Let the lineup speculation begin!
Live Nation announced the details for the third annual Sasquatch! Launch Party today. Here are the details:
The 2012 Sasquatch! Launch Party
Junip (featuring Jose Gonzalez)
Matthew Caw (of Nada Surf)
The Physics
Hosted by Luke Burbank
$15, Feb. 2, 2012, The Neptune Theatre
Now that the details are out of the way, here are a few quick observations:
First, THE PHYSICS! What a good look for one of the city’s finest hip-hop groups. You might know them from here, or maybe you know them from last year’s excellent and criminally overlooked album Love is a Business (which was one of Guerrilla Candy’s top local albums of 2011). Seeing their name attached to something Sasquatch! immediately brought a smile to my face. Those guys work hard and deserve to be recognized. Sure playing the launch party doesn’t guarantee a date at the Gorge, but playing the launch party is a nice way to get some national name recognition in the blogosphere.
My second observation is that this year’s launch party, unlike the past two years, is going to cost money. It’s also on a weekday (last year’s had the unfortunate timing of landing on Super Bowl Sunday) and it is being held at venue operated by Sasquatch! co-presenter STG.
This leads to a a few speculatory conclusions. One is that Sasquatch! organizers realized they could make money off revealing the lineup so they decided to put a price on tickets to the lineup announcement event. Another possibility is that this year’s Sasqsuatch! might not be as big of a money maker as past Sasquatch! festivals. The launch party lacks a big sponsor like Verizon which helped make the last year’s launch party free. Perhaps there’s a reason for the lack of extra sponsorships? Although, the launch party is sponsored by Kokanee this year so there isn’t a lack of funding from a sponsor.
Maybe advance ticket sales weren’t as hot as last year’s, which had to of been boosted by the early announcement of Foo Fighters as a headliner. Or could this be an indication that this year’s Sasquatch! lineup may not be as impressive as other Sasquatch! lineups, so there’s a need for some extra money? Following the argument that the lineup may not be all too stellar, if that is the case then this could also be an indication that Adam Zacks is bringing the festival back to its roots and hyper-focusing on the discovery aspect of Sasquatch! and using its popularity to help bring attention to bands that need to be on your radar. He is a pretty damn good taste maker after all.
Of course the safe bet is just assuming that Live Nation realized that there is a pretty big demand to be one of the first to know the Sasquatch! lineup so they decided to charge money for this year’s lineup.
