Josh Baker, the Monolith Festival’s director, says that the festival will happen in 2009 — and there will be plenty of indie rock, dance music and hip-hop. Photo by .
Now that the summer music festivals are making news – including – the chatter is starting up about the , Colorado’s indie rock bash that happens each September at Red Rocks.
This year’s fest is Sept. 12-13 at , and the hipsters and scenesters are already spreading the gossip on the fest – “Monolith isn’t happening.” … “The festival was dropped by its promoter.” … “Paul McCartney’s going to headline.” But here’s the official word from the horse’s mouth, a.k.a. Monolith Festival director Josh Baker.
Question: So Monolith is definitely happening this year?
Answer: Absolutely.
Q: What will the aesthetic be? Last year was a lot of indie-dance and indie rock.
A: Indie, dance, hip-hop — and equal parts of each of those.
Q: You guys are no longer with AEG Live, which co-produced Monolith in 2007 and 2008.
A: Right now we are free agents and doing it on our own, for the time being. But itap going to be our best year to date, and I’m very confident about the way things are shaping up. Itap certainly a lot more work for us this year, but we do it because we have fun.
Q: I know you guys are talking with Live Nation right now about a potential partnership. How’s that going?
A: We are talking to other partners, and we still have a decent relationship with AEG. We left on decent terms, and we’re trying to throw a great festival in a great venue. In the meantime, yeah, we’re talking to a few partners and haven’t made any decisions just yet. On March 1, we kicked it off internally. And we’re looking at a late-May, early-June line-up announcement.
Q: So you’re already talking to talent?
A: I’m booking the festival right now. I’m not releasing any acts yet. Our goal is to create the best experience for the fan. We’re doing everything behind the scenes that we can to reduce ticket prices and service charges. People don’t understand that we could sell every ticket to the festival and essentially not make any money, so the sponsorship plays a huge role in what we do, and thatap why we’ve been working so diligently to find the right partners that allow us to offer a cheaper ticket price.
Q: Is Esurance still on board as your title sponsor?
A: We are blessed to have such a great sponsor in Esurance. They have stood beside us through the ups and downs and have continuously been supportive of the festival. The only reason why there is going to be Monolith Festival in 2009 is because of their dedication to supporting our vision.
Q: So whatap the goal for 2009?
A: How do we make the festival as affordable as possible and still be able to make money? The ticket will be slightly cheaper than last year, and the service charges will also be significantly less.
Q: Are you not going through Ticketmaster?
A: No, we’re not going through Ticketmaster, unless something changes with a different partner down the road.
Q: Who will you be using for ticketing?
A: Front Gate Tickets. They do Lollapalooza, Rothbury and (Austin City Limits).
Q: What are you thoughts about Ticketmaster, given everything going on right now?
A: I don’t have any opinions either way, but AEG had an agreement with Ticketmaster at the time, and thatap what we had available to us (in the last two years).
Q: The last two Monolith Festivals — 2007 and 2008 — were dynamically booked and critically lauded, yet they lost significant amounts of money. What happened?
A: There are a lot of reasons why. It had two different feels from year to year. It had a very different feel the first year than it did in year two in terms of the age groups of the attendees. Year two was a more clear vision of where we want to go with the festival, in terms of talent, and we may have alienated some of the first year fans because it was different. Itap important to have one identity for the festival. You have to have a certain number of artists that appeals to various people, that makes them want to buy a ticket. You’re going to see that this year.
Q: What else?
A: One of the things we’ve always thought is that a lot of our audience is college students, and we have a tough time marketing the festival to them when they’re not there. They leave school before we announce our line-up, so we’ve done a lot with social networking sites trying to get a hold of them.
Q: I heard multiple people talk about the high ticket price last year.
A: The ticket price is always a huge factor. I talked with a lot of people last year who had to make the decision of choosing one day over the other because thatap all they could afford, and we don’t want people to have to make that decision this year.
Q: You’re an extremely late-season music festival, usually way back there with Austin City Limits. But the September weather’s a lot better in Austin than it is in the foothills outside Denver. And people have also had an entire summer of music by the time Monolith comes around. Have you thought about moving it earlier?
A: We’ve thought about it, and itap not out of the question for us to move it up in future years. But these are also oftentimes the only back-to-back weekend days available (at Red Rocks) because of holds. We couldn’t get back-to-back days. But I also like the idea of letting the summer run its course and being one of the few fall festivals — as opposed to being one of the 15 summer festivals.
Q: What about the weather? Last year it was raining/snowing during DeVotchKa’s headlining set. It was really, really, really cold.
A: Last year we saw how quickly the weather can take a turn, but the days are sunny and the evenings get a little chilly, and I’d rather be in that scenario than have it be 115 degrees.
Q: You’re not concerned that people have blown their cash by the time your festival announces its dates?
A: Last year, there were so many great shows at Red Rocks and the Ogden and all the other venues, and at the end of the day, they’re all competing for the same money. People went all out all summer, and by the end of it, they might have been a little strapped. But I still like being in the fall.
Q: How are you feeling about ’09?
A: I feel great. I really do. I feel better than I’ve ever felt.
Ricardo Baca is the founder and co-editor of and an award-winning critic and journalist at The Denver Post. He is also the executive director of the , Colorado’s premier festival of local music. Follow his whimsies at , his live music habit at and his iTunes addictions at .
