Rock Werchter 2020

[Aech]

28 minutes ago, polnico said:

Posty as sub would be so weak imo

The guy with the 2nd most listeners on Spotify would be a weak sub?

[thetime]

12 minutes ago, Aech said:

The guy with the 2nd most listeners on Spotify would be a weak sub?

Yes

[BJCrees]

Post Malone has really taken over in the last year or so. I wouldn't be surprised to see him headline KBC or have a similar slot to Macklemore this year.

[pigital]

25 minutes ago, BJCrees said:

Post Malone has really taken over in the last year or so. I wouldn't be surprised to see him headline KBC or have a similar slot to Macklemore this year.

He's the type of artist that is too big for a tent, but not big enough to carry a day on himself. I'd say he'll just sub on  the Main Stage. 

His latest songs are also doing pretty well on Belgian radio. So would not be suprised with him on the main stage before or after a headliner

[dude111]

he was the hardest gig to stay alive in at the 9 years of festivals. i swear he had the best croud this sziget.

yeah he's a rapper(?) and not a rock artist, but he is one of the biggest artists right now and a headliner for sure.

[Ferda]

25 minutes ago, dude111 said:

he was the hardest gig to stay alive in at the 9 years of festivals. i swear he had the best croud this sziget.

yeah he's a rapper(?) and not a rock artist, but he is one of the biggest artists right now and a headliner for sure.

I think this is quite subjective. Great you have enjoyed him at Sziget, but for me this was the most boring show of the 3 days I attended. I was not impressed at Reading either, although it was much better there.

That being said, I agree he's likely the standalone headliner as his fee must be pretty high (see Sziget info + the fact Reading shut down the smaller stages during his set). He can be a great name for younger audience and if festival wants to appeal to this group it's a logical move. Not my cup of tea though ?

 

[heti]

Pixies in The Barn while Post Malone is on Main Stage and I don't care what slot he gets

[tmolvik]

4 hours ago, Aech said:

The guy with the 2nd most listeners on Spotify would be a weak sub?

If we're going to start grading headliners after Spotify-listenings, there won't be many rock bands left on top of the posters.. 

With a line up of all the top 8 artists in four days, I doubt there would be celebrations in here, not even if you have embraced the fact that RW never again will be a 100% rock festival or not.. Enjoy this line-up;

Thu: Ed Sheeran & Post Malone

Fri: Shawn Mendes & Billie Eilish

Sat: Camila Cabello & Justin Bieber

Sun: J. Balvin & Khalid

Even if we count in top 20, there are still no rock bands. You could maybe change the setting to monthly followers instead. In that case you would at least have Imagine Dragons, Coldplay and Queen, that can handle instruments.. 

[heti]

I've never heard before of those "Spotify Sunday headliners". Not only their music, the names as well. Call me old/ignorant...but I'm good with it

 

[Aech]

1 hour ago, tmolvik said:

If we're going to start grading headliners after Spotify-listenings, there won't be many rock bands left on top of the posters.. 

With a line up of all the top 8 artists in four days, I doubt there would be celebrations in here, not even if you have embraced the fact that RW never again will be a 100% rock festival or not.. Enjoy this line-up;

Thu: Ed Sheeran & Post Malone

Fri: Shawn Mendes & Billie Eilish

Sat: Camila Cabello & Justin Bieber

Sun: J. Balvin & Khalid

Even if we count in top 20, there are still no rock bands. You could maybe change the setting to monthly followers instead. In that case you would at least have Imagine Dragons, Coldplay and Queen, that can handle instruments.. 

This isn't really my point, I'm not saying the acts that should headline are the most listened to I'm saying that a headline size act is not a weak sub regardless of how you feel about said act.

[tmolvik]

2 minutes ago, Aech said:

This isn't really my point, I'm not saying the acts that should headline are the most listened to I'm saying that a headline size act is not a weak sub regardless of how you feel about said act.

Absolutely agreed. It's just that the Spotify-argument is becoming more and more common and I don't think it's valid for the purpose of a festival, at least not one like RW. 

[Nicklord]

I just listened to the new Coldplay (leaked) and it's ummm good? Like, actually good. That single Orphans is by far the worst track in there 

[cc1989]

Have rage against the machine been ruled out as a possibility? 

[Matt42]

14 hours ago, tmolvik said:

Absolutely agreed. It's just that the Spotify-argument is becoming more and more common and I don't think it's valid for the purpose of a festival, at least not one like RW. 

Hmm I somewhat disagree. 
 

Heritage bands are headliners because they have proven themselves ticket sellers over time. Newer artists I think Spotify is a strong metric to base it off.

This isn’t the singles charts which can be manipulated. 57 million people across the world are listening to Post Malone every month.

Edited November 14, 2019 by Matt42

[Yelo, the Parmiggiana]

4 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Hmm I somewhat disagree. 
 

Heritage bands are headliners because they have proven themselves ticket sellers over time. Newer artists I think Spotify is a strong metric to base it off.

This isn’t the singles charts which can be manipulated. 57 million people across the world are listening to Post Malone every month.

That is correct, but there are cases in which those names are one-hit wonders or just one-time sensations. The first example that comes to my mind is Ellie Goulding: in 2015 it looked like she had to be the next big thing for what concern white-female-pop singers (couldn't come up with a worthy comparison, sorry), and 4-5 years later I can hardly remind a flatter name for an headline slot.

With Werchter it is usually hard to define examples to justify the trend, but looking at Sziget (with which I'm more comfy), I can easily spot few names of this regard: Ellie Goulding is just an example but think of Alt-J in 2015, Macklemore or Wiz Khalifa in 2017 . 

Having said that, I don't think that Post Malone is a one-hit wonder or a flavour of the week: he has always been growing since he started and, for as much as I dislike his persona or his shows, I believe he is the biggest name out of a new era of performers that, like it or not, will be the standard in the forth-coming years.

[Red Day]

On 11/11/2019 at 9:28 PM, Ken19 said:

Normally is Lana not available for Werchter. And if she is, for the barn, not main stage.

Focus for Bon Iver is Pukkelpop. But they want him. They want him very bad.

Ken, have you any idea when RW are going to start announcing. Must be fairly soon ??

[tmolvik]

19 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Hmm I somewhat disagree. 
 

Heritage bands are headliners because they have proven themselves ticket sellers over time. Newer artists I think Spotify is a strong metric to base it off.

This isn’t the singles charts which can be manipulated. 57 million people across the world are listening to Post Malone every month.

I'm not saying that your can't measure popularity on Spotify, because especially for the current generation you can. However as a festival, it's more difficult, as you can't expect one hit wonders to sell out any festival. Also their listeneres tend to be younger people who also spend less money per head than those 10-20 years older. For those local festivals I'm more familiar with, I also know that they tend to show up later, drink more in camp or at cheaper places outside the festival, which again makes it difficult to base a full day aorund them.

I see many people compare RW with Sziget, and in this case it's quite relevant. Sziget starts later in the day, continues with electronic music during the late hours and cater to more younger people. I myself (almost 40) love Sziget, but more for the atmosphere than the music, as I also have to roam around between bands that often have one or two ok songs or enjoy all the side programs they have to offer. I would not have accepted that at RW which is all about the quality of music. 

In my opinion, a festival like RW will start to struggle when more and more of the guitar based bands/artists with a huge back catalog stops touring, and the few, at that time, good rock bands will be in huge demand for all festivals. Hopefully it won't happen yet, but if you're going to stay "fresh" all the time and gamble with headliners, I expect that they will see the revenue declining so it's a balance. I think they will realize that bands playing at TW Classic or similar festivals, needs to be incorporated in the general festival, if they want to be able to sell out going forward. Otherwise they need to accept that those to will cannibalize each other more and more going forward, or worse, change the festival image towards more pop and electronica. 

 

[jonnytee1]

I can guarantee that most people moaning about Post Malone have never actually listened to a full album by Post Malone.

Therein lies the main issue

[jonnytee1]

To add to my above comment - I love rock and Metal but i listened to his most recent album (i have teenage kids) and its really actually dare i say it...............quite good!

 

We all have to also consider  - its not 1994 anymore!

Edited November 14, 2019 by jonnytee1

[r55N]

1 hour ago, jonnytee1 said:

To add to my above comment - I love rock and Metal but i listened to his most recent album (i have teenage kids) and its really actually dare i say it...............quite good!

 

We all have to also consider  - its not 1994 anymore!

Graspop Metal Meeting don't think so. For them It's definitely 1994. Actually dare i say it.................. 1989 hahaha

Anyway, we'll see what will the line up bring. Lot of competition to get our savings for concerts:) Most of mine are going towards Deftones  (no GMM) so we'll see.
P.S. I'm now starting more and more to compare RW with Mad Cool for some reason. 

[Yelo, the Parmiggiana]

58 minutes ago, r55N said:

Graspop Metal Meeting don't think so. For them It's definitely 1994. Actually dare i say it.................. 1989 hahaha

Anyway, we'll see what will the line up bring. Lot of competition to get our savings for concerts:) Most of mine are going towards Deftones  (no GMM) so we'll see.
P.S. I'm now starting more and more to compare RW with Mad Cool for some reason. 

Same period, same target, (almost) same lineup, that makes sense.

Of course everything else (weather, price, timings, stages, organization, mood, potato patato) is different, but still...

[santowhir]

The clue is in the title 'Rock' Wechter. I think they have tried to mix newer music into the line up (Klub C) but when it's more newer than older the festival stuggles a little. I quite like the format of them trying a newer artist in one of the tents and if they blow up they tend to offer them a better slot on the main stage a couple of years later.

[dude111]

14 minutes ago, santowhir said:

The clue is in the title 'Rock' Wechter. I think they have tried to mix newer music into the line up (Klub C) but when it's more newer than older the festival stuggles a little. I quite like the format of them trying a newer artist in one of the tents and if they blow up they tend to offer them a better slot on the main stage a couple of years later.

true.

but i wont buy a ticket to see the same old artists over and over again.

i used to be at werchter every year and they didnt change much in terms of headliners from year to year. thats why i stoped going. 

[thetime]

51 minutes ago, santowhir said:

The clue is in the title 'Rock' Wechter. I think they have tried to mix newer music into the line up (Klub C) but when it's more newer than older the festival stuggles a little. I quite like the format of them trying a newer artist in one of the tents and if they blow up they tend to offer them a better slot on the main stage a couple of years later.

Pukkelpop isn't all about pop...

Edited November 14, 2019 by thetime

[Ken19]

Charli XCX? Perfect fit for one of the Werchter events.