Though the festival’s home has historically been the slopes, the 2014 Snowball music festival will be held in downtown Denver at Mile High Stadium. That’s caused a bit of controversy amongst fans, but not as much as the fact that though tickets have been on sale for a couple weeks, not a single scrap of the SnowBall 2014 lineup has been announced yet.
Of course, festivals do this all the time. But with the nomadic Snowball setting up shop in Denver and the dates pushed back to early spring, it feels like a do or die year for the festival. Odds are, the new home and time won’t make or break the festival; the lineup, however, very well could.
With little to go on but a couple Pollstar names and some oracle bones, join us as we speculate wildly on the bands youshould expect to catch, can hope for and definitely won’t see at Snowball 2014.
Good Bet
No guarantees, but for one reason or another, you can expect to see these groups at Mile High come early April.
MiMoSa: Slotted to play Friday according to , which gathers info primarily from managers and promoters. Played the festival back in 2012; the festival has a trend of repeating acts every other year.
Boombox: in January, and the duo has a gap in their tour from the end of March until mid-April. Colorado band and Snowball 2012 alumnus.
Dzܲ:The DJ is listed for Sunday on Pollstar.com. No touring conflicts as of today. One-person performers are cost-effective.
dzɴǰ:The Mad Decent DJ/producer let slip via yesterday that he’ll be playing Snowball on April 6.
A Tom Collins:Played the festival in 2012 and have no tour dates listed for the weekend. Denver based.
Educated Guess
Fuzzy math aside, there’s a solid chance of seeing these group at this year’s Snowball.
Trampled By Turtles: Played in 2011 and aren’t shown as booked for the weekend. Slated to play a show at Red Rocks, but not until August.
Nathaniel Rateliff and the Night Sweats: Rateliff played Snowball in 2012 and recently released a new album. Denver native/local. Night Sweats are a party band—perfect for Snowball.
Classixx:Schedule is wide open in the beginning of April and they playedthe festival in 2011. No other Colorado tour dates listed for ’14, though they played a couple of shows with Toro y Moi last year.
…Maybe (Why Not?)
Logically, these make sense, but there isn’t much evidence. Also: they’re pricier to book.
Disclosure:Huge success in Colorado with HARD Red Rocks and a sold-out Boulder Theatre in 2013. The English duo are all-but wide open from March to June as of now, and will be floating around the US as near .
Broken Bells:Just released a new album, and have no Denver date listed (yet). However, will be in Amsterdam on April 1. Doable, but don’t bank on it.
Kings of Leon:Touring a new album, but no Denver date listed yet. Will have four days between their 4/4 show in Saskatoon, SK and their 4/8 show in Tulsa, OK that could feasibly bring them through CO.
A Man Can Dream
Mostly wishful thinking. Extremely desirable, but extremely expensive.
Frank Ocean:The man will be making some stops at festivals this season but still has plenty of space on his schedule. Even after that shout out he gave us in Ocean has yet to perform in Denver.
Beck:Beck only has a few festival dates listed, but with a new album set for later this month, expect a tour announcement soon—hopefully with some Denver lovin’.
Drake:Big gap in his tour dates after he finishes his European tour on March 26. Skipped Denver on his latest run around the world, “Would You Like A Tour?”
Kanye West:Is set to hit a handful of festivals this year, but is without question the most expensive proposition on the list. Bailed on his Denver date after botched “routing logistics”; owes us big time.
Out
No matter how pennies you flip into the fountain, these headliners won’t be making it to Snowball.
Outkast:The hip-hop legends’ kicks off with Coachella on April 11—no sooner. You’d imagine that’s a contractual obligation.
Arcade Fire:According to their tours dates, they’ll be in Brazil that weekend. Plus, they’ll play the Pepsi Center later in the month.
Vampire Weekend:Will be in South America according to their tour dates. May or may not be too cool for us now.
Savages:Will be at Lollapalooza Chile with Vampy Weeks.
…and The Beatles: Haven’t toured since 1966; half of members are deceased. And with so little info to go on, one of the only things we can confirm outright.
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Dylan Owens is Reverb’s all-purpose news blogger and album reviewer. You can read more from him in Relix magazineand the comment sections ofWORLDSTARHIPHOP.
