I just got back from Hellfest number six and wanted to talk a little bit about why in America we don’t have the same festival culture that is so treasured in Europe. Sure it’s starting to happen, and it is, to some extent, creating a sense of competition with the festivals across the pond, but I think we can all agree, the US doesn’t really have anything that competes with a festival like Wacken or Graspop. I figured in today’s article we could get into four reasons why this is. These reasons range from the attitudes of the different cultures to the infrastructure those cultures provide by way of how the market looks in Europe and of course the basic principles that make their festivals better. So yeah – we are going to get deep here and talk about some weird economic factors that are hard to quantify, simply because we don’t have the infrastructure to quantify them. However, it will hopefully get everyone thinking about festival scenes and the future both at home and abroad.
1. Europeans Will Sleep In A Ditch – Americans Won’t
This is really a key point for this whole thing. Americans are, in many ways spoiled. We didn’t have any rebuilding after World War II. In fact, that is what built America up. Meanwhile, my father growing up in France didn’t have a phone in his house until the mid-70s. I see time and time again that Europeans are stoked on camping for festivals, they love the outdoors experience and are generally a lot more willing to suffer drunk in the sun for three days so that they can see some bands they think are cool. Most American festivals seem to rely more on people staying in hotels. Look at for example the mass takeovers that happen for Psycho Las Vegas and Maryland Deathfest. When Americans have been given the opportunity to do camping festivals it frequently doesn’t work out because it simply isn’t in the culture.
2. Cultural Funding and Democratic Socialism
This is another big one that I think people don’t properly understand. Cultural funding is essential to metal festivals in Europe. While a lot of the big boys can pretty much get along fine without cultural funding that represents only pennies of their budget, the smaller ones live and die by it. There are a lot more ways to access funding for the arts in Europe, but there are also a lot more expenses. However, in Europe, they are generally a lot more used to the bureaucracy that this all entails. You find yourself with a lot of cool opportunities though because of the cultural funding. Look at a project like Hugsa – it would have never been possible without the Norwegian governments help. I don’t know if this creates a sense of entitlement, but it does make people a lot more willing to give creating a cool festival a shot. It also means that they don’t need to worry about the losses as much because it’s not coming out of their own pockets.
3. The Festival Market
We’ve touched on this before but the simple culture of the festival market is very different. People are used to spending 200 euros on tickets and then a few hundred extra on booze and food when at the festival once or twice a year. In Europe, it’s a pretty common thing to have a normal job and then go sleep in the middle of a field with your friends for a few days. There is a joie de vivre in many western European countries that make this into a fun adventure more than anything else. On top of that, the amount of festivals has grown so much that big bands can afford to do Thursday-Sunday at festivals and have the other days off. The entire summer touring experience is built around this at festivals in Europe.
The difference is that where in America most of these festivals cap at five hundred to at best a thousand people, in Europe a festival of five thousand people is considered small. That is to say – the biggest American festivals are a blip on the map of a European festival. Now the reason for this is two-fold. On the one hand, Europeans have much greater respect for the arts. On the other – the Europeans have figured out that you can, in fact, blend radio rock bands and underground metal bands and people will dig it. This last weekend at Hellfest I literally saw both Papa Roach and Tormentor playing mere meters from each other. People have diverse taste. Sure it doesn’t make you look ‘kvlt’ to have a big mainstream rock band on your fest, but if it brings people and can help convert some people to underground music – then why not do it?
4. Why European Fests Are Better
People have told me Hellfest is like summer camp and Roadburn is like a living art piece. The thing that differentiates them is that there isn’t just a bunch of bands in a field or in some cool venues. They have cool art installations, featured creators, things that make for an immersive experience. In some cases, it’s as simple as Desertfest which uses the rich cultural history of Camden to accentuate the festival. Others are like Inferno Festival where cool artists in the underground scene get to showcase and sell their work. American festivals never figured out that if you really want to take things to the next level then you need to give people an immersive experience.
In brief – Americans can catch up to the European festival scene, but instead of over-saturating, the market people need to be more careful about how they put things together and look to corporate partners to try to get funding. Europeans have different standards, a better infrastructure for this stuff, an established market and an understanding of how to create something people are excited to see and attend. While there are a few US festivals starting to get the numbers like Rock On The Range and Carolina Rebellion they won’t start to compete until they embrace the diversity that European festival promoters thrive on.
MATT BACON
Read Matt’s other Bacon Bloody Bacon blogs here:
Matt Bacon is a consultant, A&R man, and journalist specializing in the world of heavy metal. Having worked with everyone from Glam Rock icon Phil Collen of Def Leppard, to post Black Metal titans Alcest, by way of legendary thrashers Exhorder as well as labels including Prophecy Productions and Ripple Music, he has dedicated his life to helping young bands develop. Having started his own blog at the age of 14 he views his career in artist development as ‘a hobby that got out of hand’. In 2015 he formed Dropout Media in order to better support the artists he loves. We sit here now, years later with countless tours booked, records released and deals signed, and loving every minute of it.
For more information: