The tragic death of Atlanta's Music Midtown

Oh noooo! I was just catching up on my Atlanta news and found out that Music Midtown has been cancelled*! Wha ...? How could that happen? Atlanta homies, help me out here: Isn't Music Midtown huge? Isn't it pretty much the coolest thing that happens in Atlanta all year long? Isn't the attendance usually something like 300,000 -- more than three times the largest-ever Merlefest? Didn't Bob Dylan play there a few years ago??? Last year the Pixies, the White Stripes and Tom Petty were among the performers, and the Music Midtown Web site touts it as America's largest three-day festival. How does that just up and die?

In the Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, organizer Peter Conlon cites the high cost running the event at its usual site, which, granted, is in a high-rent area of the ATL. But he also blames "other factors," like the weather. And the media. And flying monkeys. I reject all of those (the last because I made it up). If inclement weather was a festival killer, there'd never have been a Merlefest, am I right? And the media? WTF? The media friggin' loves Music Midtown! I love this festival without ever having gone to it (which I blame on it always having been on Merlefest weekend), solely based on the stuff I've read in the AJC and music mags and the like. The specific gripe from the organizer, it seems, is that the media scared off ticket buyers last year by warning of potential gridlock that might have been in store because another festival -- Vibe Musicfest -- was the same weekend. Because that's definitely the media's fault, not the fault of the idiots who scheduled (or allowed to be scheduled, looking at you, city officials and permit issuers) the fests at the same time. If we're going to blame the media for this, I'd also like to blame them for the fact the my feet hurt right now, and for the fact that the water in my bathtub never gets hot enough. What a load of shit.

What it all comes down to is money, of course, and no one's trying to deny that (although citing factors like weather and "the media" is a pretty pathetic attempt to obscure that). And my God, I'm sure the cost of the site, and all those high-paid acts and their security and Kabbalah water and sorted M&Ms and such, is enormous. And part of the charm of Music Midtown, as I understand it, has always been that they try to keep ticket prices low. For a long time it was $45 for a three-day ticket, upped in 2005 to $65. Incredibly, incredibly reasonable. And a great philosophy, but one that ultimately was unsustainable -- though the first nine years of the festival were profitable under that philosophy, ahem. It's too bad they didn't experiment with raising ticket prices instead of just pulling the plug. That drastic measure makes me wonder: Was the problem that Peter Conlon Productions (which just so happens to be part of Clear Channel Entertainment) wasn't making a profit? Or was the problem that it not making a killing? All I know is I smell a rat.

I hope something works out. Maybe some other promoter can start a new Atlanta festival and carry on the tradition. Maybe that new promoter will sit down with a calendar and not schedule a huge festival the same weekend as another huge festival (I speak of Merlefest) only a few hours' drive up the interstate. Maybe that new promoter will recognize the festival has a certain sentimental value, a certain community stake, that's just as important as profits. Because I'm with Miss Francine Reed, Atlanta-based singer and frequent Lyle Lovett collaborator who has played nearly all the Music Midtowns and told the AJC: "Oh my Lord! Music Midtown is the one thing I look forward to each spring in Atlanta. Can it be spring in Atlanta without it?"

I think not. And I think many thousands of music lovers would agree.

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