The Midseason Mashfest, due for its seventh and eighth runs this year (the longest-running festival in the industry), has become almost as much a music industry staple as the Birdies. Where DOA ended, Mashfest carried on the concept of the "free-for-all" festival. There are no barriers to joining - as long as there's time and space, you sign up, you're on the list straight away, no waiting to be accepted or refused. You don't have to be famous or have a lot of hits behind you, nor do you have to be brand new, all is allowed. Nothing is genre-specific, nobody will be refused for being the wrong genre, there are no genre-based stages. Mashfest is a mashup; it's for everyone.

But with the epic fail that was MMVI - we can see things have changed. For MMI, Wont Be Denied cancelled a week's worth of tour dates to be there, both Thunderwolf and Casting Thin Shadows made their debut festival appearances on the ministage (and co-headlined MMII six months later!), and Moronic Changeling, headlining alongside Read Hards and Aneurysm, made what they claim was their most difficult and amazing performance ever. MMVI was the first Mashfest without a ministage because there weren't enough signups to have one, and despite promises of really good (and, in the cases of Miss Vanity, Stephanie Fierce and The Nimrods, naked) shows, most performances were described as "half-arsed attempts", some bands didn't even turn up. Is the heyday of the free-for-all festival over?

"I love Mashfest so much," says Dame Katie Kairiri, who organises the Mashfests. "I can't fault the good run that Mashfest has had, and the fantastic shows. The Theosophical Society, Herr Fische, Moronic Changeling, fAthOm, Casting Thin Shadows, My Freaky Valentine, Thunderwolf, Wont Be Denied, Aneurysm, Bad Guys, Kamikaze Kate .... so many brilliant acts, I couldn't name all of my favourite Mashfesters. But the free-for-all festival is such a jaded concept now, maybe I should just let it sleep and make room for newer, more interesting concepts in live music. You can find something else to do on the third weekends of June and December, right?"

Let us know what you think .... is Mashfest just a jaded concept, or must the show go on?

Edited by user 28 January 2010 06:25:55(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Jimmy:WE need mashfest,it helped bring in so many good artists, not to mention several thousand people saw my dong!

I think it will give 2010 a extra push in music and for artist (like me) to experience more performing and apperences before we get famous. Go though everything to get noticed more.

OOC : I have great memories of Mashfest ....
* The "progressions". Thunderwolf and CTS mini-headlined at MMI, headlined at MMII - fAthOm mini-headlined at MMII, headlined at MMIII. It's not a deliberate meme or anything, it just so happened that six months later, Raven, Regan and Elliot had gone from well-written noobs to cream of the crop. (:
* Bad Guys at MMII. "bad guys" - I must have been on a sugar rush, because that was, at the time, the funniest festival RP ever.
* Busting my back (from sitting in the same place too long) writing my Moronic Changeling headline RP at MMI. It was painful, but people appreciated my writing.
* And last but by no means least - it's for everyone in RP, no exceptions, and that's part of what makes it sparkle.
.... the thing is, it doesn't sparkle now. Nobody roleplayed the last one, and very few people did MMV. It's not hard work putting a Mashfest on (unless Moronic Changeling headline, heh), but it's not hard work RPing it either. A few sentences and a setlist is fine, you don't have to write pages. (Unless you want to, that's fine as well.)
((EDIT : I did not mean to sound bitchy. I am, but it didn't mean to come out that way, sorry if it did.))

Edited by user 28 January 2010 08:49:08(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Thought it was Pink Floyd, anyhow the reason because I didnt RPed last Mashfest I knew that I'll end up doing 2 pages and then nobody would say anything

Yay

Mashfests are an essential part of the year just like the birdies. The Mashfests gave us our golden opportunity to grow and reach a wider audience and for that we thank you. We need the Mashfests to continue. Without them it'll be too weird and boring in the void that would be left without them.

Kii Kii Lii
(Keep The Mashfest Campaign: The sexy one from Herr Fische)

Stephanie Fierce: Many memories. The festival should go on, but even there is one I won't be able to do it because of my tour.