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Livestock rocks on
[Times files: John Pendygraft 1997]
The mosh pit, like the crowd at Livestock, is hard core. The event has gained national attention as a spot where fans and music-industry types alike might stumble onto the next big thing. |
By PHILIP BOOTH
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 26, 2001
Rumors of the festival's demise have proven wrong, and organizers have calmed down the more outrageous party problems. This year's lineup is as strong as ever, and there are even plans for online streaming video and audio from the festival.
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Sex and drugs and beer and rock 'n' roll, not to put too fine a point on it, are among the traditional calling cards of Livestock, the durable rock festival and three-day party that last year drew about 18,000 revelers to a 400-acre cow pasture near Zephyrhills.
Livestock, sponsored by WXTB-FM, 97.9, is about the music, for sure, with headliners the Black Crowes, Tesla, the Offspring and 3 Doors Down slated to join other hard rock, metal and punk-inspired bands playing the 11th edition of the event at Festival Park in Zephyrhills.
As with a number of other such shows, public nudity, drunkenness and general testosterone-fueled rowdiness have long been part of the festival, an image that organizers have managed to tone down in recent years.
The festival, which started in 1990, got a black eye in its second year, when a drunk driver plowed through the campground, striking eight people and killing a Palm Harbor man. In 1997, a Hudson woman allegedly was whacked on the head by a guitar thrown from the stage during Motley Crue's set; the woman and the band subsequently reached a confidential settlement. The Impotent Sea Snakes, who played in 1998, drew an allegation that they simulated sexual acts on stage.
More recently, Livestock has calmed down.
The Y2K edition, one year after a 1999 fest that was supposed to be the event's last gasp, resulted in only one arrest for disorderly conduct.
The festival, now securely back from the dead, is good, clean-enough fun for all, says Mike Oliviero, promotions director at WXTB. Gone are the days when cars were allowed to cruise the campgrounds. Mud-bogging vehicles, dune buggies, box vans, ATVs and pets have been banned entirely.
"Everybody's coming out to have a good time," Oliviero says. "We try to let them (fans) have fun without getting too indulgent or pushing things over the edge. I liken it to a Bucs game. I see just as many fights there. I could probably count the number of fights we have on one hand."
Livestock has gained national attention as a spot where fans and music-industry types alike might stumble onto the next big thing. Limp Bizkit, Kid Rock, Bush, Live and Hootie and the Blowfish are among the big-name acts whose appearances at the festival preceded or coincided with their rise to stardom. Also on that list: Third Eye Blind, Seven Mary Three, Buckcherry, Candlebox, Creed, Foo Fighters, Helmet, Jackyl, Korn and Soundgarden.
"It pretty much mirrors what we're playing on 98 Rock," Oliviero says. "We've got Offspring, Three Doors Down, the Black Crowes for a band that's been around for a solid 12 or 13 years, and Tesla (reunited, with the original members) for all the people into the perfect-hair bands. Mudvayne is a new band selling tons of records, and Disturbed is on OzzFest" along with Mudvayne and Linkin Park.
Livestock might also be offered up as evidence that rock isn't dead, despite the dominance of rap, teen pop and various shades of club music. Hard and heavy guitars, thundering drums and bellowing lead singers, not unlike the fest itself, simply won't be denied.
"Everybody keeps trying to bury rock and say it's dying," Oliviero says. "We went through a period when country was king, then chick rock was big, and now we're nearing the end of the boy-band era. It's never going away. It's never going to die. It's like Jason in Friday the 13th. You keep trying to kill it, but it keeps coming back."
And for those who prefer their excitement from a distance, check out the streaming audio and video of the event, facilitated with eight cameras and available at http://www.98rock.com/livestock-tv.html
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[Publicity photo]
The Black Crowes are Sunday’s headliners at the weekend Livestock 2001 rock fest in Zephyrhills. |
Livestock 2001, Saturday and Sunday at Zephyrhills Festival Grounds. Gates open at 9 a.m. each day. Parking is $5 per vehicle per day. Overnight camping in the rough, available beginning Friday at noon, is $50 per vehicle. Not allowed in the concert area: Camcorders, coolers, beepers, cell phones, lawn chairs or cameras. Tickets: $35.98 for both days, through Ticketmaster. For information, call (813) 832-1000, or http://www.98rock.com.
Saturday: Main stage, beginning at about 9:15 a.m. and continuing past midnight (in order of appearance): Systematic, Skrape, Hed (Pe), Spineshank, Tantric, Cold, Mudvayne, Presence, Disturbed, Linkin Park, the Little Kingz, Staind, 3 Doors Down and the Offspring.
Saturday, Mars Music stage, beginning at 9:15 a.m.: Hell on Earth, Rude Squad, Puddin Hogs, 28 Gates, Grim Faeries, Greed Engine, Flood, Born into Kaos, Chromatic and Crossbreed.
Sunday, main stage, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: Nonpoint, Oleander, Tesla and the Black Crowes.
Sunday, Mars Music stage, 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.: The Spoils, E3, the Bushhounds, Saturn 5, Darwin's Waiting Room, 10 Second Drop and Neurotica.
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