That festival feeling...

I'm off to Guilfest tomorrow, for a completely unplanned start to the summer festival season.I've won tickets, you see, and will be able to haul myself around on my crutches to watch Motorhead, Kylesa and Laika Dog free of charge, which is a good price by anyone's standards. This gives me an excuse to talk festivals again, and specifically Sonisphere.

Machine head have pulled out of Sonisphere, citing the organisers moving their slot around to make way for Limp Bizkit. Sonisphere have responded by pretty much blaming Machine Head for not accepting a different slot that was offered to them. The fans have been somewhat divided on the matter, blaming both parties and even Limp Bizit.

Looking at it from the outside it appears that both parties have behaved unprofessionally by either breaching contract, in Sonisphere's case; or stubbornly refusing to be accommodating and then airing their dirty laundry in Machine Head's case. So who has come out of this worse?

Machine Head have always had a reputation for being a fan-oriented band, and that reputation has taken a knock in many peoples eyes. However, they have a dedicated fan base and, ironically, Limp Bizkit prove that pulling out of a major festival can be forgiven with time.

Sonisphere on the other hand... I've already voiced my concerns about the festival, and this adds to it. While the bands pulling out may not be the fault of the organisers, it does leave them with a headache. Just three weeks from the festival the main stage bands have yet to be fully announced, and it's start to look like the promised twelve main stage bands may be cut back to ten, simply because of the lack of time. The festival didn't look selling out before this, mainly due to the cost being too high for a two day festival, and this won't help the cause. Unless some big announcements are made in the next week there won't be a huge spike in sales before the event.

While the festival is unlikely to make a huge loss, it's future seems to be questionable. Sonisphere hasn't sold out in any of the other countries that it's been held in, with the high cost of tickets being cited again, and bands have even failed to turn up with no replacement being provided in one case. The decision to stretch the festival out to two days in the UK, where there are a plethora of multi-day festivals, is starting to look questionable at best.

Will Sonisphere happen next year? Most likely. I'd imagine that licenses will already have been sought to hold it again next year. It will have to change the way it operates in the next year though, or it will run the very real risk of not being able to attract suitable headliners. As it stands at the moment, Download has seen off the challenge of the newcomer and has come out of it stronger than before. Sonisphere needs a drastic rethink if it is to mount a true challenge next year.

As mentioned at the start of this piece, I'm off to Guilfest, which is a pretty mixed bag this year. I'll have reviews of the festival up next week.