Starting to think that sonisphere may end up being cancelled this year.

[eFestivals]

The fact that they've sold under 5000 tickets proves this.

That's not a fact. It's HUGELY wrong.

[eFestivals]

Waiting for the Olympics to get the blame for this. And the recession.

And if they are blamed, that will be the cover story.

[eFestivals]

The event polls are just advertising jargon for sales figure updates for a list of events. I've seen them, they're dire.

yep, the "event polls" information is dire, very very very dire.

You're believing a myth, one that is massively wrong.

[stuntman]

Is it really that big Neil? I know you wont tell us but are you personally excited about it? I very rarely go onto other fest except T but this has got me very interested!

[mrtourette]

It's a shame as while I didn't always agree with certain things (staggering the two main stages has always bafffled me) Soni seemed to be willing to do things slightly differently to make things interesting. However this year it seems to have been made up of bands that Download or R&L could have booked but didn't want (Incubus, Marilyn Manson, Evanescence) or have had recently (Flogging Molly, glassjaw, Mastadon, Cypress Hill, FNM) and have to make desperate moves (can their really be that much interest in Hundred Reasons, Mastadion and glassjaw playing whole-album sets?) or got headliners whose fans are always more likely to go to a concert by those bands rather than a festival. It seems trying to be different in such a competitive marketplace has lead to failure...

...but that's assuming that a serious ack of interest has lead to the cancellation. If there is a bigger reason behind it, and the cancellation of the European versions who have stronger line-ups (ie Metallica, Soundgarden, The Offspring) and less competition suggests there might be, then it'll still be shame but will be interesting to read about. Perhaps the entire company is in dire straights or they've been bought into by a rival and they don't want competition for their existing festivals.

Edited March 29, 2012 by mrtourette

[jump]

It's a shame as while I didn't always agree with certain things (staggering the two main stages has always bafffled me) Soni seemed to be willing to do things slightly differently to make things interesting. However this year it seems to have been made up of bands that Download or R&L could have booked but didn't want (Incubus, Marilyn Manson, Evanescence) or have had recently (Flogging Molly, glassjaw, Mastadon, Cypress Hill, FNM) and have to make desperate moves (can their really be that much interest in Hundred Reasons, Mastadion and glassjaw playing whole-album sets?) or got headliners whose fans are always more likely to go to a concert by those bands rather than a festival. It seems trying to be different in such a competitive marketplace has lead to failure...

...but that's assuming that a serious ack of interest has lead to the cancellation. If there is a bigger reason behind it, and the cancellation of the European versions who have stronger line-ups (ie Metallica, Soundgarden, The Offspring) and less competition suggests there might be, then it'll still be shame but will be interesting to read about. Perhaps the entire company is in dire straights or they've been bought into by a rival and they don't want competition for their existing festivals.

[mrtourette]

Yeah the RHCP thing made me think that it was bigger than just Soni, I guess that Wakestock is OK though?

[Mariner]

Never understood why there are two massive metal festivals in the UK?

Sonisphere seemed to be leaning towards more punk on the undercard last year, which probably attracted more people. Download appear to have adopted that policy this year with a decent line-up, certainly better than previous years - competing with Reading.

I think Soni deserves to go under for announcing a line-up so shite. I think there were about 3 bands on the whole poster I would've wanted to see. What were the organisers thinking?

Edited March 31, 2012 by Mariner

[Gingo]

Never understood why there are two massive metal festivals in the UK?

Sonisphere seemed to be leaning towards more punk on the undercard last year, which probably attracted more people. Download appear to have adopted that policy this year with a decent line-up, certainly better than previous years - competing with Reading.

I think Soni deserves to go under for announcing a line-up so shite. I think there were about 3 bands on the whole poster I would've wanted to see. What were the organisers thinking?

[kipper64]

Well there wasn't two metal festivals there was a rock festival (Download) and Sonisphere was the metal festival but they decided to book rock bands to change it up imo so alienated their audience

[luckysalt]

Still don't understand why on earth Soni booked Bjorn Again...

[kipper64]

Still don't understand why on earth Soni booked Bjorn Again...

[Lithium05]

Metallica asked for them to be booked apparently, because they're big fans. No joke!

I actually thought it was brilliant, such a laugh.

[mrtourette]

Metallica asked for them to be booked apparently, because they're big fans. No joke!

I actually thought it was brilliant, such a laugh.

[jump]

Example has been talking about why fests are struggling this year...

http://www.gigwise.com/news/71943/Example-'A-lot-of-festivals-don't-make-sense'

"A lot were promoted badly, had bad security, were in bad locations or the line-ups hadn't been programmed well, so they didn't make sense," he said.

Adding: "Some of them had a great theme, a great location and great line-up and the people running them knew what they were doing. And there were other ones which seemed to me were really amateur.

Discussing the future of festivals in the UK, Example went on to say that he suspects only the big ones will surivive along with those who cater to a niche. "Reading and Leeds struggled last year. I think maybe that's because guitar music's not as big as electronic music at the moment.

"But festivals, to survive, just really need to think about their theme, who their market is and book the suitable acts to sell it out.

[AcademicPistol]

Example has been talking about why fests are struggling this year...

http://www.gigwise.com/news/71943/Example-'A-lot-of-festivals-don't-make-sense'

"A lot were promoted badly, had bad security, were in bad locations or the line-ups hadn't been programmed well, so they didn't make sense," he said.

Adding: "Some of them had a great theme, a great location and great line-up and the people running them knew what they were doing. And there were other ones which seemed to me were really amateur.

Discussing the future of festivals in the UK, Example went on to say that he suspects only the big ones will surivive along with those who cater to a niche. "Reading and Leeds struggled last year. I think maybe that's because guitar music's not as big as electronic music at the moment.

"But festivals, to survive, just really need to think about their theme, who their market is and book the suitable acts to sell it out.

[jump]

We all know what happend last time you shared an article that you read NO ONE MENTION VAT!

[eFestivals]

I think it's Example who doesn't make sense, not festivals.

[biffoire]

Festival ticket prices go up by £10 or £20 and I've wondered the last few years when sales would slow. I understand the money goes towards making a better festival. However, I think there is a ceiling to what people will pay (and that seems to be now being hit) and people will be comparing past line ups with past prices. I remember one of my first readings being about £100 and now its double that give or take.

[AcademicPistol]

Not even taxes! We don't wanna start VAT Wars II.

And the economy has changed a lot 10 years Biff.

[t8yman]

Shows how much example knows, guitar music not as popular as electronic music? What a crock of shite.

Skilled to headline Glastonbury next year then?

[biffoire]

And the economy has changed a lot 10 years Biff.

[SteveHarley]

Shows how much example knows, guitar music not as popular as electronic music? What a crock of shite.

Skilled to headline Glastonbury next year then?

[jump]

I think he has a point, Guitar music certainly isn't as popular now as it was a few years ago. Kids that might of used to be in to bands are now into pop acts/R&B/dance. Take a look at the charts, you have to go down to the high twenties before you get to a guitar based track.

[mrtourette]

I think it's a good indication of how much guitar music infiltrates the mainstream. It will always have it's followers but it wasn't until it was popular in the mainstream that it could sustain such a large amount of festivals that all sold out. I think now we're finding that guitar music is falling out of favour with mainstream and therefore cannot generate enough interest to sell as many ticket sales as it could at the back end of the last decade.