Rock In Opposition Festival end announced. - Progressive Rock Music Forum

From Michel

Annonce

C’est avec beaucoup de regret que je dois vous annoncer aujourd’hui que la 12ème édition du ROCK IN OPPOSITION France Event qui s’est tenue à Bourgoin-Jallieu et Lyon en mai dernier est la dernière du nom.
En effet, compte tenu du changement de direction de la scène de musique actuelle « Les Abattoirs », et de la mutation complexe des missions de son équipe, il serait très risqué d’envisager une prochaine édition.
A l’issue de l’arrêt du R.I.O. de Carmaux, nous avions, José Molina (Directeur des Abattoirs) et moi-même fait le maximum pour maintenir cet évènement unique sur le territoire national.
Aujourd’hui c’est la fin de cette magnifique histoire.
Et c’est avec beaucoup de peine, à la fois pour les organisateurs, bénévoles, techniciens, artistes et public que nous devons prendre cette décision.

Pour ma part je continue à travailler sur d’autres projets dont, j’espère, j’aurai l’occasion de vous parler très prochainement…

Merci à vous tous pour cette fabuleuse aventure.

Et Vive la MUSIQUE.

Michel Besset

Important release

It is with a great sadness that I must announce today that the 12th edition of the ROCK IN OPPOSITION France Event held in Bourgoin-Jallieu and Lyon last may is the last of the name. Indeed, given the change of direction of the current music scene "Les Abattoirs", and the complex mutation of the missions of his team, it would be very risky to consider a next edition.
At the end of the R.I.O. from Carmaux, we had, José Molina (Director of the Abattoirs) and I did my utmost to maintain this unique event on the national territory.
Today is the end of this wonderful story. And it is with great difficulty, both for the organizers, volunteers, technicians, artists and public that we must make this decision.

For my part I continue to work on other projects which, I hope, I will have the opportunity to talk to you very soon ...

Thank you all for this fabulous adventure.

And long live MUSIC.

Michel Besset

Edited by Nogbad_The_Bad - October 06 2019 at 08:11

I will seriously miss this wonderful festival, I went to 9 of the and made loads of new friends, discovered wonderful bands, saw great performances and had a generally great time in France. It's been a blast.

That sucks. It doesn't sound like it was a lack of interest thing. Was it generally well attended?

They generally got around 300 people to attend, I think it was more of an organizational impact. The main man Michel retired last year, he was in a local government role that help with the organization and the arts funding available in France. He was still heavily involved in this years festival. Then the RockTime organization that ran it in Carmaux collapsed and they had to move to Lyon & the Slaughterhouse. That was always only going to be a short term fix. It seems he couldn't find a long term home & with the changing music scene it was time to call it a day.

They've done superb work keeping it going for 12 years.

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

They generally got around 300 people to attend, I think it was more of an organizational impact.

...

You have no idea what the hell you are talking about, the festival was successfully run for 12 years with audiences of that size, clearly it wouldn't have continued if it was taking a bath every year or artists didn't get paid.

What the hell are you doing going on such a rant. We should be celebrating the success of the festival and the wonderful work the organizers did to bring it to life every year.

Did you ever attend any of the RIO festivals?

^ Do not argue you poor ignorant.

1. Don't think these bands are focused on getting paid. These are true weirdos just doing their thing and being creative. Money is always nice but considering who I know, musicians and fans, that loved this festival, they'd rather it keep going than get paid.

2. There is always separatism and elitism in every scene. RIO honestly had the least amount of it that I've ever seen. (Not always with the fans, but def with the creators.) The creators of this music are some of the most inclusive and responsive and enthusiastic music lovers I've ever talked to.

3. The preference is there because people don't want Hinder playing at RIO. It is a platform for creative and weird people to play. Usually the bands playing are already connected with other bands playing, organizers, or engineers that work through the scene. It isn't about separation, it's just a scene of people that know each other that want to be weird and do their thing.

4. This was almost all funded with arts grants and never did anything but lose money. It wasn't going to ever be funded by attendance. I don't think 'marketing' and expansion was really a major goal or a focus of the funding. Don't know how French art grants work.

Long story short, I know that you're saying you wish more people could appreciate this stuff and I agree, but I don't think your approach to what you're saying aligns with what I believe the mission to be.

Anyone is welcome to correct me.

I have cried so much today :( :( :(

Emme Phyzema, my best friend, told me so much about it and how magical it was. I guess rarities and magic never lasts.

I"m so god damn sad. This was like... the one thing in the world that seemed like a community that I could fit inside.

Hopefully Japan keeps going so I can make it when funded enough!

Hi smurph,you are exactly right, spent a fair amount of time with Emme at the festivals, those connections are fantastic.

Oh sh*t you did?

Niiiice. Is Ian your name? I'll ask her about you!

Her music is f**king awesome. I hope one day a similar type festival can happen again and she can get a live band together for it.

Also, she played bass on "enter the sentai" - i'd suggest you re-listen to that album and focus entirely on the bass performance. She had never played bass before that record. It is nuts.

Btw, if anyone knows anything about the possibility of Japan ending or continuing, let me know!

Nogbad_The_Bad wrote:

You have no idea what the hell you are talking about, the festival was successfully run for 12 years with audiences of that size, clearly it wouldn't have continued if it was taking a bath every year or artists didn't get paid.

What the hell are you doing going on such a rant. We should be celebrating the success of the festival and the wonderful work the organizers did to bring it to life every year.

...

A great festival that I regrettably never was able to attend (being poor and in America made it impossible). But this was always the festival that was closest to my musical heart and it not existing anymore makes the world a worse place.

Long live RIO.

man that is a bummer (Ian)... I (we) had really hoped to make it to one of those one day

and let me add..

^^^^^ hahahhaha...

moshkito wrote:

What the hell are you doing going on such a rant. We should be celebrating the success of the festival and the wonderful work the organizers did to bring it to life every year.

...

You are not reading what I wrote correctly ... I would have loved to see any of those shows and spend thousands of dollars to go from here in the West coast, all the way to where you did your shows to see a few bands.

I was hoping, for the most part, that it was not a bad situation that did not improve from one day to the next, or from one year to the next. Were I a millionaire, I would gladly have funded the next show or two or three, just to show you my love for the music ... and I would not care if I lost ... but seeing this, yet another "progressive" music thing go down ... is very sad for me ... we've come NOW to the age where we can no longer exhibit the art we love ... and this is a very sad moment for any art!

And, you should know, by now, that I love the music, and would not put it down like you did me ... which is grossly disrespectful and reckless in regards to my history with all of the music that is considered "progressive".

It makes me feel like there was something else that caused this end ...

I am very glad we all agree that we love this music.

Moshkito, if Nogbad's response was in regards to a misunderstanding regarding your statements... then what he stated isn't a put down for you. He put down the misunderstood statements. What he perceived made it seem like you have no idea what you were talking about. That is reasonable, especially if you had never gone to the festival yourself. It is also fair to ask why you were ranting, especially if his understanding of what you wrote was incorrect. There were no direct insults hurled at you.

Moshkito, I wonder if you have any self awareness. The fact that you perceived his statements as a direct put down to you is farcical. The most insane aspect of it all... is that you immediately put him down right after that. You expressed that you were above his behavior. Even though you were ranting about a festival you had never been to, your next statement implies that your particular history with progressive music places you above other people. You might try to say you didn't imply that, but considering that you just put the man down and then immediately stated that putting you down is reckless because of your history... what else could be implied?

You operate as though your perception is the final word constantly. You think of yourself as someone that is to be revered, instead of constantly operating on a level playing field of camaraderie in our mutual love for music.

I once asked you to review an album of mine. You said that you were concerned that your independent, non-commercial, anti-establishment attitude wasn't good for the work we were doing. You said you didn't want to alienate our fan base and make them think our work wasn't up to snuff.

After that... your message turned to boasting.

"My opinions are based on 700 years of music history, and too many people are stuck on a silly song, and a silly lyric, to concentrate, instead, on a piece of music ... today, too much is centered around the commerciality of it all, as if the top ten of anything is the commander that tells you what to believe and what to do, and what to write and what to compose."

What? Why would you assume that I don't know music history? You are stating all of this right after you said that your attitude was too "non commercial" for my work. And here you start going off about the mainstream/popularized and commercial ethos. Now, if we were just having a fun conversation about your experience with music, that would be a little bit of intellectual grandstanding, but nothing that would bother me. But... you placed it right after stating that you were less establishment, less commercial, and more independently minded than my band. To then immediately start talking about what you said that we are in that way is insulting.

Really, I felt insulted. Do you really think that I write any music while regarding top ten music? Or even prog? Or even anything? I'm making my favorite sh*t. I don't care what is going on in music.

Who did you think I was? My own personal tendency towards atypical music is so strong that it annoys me. I have trouble going out and enjoying myself at bars or wherever, listening to music I hate, and missing out on conversation due to my ears being trained to focus on music.

Should I have bragged about my life so you would perceive me as having enough non-commercial cred? Or maybe, no matter who you are talking to, you think that you're always more "something" than them. You use terms to position yourself above whoever you are talking to.

Let me know if I need to show you how anti-cultural I am.

Stop acting like you are more than anybody here. You're not.

By the way, THIS is a f**king put down. Nogbad's statement? Not a put down. THIS is a put down.