A Different Kind of Festival? Rothbury Prepares to Rock Michigan’s West Coast

By Andrew William Smith, Editor

May 23, 2008

Back in the day, events like Woodstock and Monterey Pop created legendary legacies for the future of American rock festivals. Today, festivals like Coachella, Bonnaroo, and Lollapalooza set the gold standard for getting your groove on outdoors with thousands of your best friends.

Although the Woodstock myth would be incomplete without the gate-crashing that created health hazards and financial holes, many of today’s festivals have been triumphs of better logistics and the bottom line. While most festivals try to be green in terms of raising the environmental awareness of the attendees, they can also be green in terms of lining the pockets of the promoters.

Largely because of the unrivaled commercial and cultural success of Bonnaroo, outdoor festivals have been sprouting up all over North America like weeds in the summer garden. Is it possible that this is too much of a good thing?

Rolling Stone magazine recently reported, “Festivals have become so huge in the U.S. that many in the concert industry wonder if they’ll take over from the traditional summer model of bands playing amphitheaters. But the proliferation in U.S. festivals may be getting close to oversaturation.”

Festival organizers appear to be facing up to these fears as challenges by finding ways to create new kinds of festivals. Enter into this context the debut of Rothbury which sells itself as nothing less than “A Music Festival Revolution.” Held in Western Michigan and brought to us by the same folks who produce Coachella, Bumbershoot, and the New Orleans Jazzfest, organizers promise what consultant Jeremy Toback describes as “mind blowing music, hard hitting eco minded forums and panels, and serious tech nerdness.”

To some attendees who might skip Bonnaroo because they don’t want to camp in a field, the resort setting of the JJ Ranch (which offers golf, horseback riding, and an indoor waterpark the rest of the year) may be the most distinguishing aspect of the festival. In fact, most of the indoor accommodations are already sold-out for this year’s flagship event.

While every festival promises an “experience,” many fans come just for the bands. With artists like the Dave Matthews Band, Primus, Snoop Dogg, Michael Franti and Spearhead, STS9, The Black Keys, and too many more to name, Rothbury will not disappoint fandom’s most faithful. But Rothbury just won’t stop there; it hopes to take the cultural immersion aspect of a festival to the next level. What about the culture that Rothbury is attempting to create will be different?

In calling itself “revolutionary,” Rothbury isn’t just talking about the musical revolution; the festival concerns itself with things as noble as creating clean energy and feeding hungry people.

The high profile “think tank” brings speakers like former Green Party vice-presidential candidate Winona LaDuke to talk about a future of sustainable energy and energy independence. She will join “the innovators, entrepreneurs, thought leaders, celebs, and rabble rousers who are bringing this future into focus. They’ll share their strategies and successes, and offer practical ideas and inspiration. It’s time to have fun, talk solutions, and start working towards a fossil-free America.”

While Conscious Alliance will host a food drive like it does at other festivals, this time the cans will be used to attempt the largest ever “cansculpture.” This project which hopes to enter The Guiness Book of World Records will be built in collaboration with Whole Foods Market and architect John Brittingham.

The Rothbury revolution will take place in other respects as well. Earlier this spring, fans could apply to perform as part of the “Big Gig” open mic stage. For fans of deejauys and electronic dance music, Amanda Palmer of The Dresden Doll will join Jen Gapay of the New York Burlesque Festival in crafting the The Establishment’s “bold, bawdy, and bizarre” carnivalesque atmosphere. A unique space called “The Tripolee Domes” pledges to give us this: “A 3-hour show featuring global DJ’s, live musicians, performers, visual projection artists, and the captivating musical instruments conceived by MASS, Tripolee will host an extravagant party into the night, Thursday through Sunday.”

Scheduled over the 4^th of July holiday weekend, Rothbury has lots of competition for the consumer of summer getaways. But it’s the festival’s missionary zeal that makes it so special and may draw people away from just another annual ritual of fireworks, parades, and family reunions.

With their patriotism for the planet, the organizers claim nothing less than to be “harnessing the spirit of the music festival community into a durable social movement.” The promoters practice what they preach by aggressively advocating carpooling and mass transit and by planning to either recycle or composte all the waste created by the festival. And work exchange programs exist for people who want to get involved and cannot afford the substantial ticket price.

Anyone who has attended a festival can remember at least one moment when the music made it possible for the fans to “transcend beyond individuals and into a collective.” Rothbury hopes to tap into that ineffable moment of inspiration and “create lasting change.” That is the Rothbury revolution.

Common wisdom suggests that if something sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Rothbury hopes to create an uncommon exception to that rule.

For more information, please visit http://www.rothburyfestival.com/