Withholding the lineup announcement of music festival until the last possible second is a unique take on what is becoming an increasingly-staid festival scene. However, when Justin Vernon (Bon Iver) and Aaron Dessner (The National) decided to do just that before this weekend’s Eaux Claire Festival, the results left some fans less surprised and more underwhelmed — as one reviewer for Variety put it, it was more “meh” than “wow.”
As Stereogum points out, when the festival announced its lineup on July 7 just hours before the first bands were set to perform, it wasn’t quite the same level of star-power that previous iterations had boasted. The 2017 version of the festival had hip-hop megastar Chance the Rapper, Wilco, Danny Brown and more, leaving fans to expect something even bigger and better than the previous year.
As review in the Twin Cities-based Star Tribune opined, the festival was too heavy on acts that already played it in the past. And not only did these groups make a repeat performance at this year’s festival, many of them played as many as three or four performance across the festival in what to some listeners felt like semi-impromptu performances.
It seems some fans are confused about what the goals of the festival were, highlighted by this Reddit thread.
The Star Tribune review elaborated on these complaints, mentioning a still-rusty Sharon Van Etten and an impromptu drone jam session with Julien Baker and Gordi. The review points out how despite most of the members of Bon Iver’s touring band being at the festival, there wasn’t a proper set from the band. Instead, festival-goers got another semi-impromptu feeling set from Vernon during his People Mix Tape. The Bon Iver frontman sang songs by Bob Dylan and Porter Wagoner, manipulating his vocals while being joined by many of the artists playing the festival to sing along.
Another mixed review came courtesy of Variety magazine. Their reviewer Jeff Miller found the festival to be interesting due to its one-off collaborations and unique experiences, there weren’t any “true large-scale surprises on the lineup.” He continued, “those smaller acts who took risks (encouraged by the festival’s laid back vibe) sometimes did so at the expense of fans, many of whom wandered around through the tiny back-woods stages looking for something to grasp onto.”
What kind of surprises were fans hoping for? According to Stereogum some of the predictions, based on lineup clues, included stars as big as Kanye West as well as more natural fits like alternative icons Arcade Fire and Patti Smith.
Photo Credit: Damien Becerra
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