The festival landscape is shifting. For one, Coachella announced that it would take place over two weekends. And in a bid to keep making money, bands are increasingly leveraging their brands to curate festivals. Out in Wisconsin, Pearl Jam hosts a 20th anniversary festival over Labor Day weekend to feature The Strokes, Mudhoney and Glen Hansard. (Which makes you wonder who Nirvana, that other grunge band, would have invited to such an event.)
Ditto for the superprofitable Dave Matthews Band, which has attached its name to a series of three-day festivals nationwide. And so on: The Roots curated a festival in Philadelphia this weekend, and Wilco’s Solid Sound fest takes place in Western Massachusetts later this month.
Even against this shifting landscape, festivals seem to be proliferating locally. One that caught my eye locally when it was announced earlier last year is Campout East, to be held in Crozet from June 17-18, sponsored by WNRN. If the fest is a band/brand bonanza, it’s thanks to headliners Cracker and Camper Van Beethoven, both of which hinge on the talents of David Lowery, frontman to both. But the rest of the fest is eclectic: Sons of Bill share the marquee, and American Aquarium, Those Darlins and—my personal favorite—Jonny Corndawg take the stage, among others. (Full lineup here.)
All of this is to say—and sorry for the delay—we’ve got a pair of weekend passes to give away for Campout East. Just tell us about your favorite festival memory in the comments section below.
What’s your favorite festival memory?
