When you think back to that first Domefest and then all the way here now at the tenth year, what are the big lessons that you’ve learned along the way?
Every year we learn so much. I could literally write a book about throwing festivals and all the different dos-and-don’ts and lessons you learn and the obstacles you face. Very few people understand what it really takes to put on a music festival with multi-days and camping.
I feel like people are a little more aware of what goes on now because the Fyre Festival documentaries, obviously on the worse end of it. The documentary made me shake my head the whole time. Like, “What the hell, how could they screw this up?” That was doomed from the get-go.
As a festival organizer, I can’t even imagine the perspective you have watching something like that.
For me it’s like a thriller, you know? [Laughs.] But you pick things up along the way. The first year of Domefest, I just brought in a stage, a few lights. We didn’t even have a stage cover. I didn’t even think about it, and thankfully we had perfect weather. Every year, we try to expand and make it better than the last. Looking back, it’s crazy to me this whole thing still happens and we developed this event. It’s amazing. We’re super lucky to have the support we do from our fans with it.
Last year in particular, Domefest faced quite a bit of rain and [singer-guitarist] Greg [Ormont] lost his voice. That being said, it was widely received as a success, with the band even playing a 60-minute, single song set. What was it like to come up against incredible odds and exceed expectations?
Well, there’s no hurdle you can’t pass when you’re throwing a festival or life in general. When something happens, you’d never be like, “Oh well, this is fucked,” You find a solution. You make it happen. We’ve dealt with countless scenarios with the festival, some harder than others, some more stressful than others, but you put a smile on and you handle it. As long as you do it with a smile, that kind of reverberates among your staff and team and all the people attending the festival. Truly, what makes Domefest so special is the community. It is a community festival for the Pigeons fans and the people who’ve been coming to Domefest since year one.
How did that 60-minute “Whirled” set come about?
It just sort of happened. We had a setlist written and we just started playing, and kept playing. We just kind of let the music take us wherever it did, you know? Obviously Greg had lost his voice so we were trying to avoid big vocal songs. But yeah, those kind of sets are all about just being in the moment and seeing where that moment takes you.
The festival grows every year, but you always want to keep it intimate. Is there something special about capping it at a certain size?
Absolutely. I’ve always loved smaller festivals and basically anything 5,000 people and under were my favorite. At Domefest, we want to retain that intimate festival vibe where you meet a ton of people through the weekend and you see them throughout the weekend. If you go to Bonnaroo and you meet someone, your odds of seeing them again are one in 80,000 people. I’m not after that. While Bonnaroo’s amazing, in countless ways, it’s a different kind of thing. We had 2,000 people last year. We’re only selling 2,500 tickets for this year because we want it to grow slowly. If we sell 2,500 tickets, that’s already amazing growth. We’re not really looking for anything more than that.
As far as new things for this year, you’ve planned a Domefest All-Stars set. Tell me a little bit about that.
I’ve always wanted to do a superjam of sorts at the festival, and as I was putting together this year’s lineup, it donned on me that this is the 10th year, let’s just do it. We’ve got a lot of wild ideas for that. It’s basically all of the musicians from Domefest this year, and some musicians from Domefest past years, collaborating together on this one set.
So there’s going to be artists at the All-Stars set who aren’t necessarily on the lineup?
Yep. We’re super excited to close out the festival this year with our first ever Domefest All-Stars set where Domefest musicians, both on this year’s lineup, and Domefest musicians who have played on previous year’s lineups will be coming together and collaborating in this big epic set full of jams and surprises.
One of my favorite things about our fanbase is how open they are to new bands and new artists. It should never be just, ‘Oh, Pigeons, and that’s it.’ We want our fans to have open ears and open minds, and go support all the different artists, not just us.
Yeah, absolutely. Are there any other surprises in store for Domefest that you can share?
There’s a lot, but they wouldn’t be surprises if I told you.
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