The Park Headliners

[Aragorn]

I feel sorry for him then, he's going to look an ever bigger fool than usual.

[wigstonmania]

animal collective are immensely better than the professional tabloid fodder that is doherty

would love to see bon iver there as well

[sdaveak47]

Also, this is obviously a subjective opinion, but I don't think many people would claim Doherty has been involved in a "great" album since The Libertines.

Take Animal Collective, here are their most critically acclaimed, "great" albums, even leaving out some lesser known early material that is at least as good if not better:

Sung Tongs 2004

Feels 2005

Person Pitch 2007

Merriweather Post Pavilion 2009

Heck, I even left out Strawberry Jam. A lot of people love that album, just not my cup of tea.

Last great Doherty involved album: 2002, 2004 if you're being generous.

[Bradders]

animal collective are immensely better than the professional tabloid fodder that is doherty

would love to see bon iver there as well

[sammysundae]

strawberry jam is, in fact, my favourite album of all time.

[cabbott]

Are Bon Iver looking likely to headline the sunday then?

[titch juicy]

I think you're being quite ignorant man, AC have seven studio albums and a load of EPs for a start. They also have a huge live reputation and are headlining Brixton Academy in the summer. Doherty has one album, a reputation for being all over the place live and his biggest London show recently seems to have been at Shepherds Bush which is about half the size of Brixton. Got some of this info from last.fm and noticed that Pete only has around 50,000 listeners whereas AC have well over 450,000! As recently as a year ago I probably would have agreed with you but Merriweather has (finally) made Animal Collective a high profile band as well as being THE BEST BAND IN THE f**kING WORLD

*ahem*

Not that I'm bias or anything..

[dacbo]

Are Bon Iver looking likely to headline the sunday then?

[mouth]

cant see it being an issue, didnt kate nash open the pyramid and then play the park in the same day last year?

[robith]

I think you're being quite ignorant man, AC have seven studio albums and a load of EPs for a start. They also have a huge live reputation and are headlining Brixton Academy in the summer. Doherty has one album, a reputation for being all over the place live and his biggest London show recently seems to have been at Shepherds Bush which is about half the size of Brixton. Got some of this info from last.fm and noticed that Pete only has around 50,000 listeners whereas AC have well over 450,000! As recently as a year ago I probably would have agreed with you but Merriweather has (finally) made Animal Collective a high profile band as well as being THE BEST BAND IN THE f**kING WORLD

*ahem*

Not that I'm bias or anything..

[tylerdurden]

Too much nonsense being spoken about in this thread to quote.

Pete doherty, is CLEARLY a bigger draw than Animal Collective.

I've been to see him and am not on Last.fm, I'm not a big mental fan that thinks hes the next Wilde though.

Actually listen to him and his music before you start chatting shit about tabloids too.

[dj267]

PREDICTION:

This is the Animal Collective's moment, as a festival draw.

They will play above Docherty.

[emmmmma]

bloody hope not. else I might have to miss Blur...

[Roger Explosion]

Didn't make it to the park last time.

Do the park headliners play later than the pyramid?

I really wan't to see Bon Iver, but cannot miss Blur...

[dj267]

they do tend to start a bit later, but play for less time.

very difficult, nigh on impossible, to see both, I would argue

[Roger Explosion]

they do tend to start a bit later, but play for less time.

very difficult, nigh on impossible, to see both, I would argue

[mario man]

they do tend to start a bit later, but play for less time.

very difficult, nigh on impossible, to see both, I would argue

[dj267]

Good Point, Mario man (if that's an SFA name, then nice work sir, nice work.)

So, back to the topic; who'll be on te Park Friday Night? So far we're thinking a second Fleet Foxes performance of the day, Graham Coxen, or (long shot) Cherry Ghost.

Any others?

[Homer]

I think Blur are playing the Manchester MEN on the Fri night so no chance of Coxon...

[ToxicJesus]

No problem, peace. always

I've been dabbling AC for, I dunno, a couple of years, (since the Vashti Bunyan stuff) and I quite like the Panda Bear album from the other year. My point wasn't about quality.

Edited May 5, 2009 by ToxicJesus

[robith]

Glad there's no hard feelings man! That Vashti EP was lovely, how you could resist after that is stunning to me! Animal Collective live compared to the records is a different proposition to be honest though man... I made a compilation of youtube videos for a friend a while ago, I don't really want to post them for fear of coming off like some of those missionary Bruce fans but if you want the links I could message them to you?

I agree that the last.fm stat is slightly misleading, AC clearly aren't 9 times bigger than Pete, but just because they're a band of the web 2.0 generation doesn't denigrate their influence at Glastonbury where probably about a third of attendees are part of said generation!

I didn't know the Brixton show wasn't selling well, that does kind of put a dent in my argument.. but the show isn't until August and the big venue might mean there's not been a huge rush to get tickets, I haven't even got my ticket yet! As for the last year's shows, I said in my first post that as recently as January I'd have definitely agreed about Pete being bigger but Merriweather has changed their status radically. I don't think you can compare Babyshambles' shows either, I wouldn't be arguing if this was Panda Bear up against Pete on account of him being in Animal Collective.

Edit: Oh, and the Deakin thing, they've been playing without him for 2 years and have still played songs from Spirit They've Gone, Danse Manatee, Here Comes The Indian, and Feels in that time so that doesn't affect the range of material at all really!

[airds]

noticed that Pete only has around 50,000 listeners whereas AC have well over 450,000!

[arcade fireman]

It's not just about who's the bigger draw, I remember seeing Doherty do a mid afternoon slot in 2007 on the Park. I could see AC headlining as it really has been their year, and Doherty playing a bit lower down.

I get the feeling a lot of the people who'd otherwise want to see Pete would either be massive fans who've seen him loads of times before or people who arent that big fans who won't be arsed making the trek to the Park. However with AC this is their finest hour and I think the fact that their fans are more likely to drop everything and make the trip to see them play might see them a better candidate for headliner.

[ToxicJesus]

I still haven't really read anything that's changed my mind to be honest, all the arguments for Doherty seem to be that he's better known and more 'famous' than Animal Collective. I wouldn't deny this for a second, I'm just saying that in 2009 on the Park Stage I both hope and expect Animal Collective to be higher up the bill because they're a more exciting proposition for a lot of people. In the same way that Ray Davies is much better known and far more famous in England but will quite probably be playing a lot lower profile slot than say, Glasvegas, who are rumoured to be second top of the Other Stage. You can consider this sacrilege or keeping things fresh. Either way we can debate this forever, it doesn't matter one bit cos we're not running things, we'll see who our beloved lord Glasto deems more 'worthy'.

[Sweep]

I still haven't really read anything that's changed my mind to be honest, all the arguments for Doherty seem to be that he's better known and more 'famous' than Animal Collective. I wouldn't deny this for a second, I'm just saying that in 2009 on the Park Stage I both hope and expect Animal Collective to be higher up the bill because they're a more exciting proposition for a lot of people. In the same way that Ray Davies is much better known and far more famous in England but will quite probably be playing a lot lower profile slot than say, Glasvegas, who are rumoured to be second top of the Other Stage. You can consider this sacrilege or keeping things fresh. Either way we can debate this forever, it doesn't matter one bit cos we're not running things, we'll see who our beloved lord Glasto deems more 'worthy'.