Connection Festival Launches September 12th 2014

[Metro Jacksonville]

Connection Festival Launches September 12th 2014



Connection Festival is about the exploration and creativity of music, art and commerce through technology. Take in and support some of Jacksonville’s local food, drink and business vendors and experience Connection Festival 2014! #connectfest14 . Lots of details after the jump!

Read More: http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2014-sep-connection-festival-launches-september-12th-2014

[Downtown Osprey]

Surfer Blood is also a great, great band.

[funwithteeth]

Love Cibo Matto, too, but that's a whole lot of bands I don't care about otherwise.

EDIT: That said, I'm still probably going to come out on Sunday just to support an event like this.

[fieldafm]

Roadkill Ghost Choir, Diarrhea Planet

Diarrhea Planet played Monday at Underbelly and Roadkill Ghost Choir plays at Underbelly tonight.

[comncense]

I can't really speak on majority of the other acts, but as a Hip Hop fan... I MIGHT'VE been excited about Naughty By Nature in the early 90s. And yeah I know how important Sugar Hill Gang is to the history of Hip Hop, but... really?? This festival didn't try too hard to do anything for Hip Hop fans. It seems like they just grabbed people that aren't doing anything and invited them for a free trip to FL.

[fieldafm]

You're just making my point: Connection organizers would have been better served signing these bands up (thereby making my $65 ticket MUCH more valuable). Instead, if I wanted to see these two bands, I'd have to buy tickets for these two separate shows and then an expensive Connection ticket. 

Seems to me that perhaps the organizer was aware of who was touring through Florida, as they also coordinated bookingacts with all of the live music venues downtown. Just because someone isn't on the main stage lineup, doesn't mean they were ignored.

[funwithteeth]

This really is a big "whatever" lineup, though.* That Cibo Matto appearing made me mildly interested is due to them releasing an album earlier this year—their first in 15 years—that I like. Still, as much as I want something in Jacksonville to succeed, $40 to see an abbreviated set from the only national act on either day I care about?**

*To be fair, I would be equally indifferent to a festival featuring a bunch of contemporary "relevant" acts.

**If this were 1999, I would be excited about Sebadoh.

[Tacachale]

I'm buying tickets because I want to support an idea that has real potential. Sometimes even great plans don't come to fruition, at least on the first attempt, but this one has a much higher ceiling than other similar events that have been attempted before.

[funwithteeth]

YMMV on what constitutes relevancy—Cibo Matto is relevant to me because they released an album this year that I liked; rachel appears to be interested in Sebadoh, though the album they released last year is their first since 1999—but I can understand why a lot of people would have a hard time getting excited over a festival whose big-name acts would be better booked for a 90s nostalgia tour. (Or, in the case of Sugarhill Gang, an AARP-sponsored Hip-Hop Spectacular.)

I may not care about a lot of contemporary acts, either, but I recognize that many of the current Pitchfork-approved bands on the scene these days would be much better a draw for the younger, hipper crowd this festival presumably would like to see turn out.

[funwithteeth]

There's no snobbery or elitism or prickery here. You have pointed out—correctly—that the bulk of the non-local acts booked for this festival were at the height of their popularity two decades ago. (And well before that in the case of Sugarhill Gang!) Nostalgia tours make money, but usually there's cohesion to how they are packaged. This festival feels like it was cobbled together by drawing names out of a hat.

[Tacachale]

Tachale, good for you for supporting. I mean that.  But to say that this has a higher ceiling than other things attempted before is...misguided I think.  Talleyrand was better and cheaper.  Hell even the I-forget-the-name-of-it annual festival that ran downtown for a few years and featured Jax-centric acts (Rob Roy was headliner that one year "Fur in My Cap" was big) spread out over downtown venues seems better than this.

I dont know. Call me a music snob or even just a prick, but I think when your big names are Less Than Jake and Sugarhill Gang, you are quite clearly doing it wrong.

I think you're thinking of "Conmoto".

What I mean by the higher ceiling is the way the event is set up. It's in the middle of downtown and many of the venues are places that would be doing things anyway. I think it has a higher potential for an event of this scale than, say, if they rented out Metro Park or the St. Augustine Amphitheater or some other relatively isolated venue, where you have to bring everything in and also worry about getting people through the gate. I probably wouldn't go to this if it were at Metro Park or the St. Augie Amphitheater. But when it's centered around places I'd go anyway, that's a different story. And if it were to take off and grow in the future, it would have a much higher impact on the surrounding area than an event at a more isolated place.

[CityLife]

Tachale, good for you for supporting. I mean that.  But to say that this has a higher ceiling than other things attempted before is...misguided I think.  Talleyrand was better and cheaper.  Hell even the I-forget-the-name-of-it annual festival that ran downtown for a few years and featured Jax-centric acts (Rob Roy was headliner that one year "Fur in My Cap" was big) spread out over downtown venues seems better than this.

I dont know. Call me a music snob or even just a prick, but I think when your big names are Less Than Jake and Sugarhill Gang, you are quite clearly doing it wrong.

I think you're thinking of "Conmoto".

What I mean by the higher ceiling is the way the event is set up. It's in the middle of downtown and many of the venues are places that would be doing things anyway. I think it has a higher potential for an event of this scale than, say, if they rented out Metro Park or the St. Augustine Amphitheater or some other relatively isolated venue, where you have to bring everything in and also worry about getting people through the gate. I probably wouldn't go to this if it were at Metro Park or the St. Augie Amphitheater. But when it's centered around places I'd go anyway, that's a different story. And if it were to take off and grow in the future, it would have a much higher impact on the surrounding area than an event at a more isolated place.

Fair points. Credit to them for setting up the festival this way. After last year's One Spark, I was calling for them to do exactly this type of set up, just at night as after shows during One Spark. I think it would be far more successful that way, rather than as a stand alone festival. I'd actually think both festivals would be more successful together.

That said, the lineup is very underwhelming. Someone earlier in the thread called Surfer Blood a "great, great band". Really? Don't get me wrong, I like them, but they probably aren't even a top 50 indie band of the past decade or so (not just my opinion). The 2000's is quite possibly the deepest (not saying best) period of music ever. To only get one quasi relevant newer band is not good. Hopefully, if this turns out to be a bust, it won't deter or prevent future good festivals from happening locally. I know Talleyrand was a bit of a setback.

[funwithteeth]

Surfer Blood is based out of Florida, so the organizers didn't even have to reach that far to grab them.

[CityLife]

Washed Out are playing Friday the 12th in Orlando, Saturday the 13th in Ft. Lauderdale, and 9/14 in Tampa. Talk about a blown opportunity. Saw them in NYC at a festival and they killed.

[funwithteeth]

I don't know if any attempt was made to book Washed Out—maybe there was but the band couldn't fit it into their schedule—but looking at all the acts that were booked, I have no reason to suspect the organizers tried.