July 17, 2006
V Fest: Official, and Crazy Expensive
We've been waiting for the official V Fest details for a little while now. We'd gotten hints that the September 23 affair at Pimlico would include The Raconteurs, Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Who, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah and more. All of those: confirmed. Here's the full lineup:
Bands The Red Hot Chili Peppers; The Who; The Killers; Flaming Lips; The Raconteurs; Gnarls Barkley; Scissor Sisters; Keane; Thievery Corporation; Clap Your Hands Say Yeah; New Pornographers; Drive-by Truckers; Kasabian; Brazilian Girls; Wolfmother
DJs
Tiesto; John Digweed; Carl Cox; RJD2; 2 Many DJs; James Holden
Sounds pretty great, right? There's a little something for everybody. Any one of those bluzzy types would incite a presale password leak riot. And The Who? The freaking Who! Before you get too excited, a word of warning: start saving now. We're talking the collecting pennies from under your couch cuhsions, foregoing Starbucks for a few months kind of saving. TUL has been on top of V Fest from the start, and continued investigative bloggerism reveals that tickets to this show are going to sell for a whopping $97.50. We're guessing that doesn't include service charges.
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Nice lineup, but that's pricey! Plus add in transportation costs to our neighbor to the north and hoppy beverages...
Plus parking. From their web site:
Parking is very limited, so we are offering premium parking tickets for sale. Check back here for more details and special offers.
You'd have to be pretty crazy (no gnarls barkley pun intended) about a bunch of these bands for it to be worth the money and the hassle for what I'm assuming will be a less than ideal venue. I'll be sitting this one out.
Are you all bad at math? This is ten hours of music, break it down by what each band would cost and the total hours involved. Granted the sets may be shorter, but the options are amazing.
Carl Cox, Tiesto, Jihn Digweed, James Holden? On a weekend? These DJ are some of the priciest ones around. 2ManyDj's have never been around these parts, add to that RHCP, and The Who?
Good don't go - more fun for those of us who do. We dont get these types of festivals around these parts every year.
i'd pay $100 just to see the Flaming Lips again.
"Are you all bad at math? This is ten hours of music, break it down by what each band would cost and the total hours involved. Granted the sets may be shorter, but the options are amazing."
This is still 100 bucks I could spend on rent, hookers, 10 months of Mousetrap, a rave with every drug I could possibly need and maybe an inflatable spaceship to leave the planet in case of emergency, five $20 concerts, a date likely to end in sexual intercourse, dental work, gobs of Mylanta, a hood-paddle-and electrostimulation kit from The Stockroom, and a midget.
Saying that something is too expensive for you doesn't make you a hater. And it isn't unreasonable to want summer festival options that cost less than the national debt of most of the Global South.
The lineup is fabulous. There is no way in hell I can afford this on the pittance I make unless I pretty much stop going out for like a month. Which is horrific seeing as 2 MANY DJ'S have been something I've wanted to see for about 5 years now.
how much would one normally pay to go see a RHCP or The Who in concert - for 2 hours? 40-50 bucks?
DC's EDM scene is going down the drain, its easy to not go out for a month and save up for this - plus the ganja - what's an outdoor festival without blazin'?
European festival-goers who are used to a large one or multiday festival coming to a large meadow/horsetrack/football pitch nearby every summer seem to have no problem putting money aside for tickets for festivals like Roskilde, T in the Park, or Reading. Even though these events have become crassly commercialized, I agree with the previous poster that points out what a bang-for-the-buck this show is, and thus will be parting with $200+ for two tickets. Come see the Who before another one dies, see Jack Black with a competent rythm section, various Canadian bands of-the-minute (or would that be 5 minutes ago?), fortysomething funk-punk masters wearing too much bronzer and mascara (RHCP), and finally, even though this has worried me at previous shows for them--guys, listen, just because you go to a Scissor Sisters show does not make you gay. Think of it like going to the Preakness but without as many drunk preppy girls in dumb hats (replacing them with Avril Lavinge lookalikes that are drunk) and Gnarls Barkley instead of horses. Maybe there will be a footrace amongst some of the musicians?
If jack black with a competent rythm section was there I would totally be down. But alas the D is not on the list.
...really want to go
.....poor college student
Silly me, freudian slip. I meant Jack White. The compotent rythm section I was speaking of would be the Raconteurs. Not that I am a Meg White hater, just that his current incarnation is technically more adept. As I was a poor college student once, I would recommend donating blood for cash or getting a paper route for ticket money.
It's not really that expensive. The Who are currently getting $50-200+ on their own. RHCP are gettting $50-60 for their shows too. Add all of the other bands and it's really not a bad deal. Get your tickets from the 9:30 box office and avoid the service charges.
The parking thing sounds like a bit of a gouge though.
Speaking of rhythm sections, I'd pay $100 to see the Red Hot Chili Peppers if Anthony Kiedis called in sick and a real frontman filled in. Is Zach de la Rocha free that day? Sharon Jones? Cee-lo Green and Jack White will be there, and Roger Daltrey will be puttering around, if we can just figure out how to take 35 years off him. It seems like the headliners are the only real duds on this line-up.
Last time Clap Your Hands Say Yeah Played 930 tix were going for over 50 bucks, and they only played for an hour. Also, check out the Flaming Lips' tour sched, theyre not playing much in the states this year. Its actually not too hard to park in Baltimore and then take the train to Pimlico.
Taking a train to Pimlico: I don't think one exists, though I'd like to think that MTA would man up and have bus service from Light Rail or Subway. Just don't make it seem easier than it actually is.