Fans will not be visiting Michigan for the Rothbury Festival this summer — maybe in 2011.
The Rothbury Festival has taken over a large rural ranch in Michigan each summer since 2008 with bands such as the Grateful Dead and the Dave Matthews Band, but the team that organizes it — Denver-based AEG Live Rocky Mountains and Boulder-based Madison House Presents — announced today that the festival will not take place this summer.
“For 2010, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our efforts,” the statement, from Madison House Presents’ Jeremy Stein, reads on the festival’s homepage. “A contributing factor in our decision is that, due to various artists’ recording and touring schedules, we now believe that timing will not allow for us to assemble the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect from Rothbury.
“The result for this year is that we are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival.”
While organizers plan on returning in 2011 with a strong line-up, the cancellation still comes as a surprise.
“Despite the 2010 postponement,” the statement continues, “we intend to move toward continuing Rothbury in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what Rothbury is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience.”
Part of the team behind Rothbury, AEG Live Rocky Mountains, is also responsible for the Mile High Music Festival. But that festival, also in its third year this summer, is expected to go on — though it looks as if it will be pushed back to August this summer, a festival rep told The Denver Post.
During the past three years, all of us involved with ROTHBURY have greatly appreciated the tremendous outpouring of support for the future of the festival. For 2010, we have had to make the tough decision to postpone our efforts. A contributing factor in our decision is that, due to various artists’ recording and touring schedules, we now believe that timing will not allow for us to assemble the cutting edge roster that everyone has come to expect from ROTHBURY. The result for this year is that we are not able to move forward with the integrity and high standards that we demand from ourselves and for the festival.
Despite the 2010 postponement, we intend to move toward continuing ROTHBURY in 2011. This event is something very special, and we are unwilling to potentially tarnish what ROTHBURY is, and can become, by working under conditions that will produce anything less than a magical experience.
ROTHBURY is more than a festival. It is a mission intended to discover strength in community, and what it means to be a large-scale sustainable event in these times. Our efforts are certainly not coming to an end.
It is important for us to thank the people of Michigan, Oceana County, The Village of Rothbury, Grant Township, and the Double JJ Resort. Also, we thank our team members, volunteers, creative contributors, media partners, and sponsors. We have made many friendships that will last a lifetime.
To all who attended the first two years of ROTHBURY we thank you for the soul you gave the event. Those times entered rarified air because of your energy.
We hope you have a fantastic July 4th this summer.
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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 indie music festival. Follow his whimsies at , his live music habit at and his iTunes addictions at .
