VARIOUS/FILE: Lollapalooza and Glastonbury festival founders share details of their world renowned music concerts / Beyonce makes history as the first female ever to close the Glastonbury music festival

Record ID: 899121

  • Title: VARIOUS/FILE: Lollapalooza and Glastonbury festival founders share details of their world renowned music concerts / Beyonce makes history as the first female ever to close the Glastonbury music festival
  • Date: 28th June 2011
  • Summary: NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (APRIL 19, 2011) (REUTERS) (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHELLE EBANKS, PRESIDENT OF ESSENCE COMMUNICATIONS, INC., SAYING: "We think about, you know, just in terms of the artists, we think about great performances, first and foremost, who is going to go into that Superdome and just create an entertainment experience that will last a lifetime. And so how can we not think about Mary J. Blidge, you know. If she's anywhere in this side of the hemisphere then we want her performing at the music festival."
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2011 05:01
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  • Location: Usa, United Kingdom
  • City:
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Arts / Culture / Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAA4CSIJTW79C5BIINY0K5SAW0I
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Glastonbury may have gotten off to a muddy start, but Beyonce's spotless performance put her in the history books as the first female to ever close the 41-year-old festival.
    The three day music festival held in the fields of Somerset, England, was first staged the day after legendary rocker Jimi Hendrix died in 1970. Festival founder Michael Eavis was inspired to hold the event after attending a Blues festival at the Bath & West Showground, and actually grew up 65 years ago playing on the land that houses the festival.
    "This is the ultimate campsite now, isn't it? It all began when I was nine, in these same fields," said Eavis.
    Considered by some as England's premier music event, the festival had an audience of 1,500 in 1970, but this year reports say some 170,000-plus fans attended the shows.
    One year prior to the start of Glastonbury, 500,000 concert-goers flocked to White Lake in upstate New York to hear 32 acts perform. Among the headliners were Jimi Hendrix, The Who and Janis Joplin.
    "You think of summer festivals and the quintessential summer festival of course is Woodstock and that was in 1969", said Rolling Stones.com senior editor Doree Shafrir.
    "Festivals have been around for a long time - there have always been young people who want to gather somewhere to see a lot of bands. But, you know, 20 years ago Lollapalooza started and I would say that - that kind of kicked off the modern era of the summer festival," added Shafrir.
    "We started Lollapalooza in 1991. And the goal was, seriously, to have a great time during the summer with my peers, my musical peers, people I was listening to on my record player," said founder and Jane Addiction's front man Perry Farrell, who created the show as a farewell tour for his band.
    Lollapalooza ran annually around North America until 1997 and was then revitalized in 2003. However, poor ticket sales in 2004 forced the tour to fold. In 2005 the show was reformatted as a weekend concert event in Chicago's Grant Park.
    "I didn't have an ambition to bring it this far. I was really invited by the music industry to do it again because it was successful, they had no idea, they meaning the touring industry, had no idea there were that many alternative music kids in the cities," said Farrell.
    In April, 2011 the festival made its international debut in Chile's capital Santigo.
    This year's U.S. lineup includes rapper Eminem, and UK bands Coldplay and Arctic Monkey's.
    "When we did Lollapalooza before it was like the biggest thing we've had in America really, like, there were quite a lot of people there and that makes a difference, there was actually quite a lot of people watching us there," said Arctic Money drummer Matt Helders.
    The band first played the festival in 2009.
    "Artists tend to really like performing at festivals, especially the artists that are not at the top of the bill because they generally earn more money playing a festival then they do just playing a regular show at a small club," said Shafrir.
    Rapper Kanye West, who has already appeared at festivals in Poland and Morocco, will continue his festival appearances at Lollapalooza and the largest event celebrating African American culture and music in the United States, the Essence music festival.
    The festival started as a 25th anniversary celebration for Essence magazine, a publication geared primarily towards African-American women. However, after the success of the event, organizers decided to make the weekend an annual celebration.
    "The festival's unique, it is the only summer festival that offers both the daytime experience that's centered around not only entertainment, but inspiration and information and night time with our music both on the grand scale on the main stage in the Superdome and then also on an intimate level in our super lounges", said the President of Essence Communications, Inc., Michelle Ebanks.
    Held in New Orleans, Louisiana over the fourth of July holiday, the festival brings in a variety of chart topping hit-makers including Beyonce, who is the longest reoccurring headlining female in festival history, Janet Jackson, and fan favorite Mary J. Blige.
    "We think about great performances, first and foremost, who is going to go into that Superdome and just create an entertainment experience that will last a lifetime. And so how can we not think about Mary J. Blige. If she's anywhere in this side of the hemisphere then we want her performing at the music festival," said Ebanks.
    R&B singer Trey Songz will be making his second appearance on the main stage.
    "To be a part of people's memories and that amazing annual things we have to celebrate one another and for me to be a part of the entertainment is just monumental," said Songz.
    Last summer individual concert ticket sales were down 12 percent, while most festivals continue to do well.
    "If you break it down sort of bang for your buck wise it is cheaper to go to a festival. You know you can get a three day pass to some of these festival for $150 (USD) or $200 (USD) and you might see 30, 40, 50 musicians play. So when you think about it, wouldn't you rather spend that money on seeing all those bands instead of spending maybe $85 (USD) or even $100 (USD) to see one artists play," Shafrir told Reuters.
    With the creation of new festivals every summer, Farrell said the competition between them all is very healthy, and it is what drives him to push for bigger and better shows each year.
    "Where we had 20 years ago, we would be excited for 10 to 20 thousand people to show up, now everyone's trying to get it to 100-thousand per day," said Farrell.
    Lollapalooza will run from August 5-7.
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