Major traveling music festivals more or less went the way of the dinosaurs several years ago when the likes of Ozzfest, Lilith Fair and Lollapalooza stopped taking their shows on the road, but don’t tell that to the music geeks in Silicon Valley who work at Yahoo!
According to Billboard, the Yahoo! on the Road festival is coming to 21 cities this year and one of those cities is Seattle. The bill includes a rotating lineup of some very big names including Jay-Z, Justin Timberlake, Frank Ocean, Kendrick Lamar, Trey Songz, the Lumineers, fun., Imagine Dragons and J. Cole. Also on the list of rotating performers are Seattle favorites Macklemore & Ryan Lewis.
May 26 is the scheduled date for the festival’s Seattle stop, which of course is during Memorial Day weekend. That weekend is also Sasquatch! weekend, a four-day festival Macklemore is headlining. This raises the question of whether Macklemore & Ryan Lewis could be appearing in Seattle the same weekend as their headlining set at the Gorge Amphitheater.
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But let’s not speculate about a Macklemore Seattle show just yet. What’s really exciting about this new traveling festival is the potential Justin Timberlake and Jay-Z appearance in Seattle. The duo’s Legends of Summer tour is making a stop up north in Vancouver, B.C. and skipping Seattle. Seeing Kendrick Lamar and Frank Ocean open for the former Mouseketeer and Mr. Sean Carter would definitely make up for the big show passing up on an Emerald City gig. But as exciting as a big show with Jay-Z and Justin Timberlake would be, my guess is that the Seattle stop will likely include fun., Imagine Dragons and a few of the other less exciting names.
Now, back to Mack. His appearance is all speculation, since the Seattle stop’s lineup has yet to be announced. Also, there are a few hurdles for him to overcome if he does indeed show up in Seattle during Memorial Day weekend. One thing to consider is that Sasquatch! has yet to announce its daily schedule so Macklemore & Ryan Lewis could be performing at the Gorge the same day as the Yahoo! on the Road festival. However, that roadblock is easy to get past since it’s possible for Macklemore & Ryan Lewis to pull double-duty and play in Seattle and the Gorge the same day since the Gorge is only a few hours away from Seattle.
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Another more serious consideration, in regards to business, is that typically music festivals have blackout clauses in their contracts. These clauses prohibit artists from performing within a certain number of miles of a city within a certain time frame before and after the festival. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis could get around this clause by appearing at the Yahoo! festival by going the “special guests” route and not actually being advertised on the bill. It wouldn’t be the first time Macklemore & Ryan Lewis did something sneaky in Seattle.
The full details, including venues and lineups, for the Yahoo! on the Road festival have yet to be announced but Century Link Field is vacant Memorial Day weekend and it seems like the perfect spot for JT and Jay-Z to play in Seattle so it’s your move Yahoo!. I’ll post more information when it becomes available.
