Actually, contrary to what Complainas D. Coxigrump here has to say, word
over the weekend from the Paxahau camp was that the city has already agreed
to give them next year's contract (at least verbally).
I agree that attendance seemed light, but reports in the local media
confirmed a higher attendance on Saturday than the previous year. I suppose
we'll have to wait for the final numbers to see whether there was less
overall.
As for lower attendance at afterparties, you can't blame light attendance on
Paxahau, that's simply ridiculous. There are so many other factors to
consider:
1) Saturday night had an overwhelming number of events compared to other
nights, spreading the crowd thin.
2) Many parties had much higher admission costs ($25+) and the lower cost
events seemed to be fewer and far between this year. Factor in having to pay
for the festival this year, I'm sure many had to budget accordingly and
sacrfice some nightlife.
3)There have been several discussions on the list about the lack of new
blood coming into this scene, at least compared to previous decades. Less
new people means that serious festival attendees are probably the same ones
that have been coming for the past seven years, meaning they're all seven
years older. I don't know about you, but all day at the festival plus a 4-6
hour afterparty just isn't as easy it used to be. And that's just one day -
three days in a row is nearly impossible.
From: "Thomas D. Cox, Jr." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: 313@hyperreal.org
Subject: Re: (313) Detroit... how did it go?
Date: Wed, 31 May 2006 22:03:54 -0400
On 5/31/06, Anton Banks (313) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Any guesses about the likelyhood that the festival will continue next
year?
my guess would be not with paxahau in command. attendance this year
was MUCH thinner than in past years. i guess this goes to show,
catering to trendy minimal cats and ravers isnt the way to break even.
i think ive figured out why, and it was mainly by reports of the
afterparties. what i think happened was that paxahau got full of
themselves for throwing the banging/minimal techno parties every year
that every white suburban detroit kid and some of the out of towners
went to. they got that whole crowd every time. all the parties with
the real detroit techno, house, and electro split all the rest of that
crowd. this time, since much less of the crowd from the previous
festivals were in attendance, the detroit music afterparties were
relatively lighly populated while the minimal/whatever parties werent
any crazier than years previous (though this is just from what i heard
from others who went to the parties!).
tom
