with the increase in festivals, do you think the attendance is going to go down?
I was at milwaukee last year and it seemed dead.
I'm not complaining about any of the festivals cause usually, you see some of the "same old same old" along with some bands that you'd never have seen if the fest didn't bring them over.

the biggest thing ive seen wit fests in the last 10 years is that very few people like a good percentage of the bands playing...so for the average kid goin to a fest, he will not want to see 15 bands he doesnt like for the 6 or so that he does like...esp if the one day ticket price is 20$...fests are good for exposing kids to different bands and styles etc, but most people dont want to be on their feet from 12pm to 1am...the bigger metal fests like the koshik based fest usually suck...bands cant sell their merch unless they pay a 30% markup to the venue, and the food is usually way overpriced...i myself hate fests...playing them, going to them the whole deal...i have to like at least half of the bands playing before i even have the urge to attend them...and now it seems that every kid thinks he can set up a fest, disregarding the pleas of many many local kids that even shows wit more then 6 bands are way too long...the last few "fests" ive seen this past year were nothing more then a big one day show cramming 15 bands or more into 8 hours...and to top it off most of them were held at really poor venues with crappy sound and stage etc...id like fests if they were set up well and run by people who know that setting up a fest requires more then a big list of bands and a door fee...book a fest from a fans perspective, right down to running bathrooms and drinks for the many dehydrated kids who may be there...dry floors, good p.a. system, ventilation etc...ya i rambled here but oh well tough cookies hah

fests are good for exposing little bands to bigger audiances assuming anyone shows up to it... its also good to make "connections" with other bands... i agree on a lot of what the CZA says... too often fests are run very poorly... (well atleast many of the local ones) peace... Devon (TYAG)