Dreaming up fantasy lineups for Cruel World and Just Like Heaven
Someone please forward this to Goldenvoice
First of all, welcome to all of our new subscribers! Our Diss Track playlist was picked up by Brooklyn Vegan last week, which led to our biggest increase in views / subscribers in a week yet! So, if you’re new, here’s what Random Rules is all about - we like to tell stories using playlists as the main delivery method and focal point. We also like to offer the perfect soundtrack for major holidays / seasons / activities. To get an idea of what exactly that can mean, one of my personal favorites is the massive History of the Shoegaze Aesthetic playlist which you can check out HERE. Or, the 105 best songs ever written about Florida, which you can check out HERE.
Last weekend I attended the Cruel World festival in Pasadena, CA for the second year in a row (it’s only been going for three years so far) - it’s a fantastic event, with some of the best people watching I’ve ever experienced. Goldenvoice, the concert promoter who is best know for putting on Coachella, began doing these smaller nostalgia-driven festivals like Cruel World and Just Like Heaven over the past decade that appeal to people who have aged out of Coachella. It’s a huge bonus that they are single-day festivals where you only have to drive to Pasadena instead of two hours into the desert (and slightly cheaper). Cruel World is specifically aimed at Gen X (and up) and focuses mostly on Goth, New Wave, Post-Punk and anything else loosely “Alternative” from the 70s / 80s (and sometimes more recent acolytes of these styles) and Just Like Heaven is aimed at Millenials with a focus on the stars of the blog rock era (2003 to about 2014), dance punk / electroclash, chillwave, etc.
I am in that exact age where both of these festivals appeal to me, in other words, I’m a Xennial (those born between 77 and 83). Technically I am the youngest possible age bracket for Gen X, but I was so young through the 80s I was only really exposed to the most mainstream music of the decade (as it was happening). Plus there’s the whole thing about my parents only wanting me and my siblings listening to Christian rock in the house (that’s a whole other topic). But yes, I appreciate both classic Goth, new wave, post-punk and my time working in the music business began in NYC just as the Meet Me In The Bathroom era was happening, so both of these festivals speak to me deeply.
Even before these festivals take place (Just Like Heaven is tomorrow) everyone starts daydreaming about who might work well on next year’s festival. Cruel World is a lot more limited in who they can book for a few reasons - a lot of the bands from that era have key members who have passed away, or they’ve broken up. Some of the bands are probably TOO BIG to even play a festival of this size (Depeche Mode or The Cure come to mind) and others have ruled out any chance of a reunion (The Smiths, Cocteau Twins) which is why the Just Like Heaven playlist is a lot longer than the Cruel World one (a lot of these bands are still actively touring). Still, it’s fun to imagine what you might do with a festival like this if YOU were the sole booker and could make some miracles happen.
While we’re on the subject of daydreaming, I think GV might want to consider a more 90s focused festival since currently bands like Pavement, Dinosaur Jr., Sleater-Kinney etc. don’t really fit on either CW or JLH.
These two playlists I made on the fly just for fun to keep track of ideas I had for bands that would work on these festivals. I left off bands that played on the 2024 lineups since Goldenvoice doesn’t seem to like artists to do back-to-back repeat appearances. I did include some bands that have played both fests before (2023 or earlier). I tried to include some ideas for headliners, mid tier artists and a LOT of ideas for early in the day slots. I’ll probably keep adding to these as I come up with more ideas, so please let me know anyone I forgot in the comments!