Coachella, Bonnaroo and Governors Ball are in the books, and Lollapalooza, Made in America and a bevy of others are still on the way. Some of us have spent several days in a a field watching live music this summer, while others are still waiting on the chance to see the ongoing LCD Soundsystem comeback tour.
Here at Billboard, we’re committed to being the experts on the quickly contorting, constantly growing beast known as the summer music festival. Alt In Our Stars host Chris Payne and two other festival regulars on the Billboard staff — Joe Lynch and Natalie Weiner — got together to impart their first-hand experience.
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How do A-list festivals choose their A-list headliners? And why do so many of these lineups look really similar? Why are there so few female headliners? Why are there so many new festivals popping up in New York City, and is there room for all of them?
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We also got personal. What makes us enjoy our festival experiences: a great lineup, a cool city, room to dance, a hip crowd, or just good weather? Our answers might have you rethinking your travel plans for later this year.
To keep up with the podcast (a new episode comes out every Friday) and to stream old episodes, subscribe to The Alt In Our Stars podcast on iTunes. Let us know what you think on Twitter (@cpayneonaplane) and by rating the podcast on iTunes.