The
Treasure Island lineup came out today, and
in contrast to certain other, major San Francisco music festival, the response -- from what we've seen anyway -- has been all positive. As well it should be. The lineup this year is excellent -- not just good, but really, really good. And not just because we happen to like a lot of the bands playing. There's a curatorial aspect to booking a truly remarkable festival that goes beyond merely getting well-liked artists. Here are five elements that make for a great festival, along with examples from this year's Treasure Island lineup.
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| Belle & Sebastian |
1. Well-established greatsBelle & Sebastian aren't old, exactly, but they're established enough to have headlined world tours and played shows at, say, the Hollywood Bowl with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. They're a blockbuster indie-pop band, with the kind of adoring fan base and reputation it takes years (if not decades) to build. Belle & Sebastian are a big reason that Sunday's Treasure Island lineup is off-the-hook. Also somewhat in this category: Superchunk and !!!
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| Wallpaper. |
2. Top-tier localsThis applies to mostly city-based
festivals, rather than giant-field-in-the-middle-of-nowhere festivals.
And it isn't surprising, given that Noise Pop's involvement, that some
of the Bay Area's best (and best-liked) bands will share stages with the
princes of the national touring circuit at Treasure Island. But hey, seeing The Mumlers,
Wallpaper and Maus Haus is an attraction, even if they all play
regularly around the Bay Area. It makes Treasure Island feel like a
truly Bay Area thing, not some generic amalgamation of whatever bands
happen to grace Pitchfork's Best New Music list this year.
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| Surfer Blood at Bottom of the Hill in S.F. |
3.
Shit-hot newcomersFestivals should partly be about getting a
large audience in front of buzzing bands that were tremendously
difficult to catch on their own tours. Surfer Blood and Die Antwoord
have both seen their stars rise this year, for good reason, and both of
their S.F. shows (Die Antwoord's is Friday) sold way, way out. Treasure
Island gives local fans another shot at catching them.
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| Die Antwoord |
4.
VarietyIt's the spice of life, and of a good music festival:
Give the garage-rock kids some beats to dance to, and make the turntable
jockeys' eyes pop out with blaring guitar solos and vulgar rock star
antics. Treasure Island has this covered fairly well -- guitar rock,
cute pop, and experimental electronic are amply represented. And if Die
Antwoord is the only artist holding down the rap/hip-hop end of things,
well, Treasure Island hasn't made its name as a rhyming event.
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| LCD Soundsystem |
5.
Critical MassNo, not the bike ride. Festivals have to have a
baseline concentration of awesomeness -- a critical mass of excellence,
if you will -- to inspire proper tongue-wagging. In the case of Treasure Island, fans are shelling out
three figures to show up to both days of this thing, so there better be
an "oh shit" factor. There is, and it's LCD Soundsystem, The National, Holy Fuck, Four Tet
and She & Him. That's only part of the bill, but we see your tongue wagging already.
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