Sad day for music

Lollapalooza 2004 is officially cancelled.

As much as I'd grown to detest Lollapalooza since the mid 90s, with its wannabe and useless bands (c'mon, who's bright idea was it to book... fucking Metallica in the '96 tour?) its jock-ridden sponsors (Major League Baseball, Microsoft Xbox!!) and its increasingly fratboy following, I was still considering going to at least one of the two days it was going to be here in western Washington. It had the best lineup of bands in years (probably the best since 1992): Morrissey, Sonic Youth, PJ Harvey, The Flaming Lips, Pixies, Wilco, Modest Mouse. And, the sponsor list not withstanding, Perry Farrell was again closely involved.

But due to a sagging economy and as usual, high Ticketmaster surcharges, the tour had to be cancelled. This is so unfortunate, music-wise, because with a lack of good music out there, we are denied the opportunity to see so many iconic bands play at the same venue. Not only that, it looked like the festival was getting back to its strong political and activist roots. Progressive groups like MoveOn and Music For America were going to be there, registering voters and disseminating info. This was so important, given this is a pivotal election year. But despite all this, ticket sales lagged.

Argh. This sucks. Now I'm in a bad mood. Today I was ready to note that the day started perfectly coming into work, listening to Son Volt's Wide Swing Tremolo, pretty much the album to listen to when you're driving on a hot day. Followed up by samples of White Stripes, Radiohead, Johnny Cash, and The Vines. All wasted now. Grrr.