After a few years of flying just below the radar and attracting only the most devoted of early-adopters, this year the Wolfe Island Music Festival is dangerously close to alienating one of their key demographics.
With camping passes quickly sold out, and headliners including some major Canadian artists, the festival has nearly achieved full on “cool” status, which could serve to deter the more dedicated fans.
“I mean, if it’s already cool, what am I doing there?” asked a conflicted hipster. “This festival used to be a place where I could come to feel better about my knowledge of the indie scene, and to name-drop artists with other like-minded musical explorers. But now, there are bands playing here that my brother even knows about, and he’s probably the most generic guy I know.”
While die-hard fans may be having a crisis of faith, the man on the street is beginning to see the appeal.
“Yeah I heard of a few of them bands,” admitted a local. “Might event have gone to see ’em, if I wasn’t already busy that weekend at my cottage. Maybe next year I’ll give it a shot.”
However, others still see the festival as the domain of a niche demographic.
“Camping? Ew” replied one girl, when asked about the festivals popularity. “The last thing I wanna do is go out, stand around a field, get all muddy and sweaty and gross, and listen to dudes with beards argue about which one of their home-brew projects tasted ‘hoppier’ while people play songs I can’t even dance to. No thanks”
Regardless of opinions, this year’s festival is already expected to be wildly successful, and should lead to even bigger and better acts for future years. The choices of who will be invited will have to be done carefully to maintain the razor’s edge balance which exists between being good and being popular.
The Karrot 