It’s no secret that Carolina Rebellion is a booming success in the Southeast. Evolving from just a one day festival in 2011 to one of the largest (and loudest) three day festivals in the United States is remarkable. But who are the masterminds behind all of this? Gary Spivack, Executive Vice President of Danny Wimmer Presents, plays a large part in it all.
We caught up with Spivack to chat about his role Carolina Rebellion, this year’s diverse lineup, and how the festival has changed over the years.
Now that the lineup is out there, can you speak specifically about this year and it being different than the other festivals?
“It’s been a goal and a mission of ours to make sure that Carolina rebellion has the most variety, the biggest net that we could spread in the genre that we call rock and roll. To us rock doesn’t mean just one thing, there’s metal, hard rock, alternative, classical, and hip hop. We wanted to make sure we weren’t one thing to one person. We feel that Carolina Rebellion has the most variety and something for everybody who is into rock and roll.
It’s important to us that each festival has its own identity. Carolina Rebellion is its own beast and by giving stuff like Queens of the Stone Age, Muse and Billy Idol, who are not playing Rock on the Range, while Tool and MGK are. If we can mix and match and give each festival its own name, that’s a goal of ours.”
Can you talk about what the theme is this year?
“Variety. Just a bulk. Just look at all these bands on one event and not just the top line bands of Muse, Alice and Chains, or Godsmack, but look at Black Veil Brides and Gretta Van Fleet - which is a band we are excited about. If you want hard rock metal we have Five Finger Death Punch, if you want alternative rock we’ve got Incubus, and with emo metal we have Black Veil Bribes and Asking Alexandria. We don’t want to pigeon hole Rebellion or any festival. At our core we are a rock festival, but what is rock? We want to expand that language.”
How has expanding to three days back in 2016 changed putting on the festival?
“Its was always our goal. Carolina Rebellion started as a one day festival. In the third year it was expanded to two days. We didn’t want to rush it because it was always our vision and goal of having Carolina Rebellion be the biggest rock festival not only in the Carolina’s but the whole Southeast. Going to three days really helps achieve that goal.”
It seems to get bigger every year, do you have anything that explains the growth or what Charlotte has that allowed the festival to grow?
“It takes a village to put these things on and it’s a big team effort. There are decisions when we decide to expand: Is the demand there? We felt that the rebels of the Carolinas have proven to us that they loved it as much as we do and the time was right a couple years ago to go to three days. The time was right this year to once again expand our net musically. It’s a combination of super serving your audience, and then throwing in some left and right. You can’t have steak every day, its good to have some salad and greens, maybe some desert, we want to give rock fans the full course.”
What can the fans look forward to on the festival grounds this year?
“We painstakingly care and go into many details to make sure our secondary entertainment is top level. The days of stale beer and corndogs are over for us. We have what we feel is the best food village of any festival in America called the Carolina Pig Out Village. Where you’re going to get the best Carolina BBQ and beer, the best food you can get at a festival with a great VIP Experience. Our camping is something that improves every year. Again music is the driving force but we want to make sure that everyone has a great experience from the time they walk in to the time they leave each day.”
Is there any band that you were excited to see on the bill this year?
“To have the lone North American festival appearance of Muse is a real moment. They are going to bring the production and their hits. Being as it is a special moment for them it’s that’s going to be one of the highlights. It has become like Rock on the Range, a super heavy-weight battle for bands. They mark a show like Carolina Rebellion on their calendar, they know they have to step up and bring their ‘A’ game.”
Also really excited to see Billy Idol which is really going to be one of the special moments in the festival history. New bands such as Black Foxes from London and The Blue Stones from Canada. I encourage everybody to get there early to experience some new, great bands. Besides the headliners there’s a lot of great stuff all weekend. Can wait to see you all in May!”
For full festival details and to purchase tickets, visit carolinarebellion.com/tickets. Weekend and single day passes are still available, get your tickets soon!
For more information on Monster Energy Carolina Rebellion, visit:
- Website: www.CarolinaRebellion.com
- Facebook: CarolinaRebellion
- Twitter: @CRebellion
- Instagram: CarolinaRebellion
