Free Press Summer Fest gone, but from ashes sprouts
In Bloom
The Free Press Summer Festival has died, yet it resists both praise and burial. Praise is withheld because it was such a difficult, sweaty creature to embrace. Each year, the fest felt as though it were set on the surface of the sun, a hot box environment that made the act of listening to music a stress test. Also, it often rained.
But burial is withheld, too, because sprouting from the soil of Eleanor Tinsley Park next year will be the In Bloom Music Festival.
In Bloom isn’t simply a rebranded FPSF — “reborn” is the term organizers used. The name change bears mention, as Free Press Houston sold its share of FPSF in December 2015.
But the event has also moved from its late-May/ early-June station for the past eight years (the inaugural Free Press Summer Fest sweated it out in August). In Bloom will take place March 24-25 at FPSF’s typical site in Eleanor Tinsley Park. Organizers hope weather will be more agreeable in March, which traditionally has the lowest rainfall of any month in Houston. Rain has caused significant problems with FPSF the past three years — including a washout of the Sunday headliners at last summer’s fest. March temperatures also typically range from the mid-50s to the low-70s.
The new event promises “more than 50 music performances on four stages,” which puts it in line more with last year’s FPSF than the 2015 version where nearly 80 acts played. That number is also a modest figure compared to the larger festivals: Austin City Limits — a two-weekend event — had more than 120 acts; Bonnaroo hosts more than 100. In other words, the festivals with national name recognition are built on volume.
In this sense In Bloom may end up closer in spirit to the Hangout Music Fest in Gulf Shores, Ala., which next year will have about 60 bands play, though they’re spread over three days rather than two.
Some may view the performer attrition as a net loss. I’d consider a scaled back fest a better fit for Eleanor Tinsley Park. The park’s rolling and winding contours added character, but complicated crowd flow.
But, a more modestly sized festival leads to the issue of curation, which is key for any such event. In Bloom is being produced by Houstonbased Pegstar Concerts, which is smart about bookings, along with Starr Hill Presents and C3 Presents. No lineup has been announced, so no fest personality can be discerned, beyond the fan-friendly move from June to March and the name change, which isn’t much to go on since it references a song by a band, Nirvana, nearly 25 years gone. But the name also fits the annual appearance of Texas Paintbrush wildflowers Bluebonnets, which lends it a hopeful vibe. And blind presale twoday passes go for $75. A two-day pass at FPSF 2017 was nearly $150.
Music festivals once came across as licenses to print money. But warning signs have brought about a rash of speculative stories this year about whether the music festival phenomenon is waning. Bonnaroo’s 2016 attendance was sharply down over the year before. Austin’s Sound on Sound was recently cancelled, as was the Pemberton Music Festival in British Columbia, which went bankrupt this year.
For a time FPSF was this city’s one major music festival, but as it scaled back others emerged.
C3 brought Middlelands to the Texas Renaissance Festival Fair Grounds in early May. The electronic dance music-centric event claimed 66,000 attendees, a crowd that didn’t make the neighbors happy. Less than two weeks later Middlelands announced the Ren Fest officials told them to find new grounds for 2018. “Middlelands shall return!” read an announcement. No further word has eked out regarding that return.
Swap out the English renaissance motif for Halloween and Something Wicked out at Sam Houston Race Park offers a comparable experience, musically at least. So the raver kids aren’t left entirely in the dark.
The Houston Whatever Fest — which mixes music and comedy — moved from its fall spot to early April this year. But the HWF site has not been updated for 2018. Trying to maintain a festival one week after In Bloom could be a shaky proposition.
The wintery Day for Night, occupying the former Barbara Jordan Post Officer Dec. 15-17, doesn’t aspire to boast one of those something-for-everybody posters where Kanye West, Phish, Stevie Wonder and Paul McCartney nestle together uncomfortably. Instead it has proven a model for establishing an identity. The careful curation of niche bands, populist by “cool” headliners and interactive art displays has drawn out-of-town goers and international press coverage as its third production approaches.
So the slow fade of FPSF left Houston without a single music festival that pulls nearly six-figure attendance. Maybe that’s for the best. Perhaps the city’s unforgiving climate and lack of a flat wide open festival grounds forced it to unbundle the something-for-everybody approach into something more interesting and varied. Whether that approach is a viable alternative to the too-big-to-fail festivals remains to be seen.
But better to bloom in March than wilt in June.