You know how it works, only people who disagree protest, but if Facebook comments can be any indication of the success of a festival, well, this Made in America thing is not going to please many.
A few days ago, Live Nation announced that Kanye West and Iggy Azalea had been added to the original lineup and since, comments have been feeding their Facebook page. And the vast majority of them are totally negative, I give you some examples: ‘more reason not to go!’, ‘Wow it just got shitier’, ‘What’s the date?? I want to make sure I’m out of town’, ‘2 more reasons not to go’, ‘i just threw up in my mouth a little’, ‘wow you guys trying to loss ticket sales or what?’ ‘If Kanye West is there I want my money back!’, ‘YAY! Can’t wait to see Kanye get booed off stage again and also see him cry when no one listens to him when he yells “I’m a mofo genius!’, ‘Damn I didnt think it could get worse’, ‘Low quality Swill Beer… Kanye headliner. Oh God. I wouldn’t even accept a FREE ticket!’, ‘I can do without the Kanye. He’s an IDIOT’, ‘Who has a bigger dick Kanye or Iggy?’…
To be honest, there were just a few positive comments in the lot, but honestly I didn’t have to choose the worst ones, there abounded and there is overall a very strong negative vibe against West, Azalea and this festival in general
Just Tuesday, LA Downtown News announced a meeting for citizens concerned about street closures, noise and the size of the crowd that will pour into Grand Park, and a few days ago the LA Weekly was noticing that the all-age policy for the festival was a very bad idea, since other rave parties, EDM events such as the Electric Daisy Carnival had caused the death of young people from ecstasy overdose and other drug-related incidents: ‘So why, only four years later, is a city-coordinated, Jay Z-curated concert featuring some very similar talent on the streets of downtown L.A. next month going all ages? Didn’t L.A. learn its lesson in 2010?’ write the Weekly. Effectively when alcohol (and drugs) are involved, teenagers logically rush in if they are allowed, and, as ex-LAPD official Trinka Porrata said to the LAWeekly, this is not good news: ‘It sounds ridiculously hard to manage, especially with the added younger ages. It seems, logistically, they’re upping the ante for trouble. To some extent or another there’s going to be drugs. There’s no reason to have 14-year-olds there. If they didn’t have exposure to drugs before, they will now.’
So whoever I turn to, this festival seemed doomed, there is controversy regarding security, lineup and location. A downtown resident shared her concern to the LA Times (which has an article which details the festival organization): ‘My biggest concern, though, is the wisdom of taking a public park on a holiday weekend and taking away the access and restricting it to people who can afford a ticket.’
‘Jay Z doesn’t love Los Angeles, he loves $money$. No lineup? 50,000 people? Budweiser as a sponsor? Sounds like a NASCAR event without cars,’ wrote another person on another website announcing the festival, and this sums up a lot of what I have read… however, this is without counting these funny ones like: ‘This lineup makes me want to vomit. Also, why is it called “Made In America” when so many of the artists are foreign?’… ‘And Solange waits patiently outside of an elevator’. People have condemned Made in America before it happens, it may have been good for Philly but LA hates it… we’ll see soon what really happens.