Talk:Edenfest

Please do not delete this article. It should be improved upon, this was a notable, important concert in Canadian history and there was very interesting financial/crowd control implications as well. Paul Vallee

I was there ! The music was great ! The lay out was not so good ! I remember having to walk a very long way to see the bands ! Once there, there were two stages facing each other. All that room, they should have spread them out a little ! The size of the place probably had something to do with the security problem ! Although I don't recall any mojor issues with security ! John E. Thies

I was there, there's quite a bit more information that could be given, there was a huge security problem, I have no idea what this cracker is talking about. Some of the crew from Seven Mary Three or whatever that crap florida band as called, they were driving golf carts over some tents and being jackasses. On the last day there was a riot with huge amounts of shit being burnt or flipped over after the last concert.

Oh the smell of burning tires on the last day as all the drunken yankee kids sucked down all the beer imaginable before heading back to the states where they were not old enough to drink. The couch, the "Nice Melons" booth next to the "Big Italian Sausage" booth, the ripoff from vendors who didn't honour exchange rates but took USD (if it was 10 CAD then it was also 10 USD), the lack of showers, the never emptied portapotties, the cool sand sculptures, the multiple burrito boothes none of whom got the spelling right: borritos, buritoes, etc. Stomp, 7 Year Bitch, the Buzzcocks, Howard Jones, the Mighty, Mighty Bosstones, etc All the rumours about the secret final act. https://www.facebook.com/groups/2322349697/?ref=ts&fref=ts

Edenfest - Headliner
I was there, too. I don't remember seeing any of the real problems of the festival till the very end. Now, this is very important to touch on, as the REASON for the fest's end doesn't seem to be anywhere. I should preface this and say that I do NOT condone rioting. HOWEVER...

The entire weekend's lineup was predicated on a SUPER SECRET SURPRISE headliner. The hosts of the fest teased us the entire weekend, as did the promoters - with a hot air balloon specifically advertising albums from Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and the Chilli Peppers. The hosts would make comments about how it COULD be those guys! Everyone got super pumped about it.

The third day was... really the weakest day of the bunch. Spin Doctors, Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Watchmen... it wasn't great. The last act of that day was Ani Difranco, who was to be immediately followed by the secret headliner. Difranco was scheduled for around 7:30 or 8. Just before she came on, two radio hosts walked on stage to tell us that the moment was almost here, BUT... due to scheduling conflicts, there would be no headliner at all. The crowd was PISSED.

To add to the growing anger, they made up some BS story about how the headliner was not a big band at all, but a SUPER JAM (their words) consisting of bands that played that weekend. I mean... why say anything at all? They then said "well, it's been a slice guys" and introduced a completely mortified Ani Difranco as the weekend's headliner. It was a lousy way to end things, and a fair bit irresponsible if you ask me.

Now, if the idea behind this whole festival was to take a tip from Euro fests like Reading and Glastonbury, then maybe they should have paid attention to how those guys handle surprise acts. In 1995, Glastonbury's already stacked lineup included the surprise of Page/Plant. Instead of teasing it the whole weekend, they put them out on night 2. Same goes for the 2011 fest. In addition to ostensibly the best festival lineup of all time, RADIOHEAD wound up on the bill. Again, they got the Pyramid stage on night 2. Instead of hanging the entire fest's success on one band, they know to make them part of the overall experience. The crowd at Mosport was already excited enough to see the bands they'd advertised - why tease them with something that had a good chance of falling apart (as it did)?

So, yeah. This is a rant. The rioting and general disarray that followed was a result of tens of thousands of people being basically smacked in the face for no good reason, even though there were tons of other options for the organizers.

ALSO - they had another secret headliner for the second stage, who ended up being I Mother Earth. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Dgerichter (talk • contribs) 16:19, 2 August 2013 (UTC)

Whitewashing
This material in the lead appears to be whitewashing: however, the promoter of the event, Mark Drost, was plagued with financial problems due to several forces beyond his control, including the security breakdown. WP has no magic ball to deterine what "forces" were beyond anyone's control, and a security breakdown that led to people getting in for free toward the end had nothing to do with Drost's financial problems (they were lost ticket-sales, not actual lost money). There are various other sources out there (e.g. ) that cover some of events that happened, and say that Drost was later prosecuted for fraud. Anyway, this article is clearly saying stuff that Drost or other promoters of it want it to say rather than what it should say, and it's completely devoid of most information other than the performer lineup. A key fact missing is it was it was in part a fundraiser for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which was involved in the overall event planning to some extent but not with the specifics that led to shitshows like promising a suprise chart-topping final act and delivering no one). But I shouldn't directly edit this article, no matter what sources might be findable, since I worked that event.  — SMcCandlish ☏ ¢ 😼  19:05, 4 November 2023 (UTC)