off on 21 June in Pomona, California, and wraps up in West Palm Beach, Florida, on 5 August.

 

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.