Yes, I was very surprised about last year, but you’re right about Yonder being a “standard” and likewise Greensky over the past 5 years. The absence of Salmon this year is surprising, especially since they’re going to be playing 3 shows in Telluride this Feb … but they’ve taken their “breaks” over the years for sure. ISD seem to be on the every other year plan, and RRE has kind of been cast in “exile” over the past four (now five) years … which is a shame, since they really offer a different spin on things which is still accessible to most festivarians in different ways.
I just think PB shies away from dipping too far into any given “sub-genre” & tries to offer up something of interest to a broader market of festival goers vs. stacking the deck for any given “camp”. With the large core of “usual suspects”, and perhaps a desire to keep the overall lineup “well rounded”, it’s difficult to include all the bands you’d often see all listed together on other bills.
Yeah, that all makes sense. I know that PB tries to vary it and keep it marketable to a broader market.
The last two years I thought were really good because there were so many of the core jam bands and less of the pop acts like Dispatch and Ryan Adams (well not necessarily pop but certainly not bluegrass). I’m still hoping for some more interesting names to come up as the line-up firms up.
I can’t fault PB’s overall approach, it’s their right to take a mostly conservative path … knowing their core of “usual suspects” – combined with the overall festival experience – will satiate most festivarians’ expecations. The rest is just gravy, so the other decisions are never viewed as “make or break” & in turn they can run without a (major) “headliner” … as evidenced the past two years being in stark contrast to 2014 with Winwood taking the stage. I’m convinced they had Cat Stevens lined up in the interim, but something fell through. It’s probably very appealing to simply pocket most of the dough instead.
Not looking to yuk anyone else’s yum, but it only took 30 seconds of a YouTube clip for me to know that Dispatch is not my cup of tea & they’re easily pigeon holed into a mass of “blah” which are occupied by a hundred other bands (not to disparage their efforts, since they probably love what they do and they the ARE playing live music … which is rare these days on a national level with DJ’s being cheaper and more ubiquitous).
I’m also hoping for some more interesting names, and would love to be proven wrong, but I’m not holding my breath for a “headliner” at this point … especially in light of the festival not having sold out immediately. To bring in a headliner, they’d need to insure it was a big enough name that they’d sell out (or at least enough to cover the cost), while at the same time not too big whereby it causes “problems”. SCI could fit this description, but I believe PB might overestimate their current draw.