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Last Updated: Nov 6th, 2008 - 14:29:11 |
With the advent of the stadium concert, beginning with Woodstock in 1969, mass events attended by even more massive audiences changed marketing media, and staging, forever.
Be it presidential nominees’ approach to addressing growing public response, or the increased popularity of three- and four-day concert events (such as Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo and Coachella), some experts argue that stadium rock paved the way for such large-scale gatherings.
“Aside from the great cultural impact rock concerts and festivals have had on our society, not to mention the economic impact, there’s a historical element,” said Mark Bliesener, a former musician and the current manager of BandGuru.com, a music business consulting site. “If you look at the impact of big festivals and gatherings I think there’s a tremendous impact – directly from the rock business – on the way political events are staged today.”
That’s why Bliesener organized “Evolution of the Rock Concert,” a Q&A discussion panel that will gather Nov. 12 at the Tivoli Turnhalle to discuss the history, culture and economy of the rock concert.
“As things have changed in the industry, I see people either not being aware of, or losing sight of, the historical perspective of some of this stuff,” Bliesener said. “I think we’ll raise some controversial issues and I think there will be some really interesting discussions because the panel covers a broad spectrum.”
Joining Bliesener on the panel will be an array of Colorado music industry experts, including legendary promoter Barry Fey, who, in 1969, organized the Denver Pop Festival at the old Mile High Stadium, featuring legend Jimi Hendrix; Matt Fecher, director of the Monolith Music Festival and the Fresh Tracks Music Festival; Craig Ferguson, director of Planet Bluegrass and the Telluride Music Festival; Brent Fedrizzi, Rocky Mountain AEG Live promoter; and Brian Nevin, drummer for Colorado’s own Big Head Todd and the Monsters. The panel will be moderated by rock journalist, author and radio personality G. Brown.
“It’s going to be a really exciting, interesting and diverse panel,” Bliesener said. “Having weathered and seen all of these changes … nobody thought we’d be sitting around at some point dealing with rock concerts as pop culture and pop culture history. I really organized the panel to provide an opportunity for people to see the historical aspects of this.”
According to Bliesener, because there was no such thing as a music or music engineering degree, there was also very little faith that rock and roll would be either profitable or historically impacting back when he began playing drums in 1966.
“It was the equivalent of telling my parents that I was going to rob gas stations for a living,” Bliesener said.
And despite the fact that rock and roll proved extremely profitable and historically noteworthy, some experts, including Bliesener, are predicting that stadium rock may have reached its peak. According to Bliesener, the industry has been affected by factors ranging from the digital downloading revolution to peaking local scenes, options which are often less expensive for concertgoers.
“I think the impact of rock concerts and the evolution of them has had a bigger impact on our culture than is readily evident,” Bliesener said. “That’s the impetus for doing this thing, to tear apart some of those concepts, talk about them, and educate people on the history.”
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