Jim King chat 20/06/11

[Jim King]

What happend to the very special guest on the Bacardi get together? There wasnt one.

Also can you please get the Bloody Beetroots back next year

[Jim King]

Would you ever consider making the bars into a token system like at T in the Park?

Based on this year's festival, are there any major changes you are looking to make for next year?

[pancake70]

i'll chase bacardi on that one for you as they book that arena themselves.

TBB could be appearing again. they were v good last year.

thanks

[Alpha Kenny 1]

Will you be expanding the comedy at all next year? Bigger names and a bigger tent would go down well. Whenever I was there it was jam packed.

[honest john]

Hi jim, congats on yet an other great rockness, I only have a couple of small suggestions , I was parked in the campervan field all weekend and found when we wanted to get rid of our rubbish that there was only one skip n it didn't get opened all weekend so there was rubbish building up around folks vans plus putting both the drinking water tanks way down at the gate was a pain for the folk who had actually made an effort to come early, why not have one there n one at the gate to get to the campsite? And one other wee thing, when it came to leaving the camper feild the vans were getting made do a u turn around a fence post to get on the metal trackway and I spotted a good few van struggling cos of the lenth of them just being too tight to squeeze round! Cheers mate

[Chiefski]

Hi Jim, first time this year, mostly a good time

Will agree with the point about Sound city not being well advertised (though fortunately it appears the band I wanted to see will be playing Rockness next year aparently ) Myself loved most of the layout, makes a change having everything in close proximity...

anyway...

When it comes to booking, would you rather have a really strong set of headliners to be the main selling point or slightly smaller or more leftfield/cultish names and a stronger bill underneath?

I ended up watching and enjoying all the main headliners, but found that alot of the time, especially during the day the main stage couldve maybe done with a stronger bill, and that some acts on there, (Lissie and Vintage trouble, both of whom were superb for example) couldve been better off in the tent, though I'd imagine they just enjoy playing the fests its a bit disheartening when some acts play to a half empty field

[SelfHealer84]

Hi Jim

Our crowd had an awesome time this year, have been going since 2007 and cant see any of us stopping in the near future. The only gripe I have is about the lineup, I enjoyed the headliners this year but I dont feel there were enough strong enough acts as a whole throughout the line up. Apart from Kasabian I feel the bands playing were pretty run of the mill.

Oh yeah and please dont invite Magnetic Man back,3 guys behind their laptops does'nt make for an exciting show.

Cheers

[rexclark]

Thanks Jim for taking the time to answer our questions and be so frank. For what it's worth I had an amazing time and Rockness will definately be at the forethought when I'm planning my festival calendar.

[Jim King]

Will you be expanding the comedy at all next year? Bigger names and a bigger tent would go down well. Whenever I was there it was jam packed.

[Jim King]

Hi jim, congats on yet an other great rockness, I only have a couple of small suggestions , I was parked in the campervan field all weekend and found when we wanted to get rid of our rubbish that there was only one skip n it didn't get opened all weekend so there was rubbish building up around folks vans plus putting both the drinking water tanks way down at the gate was a pain for the folk who had actually made an effort to come early, why not have one there n one at the gate to get to the campsite? And one other wee thing, when it came to leaving the camper feild the vans were getting made do a u turn around a fence post to get on the metal trackway and I spotted a good few van struggling cos of the lenth of them just being too tight to squeeze round! Cheers mate

[Jim King]

Hi Jim, first time this year, mostly a good time

Will agree with the point about Sound city not being well advertised (though fortunately it appears the band I wanted to see will be playing Rockness next year aparently ) Myself loved most of the layout, makes a change having everything in close proximity...

anyway...

When it comes to booking, would you rather have a really strong set of headliners to be the main selling point or slightly smaller or more leftfield/cultish names and a stronger bill underneath?

I ended up watching and enjoying all the main headliners, but found that alot of the time, especially during the day the main stage couldve maybe done with a stronger bill, and that some acts on there, (Lissie and Vintage trouble, both of whom were superb for example) couldve been better off in the tent, though I'd imagine they just enjoy playing the fests its a bit disheartening when some acts play to a half empty field

[Jim King]

Hi Jim

Our crowd had an awesome time this year, have been going since 2007 and cant see any of us stopping in the near future. The only gripe I have is about the lineup, I enjoyed the headliners this year but I dont feel there were enough strong enough acts as a whole throughout the line up. Apart from Kasabian I feel the bands playing were pretty run of the mill.

Oh yeah and please dont invite Magnetic Man back,3 guys behind their laptops does'nt make for an exciting show.

Cheers

[Jim King]

Thanks Jim for taking the time to answer our questions and be so frank. For what it's worth I had an amazing time and Rockness will definately be at the forethought when I'm planning my festival calendar.

[Jim King]

glad you enjoyed your first one.

1. this is something we struggle to change. we have to have a tight limit on passouts. apologies if the comms on this were not clear enough. this was allowed up to midday on sunday as well btw so they should have let you to and from your car then. im really trying to push this back to 2pm every day which should give everyone more than enough time to get out and back in again each day. again sorry if this was a problem for you.

2. this is pretty normal. face value is 65 but then you pay charges on top. most festivals will charge slightly higher on the day for many reasons with the most prevalent being a) it encourages people to buy before the festival and the increase goes towards the cost of the box office, power, security and staff needed to operate the on day bo office.

hope to see you next year!

thanks

j

[Jim King]

just noticed some mad icon that i didnt intend to post.

= btw

[SelfHealer84]

Cheers Jim,top Bloke. Obviously in a minority about the Magnetic Mind thing, I'll shut up from now on

[gordong]

I was totally against the massive police presence this year, but then again, 11 reported crimes? Maybe it's worth it then

[somerled]

I was totally against the massive police presence this year, but then again, 11 reported crimes? Maybe it's worth it then

[pipper]

there are loads of acts that i would like to see play rock ness (not necessarily in 2012). it might take years for our june dates to fit into their calendars but we'll keep trying

mumford and sons

justice

daft punk

radiohead

arcade fire

kraftwerk

massive attack

florence

mgmt

swedish house mafia

sven vath

biffy

prodigy

deadmau5

after 3 appearances, all of which were huge crowds, i think norm will take a few years off tbh.

as for main stage headliners being dancey, it really depends on whos available and who wants to play in a tent environment. the way the GV arena is no around 18k people can watch a band there anyway.

thanks

[themangus]

Booking SHM as ONE BAND on the bill - how would that be a 'massive step backwards'?

It's ONE f**kING BAND.

As mentioned earlier in the thread - the booking of Nutini took a lot of stick, but he f**king pulled it off & pulled a huge crowd.

One booking doesn't make a festival.

[Poleski]

Booking SHM as ONE BAND on the bill - how would that be a 'massive step backwards'?

It's ONE f**kING BAND.

As mentioned earlier in the thread - the booking of Nutini took a lot of stick, but he f**king pulled it off & pulled a huge crowd.

One booking doesn't make a festival.

[pipper]

Booking SHM as ONE BAND on the bill - how would that be a 'massive step backwards'?

It's ONE f**kING BAND.

As mentioned earlier in the thread - the booking of Nutini took a lot of stick, but he f**king pulled it off & pulled a huge crowd.

One booking doesn't make a festival.

Edited June 23, 2011 by pipper

[stu150]

I dont think I would like Florence headlining but thats just my personal taste - i think she sounds like she's gargaling mouth wash when she's singing.

Wouldn't mind her headlining a tent or second top of the bill. But I would steer well clear.

Kraftwerk, Prodigy, DP, MGMT, Massive attack and Sven would actually make a festival for me even if no one else played.... Would never happen in one year IMO though unless they were going to have 3 main stage dance headliners.

[blackg1000]

Prodigy will be back and it will be massive. Obviously they have played before but 2009 was by far the biggest crowd I've ever seen at Rockness and one of the best of many times I've seen them perform, including Milton Keynes last year. They're working on a new album and I can see them making a bigger return than ever to the shores.

[pancake70]

Prodigy will be back and it will be massive. Obviously they have played before but 2009 was by far the biggest crowd I've ever seen at Rockness and one of the best of many times I've seen them perform, including Milton Keynes last year. They're working on a new album and I can see them making a bigger return than ever to the shores.