Though the past year claimed the annual ‘Mayhem Festival‘ and the Australian ‘Soundwave Festival‘, it would appear that metal and rock are once again thriving in a live capacity when it comes to the United States. Billboard.com are running an article that features various quotes from some of the industry’s biggest promoters, bookers and more. Among the various players interviewed are Danny Wimmer (of Danny Wimmer Presents) who oversees the ‘The Worlds’ Loudest Month‘ package of festivals, which includes ‘Rock On The Range‘, ‘Rocklahoma‘, ‘Carolina Rebellion and many more. He commented of the state of the genre:
“I hear ‘rock ‘n roll is dead,’ and it drives me crazy, I have no idea what they’re talking about. Maybe it’s just that rock had to become uncool to become cool again. That’s when the spirit of rock ‘n roll starts popping its head out; the rebellion of it — the angst of it and the release.”
Creative Artists Agency‘s Ryan Harlacher,—who is in part responsible for the upcoming summer touring packages featuring Disturbed/Breaking Benjamin, Korn/Rob Zombie and In This Moment and Slipknot/Marilyn Manson and Of Mice & Men—offered:
“For each of these artists, this will be the biggest tour that they’ve had as a headliner or co-headliner in the last 10 years. Frankly, we were a little concerned with all these tours going out up against each other. This proves that point, if you provide value for fans they want to go to as many shows as they can afford to, the whole point is making it affordable for them to go.”
‘Vans Warped Tour‘ founder/’Rockstar Mayhem Festival‘ co-founder Kevin Lyman also chimed in on the rock & metal’s rising tide:
“It took people from within the genre to create the festivals — Sharon and Ozzy with Ozzfest, John Reese and Kevin Lyman with Mayhem, Danny Wimmer with Rock on Range, and myself and Slipknot with Knotfest. We’ve all seen the vitality of this genre and did it ourselves. Now the industry is waking up and taking notice and seeing how strong the genre is with consumers.”
For more on that, head to Billboard.com.
