If You’re Going to San Francisco…

September 4, 2014
September 4, 2014 Theo Brainin

If You’re Going to San Francisco…

Story Terrace writer Daan Borrel asks herself the question ‘How did festivals, by origin a subculture of rebellious youth, become so mainstream?’ as she reflects on sixties love-inns, festival-hopping rich kids, and boutique festivals.

By Daan Borrel, guest writer Story Terrace

On the life cycle of festivals

A clear blue sky, green grass, some dried mud at the side of the field. A cold beer in one hand, the gig line-up in the other. All good. Everywhere you look there are happy people. Some are dancing, others just hang around or explore the grounds. On the stage in front of you the first notes by your favourite band ring out. Who isn’t familiar with the ultimate festival feeling? Drifting from one stage to another, accompanied by sun and music all day long.

Contemporary festival hype

You can safely say that Holland and England are festival countries. In 2013, there were over 774 music, theatre and cultural festivals taking place in Holland. That’s five times more than thirty years ago. The same year, England hosted 700 festivals for music only, attracting around 6.5 million visitors. For comparison, in 2004 there were only 100 such events.

The traditional culture of entertainment – bars and clubs – gives way to festival-going; while the organisers count their blessings. Once a visitor, or rather a consumer, is on the site, he or she won’t be leaving soon. Festival means feast, and people just love festivity.

Glastonbury Festival

Glastonbury

Rich kids hopping around

However, the numbers seem to have peaked. For the first time in decades, the number of festivals didn’t increase in 2013 and existing festivals had a hard time attracting visitors. In England in 2011 and 2012 various festivals were cancelled because of poor ticket sales, among them the famous Glastonbury. The reason? Bad weather, the Olympic Games, but mainly the economic crisis and visitor boredom. It seems that the slicker the festival, the more unlikely it is to capture an authentic festival atmosphere. Even at Burning Man, the world’s most alternative and idealistic festival, rich kids from Silicon Valley are hopping around. How did festival, by origin a subculture of rebellious youth, become so mainstream?

Love-ins

Love-In 60s San Francisco

Woodstock ’69

The first pop festivals, the so-called love-ins, where music wasn’t the only attraction, arose during the flower power era in the sixties in San Francisco. Peace, love and music was the motto. The hippies with their idealistic mind set gathered in natural environments to share their ideals and passions, to listen to music, produce pirate radio and – of course – do drugs. The love-ins represented a truly iconic lifestyle: the hippies used to migrate from (free) festival to festival. Woodstock was the first, most well-known and by far the biggest festival from that era. It attracted around 400.000 anti-bourgeois visitors; and songs such as ‘If you’re going to San Francisco’ and ‘All you need is love’ date from this wild period.

First festivals in England and Holland

The concept of festival reached Holland and England quickly. In England, jazz and blues festivals were organised as early as the beginning of the sixties. The late sixties saw the rise of the first pop festivals as we know them today. The Holland Pop Festival in the Kralingse Bos was the first Dutch multi-day open-air festival. It was considered the highpoint of the European hippie era: half of the 100.000 visitors entered without a ticket, and in a spirit of universal love people joined in with smoking weed, dancing and skinny dipping. Youtube movie Holland Pop Festival

From politics to boutique

The Holland Pop Festival heralded a change, none the less. Festivals grew bigger, more professional and more commercial, and focused on the consumer. The audience in Holland turned out to be far less idealistic than those in the States. There were less urgent issues to address, and the rebellious English lyrics didn’t appeal to the audience very much. The political message slowly started to disappear from the concept of festival. And whoever remembers skinny dipping?

Wilderness Festival

Wilderness Festival

In the late nineties, the growth of small festivals, in England better known as boutique festivals, increased. This trend continues today, although the market seems saturated for now. The most successful formulas of today try to reflect a hint of the hippie atmosphere from the olden days – currently known as Berlin-like settings. Intimate, authentic, adventurous and loving are the keynotes. It’s in this way that the Wilderness Festival in Oxfordshire mimics the true hippie spirit successfully. A lot of campfires, nature and liberalism.

The modern hippie

But whereas in Berlin the underground scene is somewhere for people who cannot afford to go anywhere else, and whereas for the old hippies festivals were the only way to escape ordinary civil life, the raw festival vibes of Western Europe seemed more of a marketing trick. For most festival visitors, festival isn’t a lifestyle, as it was for the old, nomadic hippies. Nobody could afford such a life, anyway. It’s more of a break from fast, busy day-to-day life. It’s organised feasting. Organised freedom. Maybe the modern festival-goer would rather be a hippie. Though the sort that goes home to a clean bed.

________________

Story Terrace writer Daan BorrelAbout the author: Daan Borrel is apart from a writer for Story Terrace, a freelance text writer and journalist for (among others) Dutch newspapers NRC Handelsblad and nrc.next. 

 

 

 

About us: Story Terrace helps customers to capture personal stories in beautiful books alongside a professional writer. Our writers have a range of backgrounds and interests, sharing one passion: Portraying individuals through carefully crafted anecdotes and lively stories.

For more information on having your stories written down, send an e-mail to info@ or get in touch via our contact form.

This month we celebrate festival memories. Also see our interview with a festival organiser and other stories. What’s your most treasured festival memory?

Enter details to get started on your book