Where Can I Rant About Festival Shows?

I'll only go to a festival now if they do day tickets. Usually there's only one or maybe two bands on the bill that I'm remotely interested in.
But, every time I go to an outdoor show I tend to get rained on.

I fully agree. Staring 50 in the face, they're not for me anymore. I don't like being hot, hungry, tired, ripped off, or crowded. Having raised a kid, it takes a lot to gross me out in the physical functions dept in terms of porta potties. I don't tarry in the loo and I can hold my breath reasonably long. It also helps to carry soap leaves and water.

I'm reaaaaaalllly torn about Desert fest NY in September. I haven't been to a festival in about 15 years, probably. But a friend is playing as well as Melvins, possibly my next favorite band after TC. If they are plying the same day, I will probably suck it up and go. If not, difficult decisions must be made. 

I feel for you, but concerts are supposed to be fun, not an endurance test. I just went to the Cure last week but that was a seated event not a festival and the Cure were AWESOME and I had a blast.

Also I'm as pale as a ghost with black hair and black clothing, I don't do well in the sun. 

Not a fan of festivals anymore. We did seriously consider Cruel World this year, but we knew The Cure was going to be touring North America and would want to travel to see them multiple times, so we passed on it. (Was also hesitant about Cruel World because of the organizer. They were put on The Cure's Pasadena Daydream back in the before-times and it was a sh!tshow.)

Also, not a fan of the heat. Or standing in the sun.

I’m almost fifty and I’ll attend tomorrow at Primavera Sound to see Shellac and Jockstrap mainly.

Festivals are a young people thing. Lots of my funniest and fondest memories, many of them unforgettable, comes from the festivals I attended or played with my band when I was in between 18 and 30 something years old. I didn’t care about all that discomfort you have mentioned. Everything was ok, as long as I was with my friends. I discovered lots of bands, met people that became friends, had incredible, surreal experiences…. and I still enjoy going to a Festival if there are some bands I like. I love to watch young people enjoying, and they enjoy a lot, as we did before them. I don’t care If I have to walk too much, or have a pee in some shiaty place. I can live with it. The only downside I see it’s that terrible sponsorship on almost every inch of the venues, wich indeed affects directly into a thing you also have mentioned: those ridiculously high prices for drinks, food, tickets and so on. That wild, greedy, agressive, out of control capitalism is not for me. It wasn’t like that in the old days, at least not in my country.

But lots of bands playing, music outdoors, young people having fun? Of course. Who can complain of something like that? Keep it coming, please.

Festivals are very popular and when I posted my initial comments, I did expect push back on my opinions. It is easy to be an ageist when confronted with disparaging remarks about festival shows, but I also believe it is more than that. 

When I go to see my favorite bands I want to see their full touring setlist not an abreviated shortened setlist because of time constraints and city and county curfews.

Festivals are nothing more than lucriative cattle call and cash grab for artists and promoters. They are often oversold at the disregard and discomfort for the people that attend them. 

For me going to a concert is a lot like doing recreational drugs. When it ceases to be enjoyable or fun, than why do it. I have always been of the opinion that attending a concert should be fun and enjoyable and not an endurance test of how much annoyance and discomfort you can withstand.

Festivals are the buffets of our times, where every taste is made available to the customer or concert goer, but whenever you allow the general public to handle food you create a petri dish for contamination. As long as the general public accepts this kind of sub-par concert experiences, promoters will continue buying these type of shows and the demand will only increase as long as there are buyers.

If you enjoy this kind of concert experience, good for you, you are not in the minority. Everybody has their own way of enjoying a concert experience, and that is fine people can do whatever they want but I remember when the concert going experience was a lot more enjoyable and not an albutross of endurance.

I don't go to buffets either.