2013/ the future of soni?

[kipper64]

So they have to pre-pay for services then? I wasn't aware of that, my point was about services like portaloos and the likes, they judge how much they need depending on how many people are arriving I thought, hence surely they'll know if it's been a success or not when they cross the bridge for paying for that sort of thing?

As for old vs. new contracts, some of the gigs are sonisphere replacement gigs such as Wolfmother, Marilyn Manson etc.. and obviously those acts aren't that pissed with Kili about it being cancelled as they've allowed them to promote the new shows - although I'm not naive to believe that all bands will not be fussed about it I guess.

I don't really see the appeal of Maiden either to be honest, although this time around it'll most certainly be a greatest hits/classics style setlist - like they are doing in the US this Summer - so that'll probably please a lot of people, last tour and last Sonisphere was very post 2000/new album focussed.

[chickenfire]

Am I being stupid or is it going to be MUCH harder for Kili to book bands for Knebworth next year (If it does go ahead). Bands like mastodon have had to rearrange their whole summer because of this years cancelation so I doubt they would be back next year if the risk of cancelation was still there.

[kipper64]

Depends on the band really. A lot of the bands that have been involved, bigger ones at least, Mastodon included, Agent co-owns the festival, so I'm not sure it'll have a lot of impact as their agent has a vested interest in the festival regardless - although the job of being an agent and making sure the band gets paid will always come first so obviously they wouldn't put that at risk if they felt next year was too much of a risk.

[willutalk]

they've started announcing and sorting bands out earlier and it's caused them to put together a very successful line up this year.

Edited May 24, 2012 by willutalk

[kipper64]

Well I wouldn't say soni "missed out" - though they certainly did drop the ball this year, it was because of them announcing earlier in previous years and in that fashion that's caused Andy to rethink things and do similar imo. Up until basically last Download they'd, he'd usually wait till February before announcing anything. As I said it's one of the positives of having competition, and certainly something that's improved with competition. Without sonisphere they can become lazy again in a sense, with bookings as well as timings.

The main reason Soni and Download trickle bands out though is A) they need longer to sell tickets and B ) it means they get constant news coverage, which being niché they kind of need. Reading can usually afford to have one or two big announcement and that's enough to sell out

Edited May 25, 2012 by kipper64

[jump]

Well I wouldn't say soni "missed out" - though they certainly did drop the ball this year, it was because of them announcing earlier in previous years and in that fashion that's caused Andy to rethink things and do similar imo. Up until basically last Download they'd, he'd usually wait till February before announcing anything. As I said it's one of the positives of having competition, and certainly something that's improved with competition. Without sonisphere they can become lazy again in a sense, with bookings as well as timings.

The main reason Soni and Download trickle bands out though is A) they need longer to sell tickets and B ) it means they get constant news coverage, which being niché they kind of need. Reading can usually afford to have one or two big announcement and that's enough to sell out

[biffoire]

Even without Soni, I think DL need to up their game as less and less people appear to be going to festivals. I mean T, Readin, Leeds. None of them have sold out. So i think the days of DL being lazy or resting on their laurels are well and truly over. But yeah, it is good how one always drives the other to up their game.

[willutalk]

T, Reading and Leeds will have to up their game to compete with the return of Glasto next year. Their line-ups this year would have been out classed by a Glastonbury callibre line-up. Download will have to have a mainly rock/metal lineup though for 2013 as we may not be seeing the return of Snsphr. The UK needs a proper rock/metal festival like Download to keep on it's roots by the fact that Sonisphere is now not an alternative for DL and visa-versa. Although I quite like some indie rock I have lost hope with R+L being a rock/metal type festival, way too much indie rock is on this years lineup, some would be good though. 2003, 05 and 08 were the heaviest Reading line-ups and I doubt they'll go back to confirming bands like Metallica and SOAD and Slipknot who have played Reading before. I think 2013 will be a VERY interesting year for festivals and I would be very interested in seeing what the situation is before festivals start planning for 2014.

[kaosmark2]

Reading will book the bands that sell tickets. I don't think they'll stop booking Metallica, or Maiden, etc. because they'll sell tickets and attract fans. I doubt it's going to be a heavy festival for a while, but I'm pretty sure the "indie" fad is dying, and Reading will look to shift away from it at some point soon.

[jump]

T, Reading and Leeds will have to up their game to compete with the return of Glasto next year. Their line-ups this year would have been out classed by a Glastonbury callibre line-up. Download will have to have a mainly rock/metal lineup though for 2013 as we may not be seeing the return of Snsphr. The UK needs a proper rock/metal festival like Download to keep on it's roots by the fact that Sonisphere is now not an alternative for DL and visa-versa. Although I quite like some indie rock I have lost hope with R+L being a rock/metal type festival, way too much indie rock is on this years lineup, some would be good though. 2003, 05 and 08 were the heaviest Reading line-ups and I doubt they'll go back to confirming bands like Metallica and SOAD and Slipknot who have played Reading before. I think 2013 will be a VERY interesting year for festivals and I would be very interested in seeing what the situation is before festivals start planning for 2014.

[willutalk]

One of the arguements I've heard a lot of this year is fests have been struggling for acts because bands haven't been coming over for Glasto.

Why should R&L be a metal fest when it never has been before? There's an element of rock to it but even when there's been a heavier line up than normal there's still been indie/britpop bands on the bill. The problem with bands like Iron Maiden and System Of A Down is they aren't really relevant, when Maiden were booked (something like 30 year since the last time) there was a lot of re-intrest in them and singles reaching no 2 in the charts at the time and there's not a lot of metal bands doing that now with the alternative side of music in the mainstream is more like Paramore & 30 Secs To Mars who are being booked by them.

Edited May 27, 2012 by willutalk

[jump]

I agree that Reading isn't a metal fest and shouldn't be but some people are missing a good proper rock band from being confirmed. Tenacious D were rumored this year, but no. More indie rock. There isn't really enough variety this year for it to be a very good line up. 2003,04,05 were great years for Reading. Shame Sonisphere may cease to exist as it usually had a really good mix of rock and metal and they weren't afraid to stick in bands like Pendulum high on the bill. I am starting to really hope for Sonisphere to come back!! Glad that Download are looking strong and bold with lineup choices for this year. Come on Kili !!

[chickenfire]

Me and my mate were talking about Soni last night and how good it was last year and how we want to go back if it's on next year.

I suggested that they should (if the event is going ahead) start a limited sale of cheap weekend tickets. Like £100 for the 3 days. And announce a headliner the second they can. This would surely get some interest and some funds in the pot for soni before putting the price back up to the usual ticket price.

I would snap up a ticket at £100 just because I know how good a festival it was. I would say most people that went in 2010 would do the same.

What do you think?

[devilman]

Most people that went in 2010 could have gone this year and it wouldn't have folded. No one will part with cash until they see a solid line up and some reassurance it will go ahead.

[chickenfire]

I suppose that's a fair point.

if it is going ahead, the 3 headliners need to be announced this year imo.

[kipper64]

Definitely. I doubt they'll announce anything till they (if they) have 3 headliners in the bag though, because the main delay in announcing this year - which obviously contributed a lot to it's failure - was them struggling to get all 3 headliners nailed down so they could announce, if they get one and announce it, whose to say the same won't happen again. And as has been said I think people will need to see a strong initial announcement with all 3 headliners - and all 3 being pretty solid bookings to have confidence in it not being canned.

They suggested on a news piece about Sonisphere Finland that it'd be back next year, so the entire tour isn't being dropped it seems, or they aren't considering that at least, but I guess we'll see. Maybe they'll officially announce their intentions to have the festival continue next year in some form after the tour is finished this year? There's still France left next month I believe, and that's the 2012 leg over.

[BTK1609]

I just can't see how it can return. It is clear from sales that the festival market has become over saturated and with Download making plans for 2013 then unless Soni has been making plans behind the scenes that we don't know about it is finished. Download has a headliner booked and is in talks with the other two, tickets on sale and is planning to announce the headliners earlier than they did for this year which was early November. This just means that if they ran Soni would be straight on the backfoot and that's not even taking into account the damage the brand suffered from this years shambles.

[gjammer]

I hope soni in this country does go ahead. I would need to see the headliners but given enough of the right ones I would be snapping up a couple of tickets. So fingers crossed

[Slavivlad]

Same as gjammer above.

Plus, Download has one set of headliners, Soni has another, therefore that's more choice for us which may benefit some people if they can only go to one festival.

[Justiceforcedave]

....Soni getting cancelled this year has meant that I get to see KISS and Faith no more in much smaller venues! WOOP! Bring on 2013 though. I am a fan of Sonisphere, prefer it to Reading and Download.

[gjammer]

The sound guys there are spot on AND it was loud enough (or they were last year)! Some festivals don't seem to get it right, with guitar solos not cutting through and not enough top end generally, although the latter might be my old ears!

Edited June 17, 2012 by gjammer

[kipper64]

They'll be in talks with bands all year round anyways, so I think it's safe to assume thought, planning and even action into next year will have taken place. However obviously festival season for this year has only really just started so a lot of bands won't be even thinking about next year - not to the point of signing anyways.

Apparently Download's headliner they've already booked is someone who had a member at Download this year, and whose band has been a big part of Download's success (apparently said by Andy C on a radio interview) so seems like it'll be Slipknot, which doesn't really fill me with any sort of excitment, found them incredibly dull at Soni 2011, and I don't think they'll even have much if any new material out by next summer - not to mention they'll be doing a Knotfest show in the UK anyways, so I don't think that's an "unbeatable" headliner really - though not a bad start for Download as they are obviously very popular.

As for the saturation thing, whilst true, I think really even this year both could have been moderately successful if the line ups were more balanced. Download obviously attracted most of the rock punters out there hence why they had 100,000 turn up, sonisphere sold 12,000 tickets, if sonisphere had had a better line up, Download's appealed to some less, it could have balanced out a bit more and both could have went ahead, plus things might even pick up again next year, who knows.

[Slavivlad]

They'll be in talks with bands all year round anyways, so I think it's safe to assume thought, planning and even action into next year will have taken place. However obviously festival season for this year has only really just started so a lot of bands won't be even thinking about next year - not to the point of signing anyways.

Apparently Download's headliner they've already booked is someone who had a member at Download this year, and whose band has been a big part of Download's success (apparently said by Andy C on a radio interview) so seems like it'll be Slipknot, which doesn't really fill me with any sort of excitment, found them incredibly dull at Soni 2011, and I don't think they'll even have much if any new material out by next summer - not to mention they'll be doing a Knotfest show in the UK anyways, so I don't think that's an "unbeatable" headliner really - though not a bad start for Download as they are obviously very popular.

As for the saturation thing, whilst true, I think really even this year both could have been moderately successful if the line ups were more balanced. Download obviously attracted most of the rock punters out there hence why they had 100,000 turn up, sonisphere sold 12,000 tickets, if sonisphere had had a better line up, Download's appealed to some less, it could have balanced out a bit more and both could have went ahead, plus things might even pick up again next year, who knows.

[gary1979666]

Hope Soni does come back next year - we're seen that 2 festivals can coexist - 2009 and 2010 both Soni and DL had solid line ups - even 2011 were both good (with the exception of the Def Leppard rebooking). To be fair, I didn't think the line up for Soni this year was that bad - though I tend to care more about the undercard than the headliners.

Hopefully people will remember the 3 great years at Knebworth to give it another shot.

[Dan R]

Hope Soni does come back next year - we're seen that 2 festivals can coexist - 2009 and 2010 both Soni and DL had solid line ups - even 2011 were both good (with the exception of the Def Leppard rebooking). To be fair, I didn't think the line up for Soni this year was that bad - though I tend to care more about the undercard than the headliners.

Hopefully people will remember the 3 great years at Knebworth to give it another shot.