

Coachella vs. Sasquatch! vs. Bonnaroo vs. Lollapalooza


Since destination festivals are becoming more and more prevalent on the summer concert landscape and Washington’s very own beloved Sasquatch! is entering the realm of the heavy hitters by becoming a three-day event for the first time, I thought it would be appropriate to reflect on what each of the major destination fests has to offer. I already know which one of the four festivals I prefer, but I’ll drop the knowledge I have below to let you see how all of these mega, multi-day concerts stack up to each other.


Number of years in business: 7
Location: Indio Polo Fields, Indio, Calif.
Number of days: 2
Number of artists: 96 by my count, not including special surprise guests
Ticket price: $75 per day
Headliners for 2006: Tool, Madonna, Daft Punk, Depeche Mode, Franz Ferdinand, Massive Attack
Has a reputation for: Coachella is the place where cool people are seen watching cool bands perform. The desert oasis of the Polo Grounds is where celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Danny DeVito and Elijah Wood are spotted in the VIP area fawning over the likes of The Pixies, Har Mar Superstar and Death Cab For Cutie.


Number of years in business: 5
Location: The Gorge, George, WA
Number of Days: 3
Number of artists: 53
Ticket price: $55 per day
Headliners for 2006: Nine Inch Nails, Beck, Ben Harper, Flaming Lips, Death Cab For Cutie and Sufjan Stevens (making his only concert appearance of 2006)
Has a reputation for: Sasquatch! is still forging its identity, but by becoming a three-day event it’s going to have to put up or shut up in the competitive world of destination fests. Overall, the last four Sasquatch fests have placed up-and-coming indie groups alongside bigger, more well-established bands all performing with the beauty of The Gorge as a backdrop.

Sure Coachella has Madonna, Bonnaroo has Radiohead and Lollapalooza has the Chili Peppers, but can they compete with the beauty of The Gorge?


Number of years in business: 6
Location: A 700-acre farm in Tennessee
Number of artists: 85
Ticket price: $169.50 or $184.50 for all four days
Headliners for 2006: Radiohead (the band’s only U.S. festival date of 2006), Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Beck, Elvis Costello and the Imposters, Bonnie Raitt, Death Cab For Cutie, Phil Lesh and Friends
Has a reputation for: Bonnaroo is the hippie-flavored festival that doesn’t get as much respect as it should. Although it has received its share of negative press, especially when a few people died at the festival’s campground last year, Bonnaroo always wallops a spectacularly diverse lineup.


Number of years in business: 2 (as a destination fest)
Location: Grant Park, Chicago, Il
Number of artists: 130
Ticket price: $130 for all three days
Headliners for 2006: Kanye West, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Wilco, The Raconteurs, Flaming Lips, Ween
Has a reputation for: As any rock historian will tell you, Lolla was one of the cornerstone events of the alternative music movement of the 1990s. After failing miserably to resurrect itself as a two-day traveling tour, founder Perry Farrell decided to make Lolla a destination festival last year featuring Pixes, Weezer and others. This year it returns as a three-day event and one of the things that sets it apart from the other three festivals of note is its urban backdrop right in the middle of Chicago.

Categories: Ramblings, Sasquatch!
Travis Hay