Apologies for the lateness of this, or if you already know it. I attempted to get comments from all sides but have either been re-buffed or people have refused to comment because of the furore that seems to have gone on, so what you will see is just a round-up of what has gone on in the last week. The Deconstruction Festival will be held on June 1 at Donnington Park as a side stage to the Kerrang-sponsored Download Festival. The bands CONFIRMED to play are as we have already stated: NOFX, Strung Out, Boysetsfire, Bouncing Souls, Thrice, TSOL, Real McKenzies, Fabulous Disaster. A surprise band could still be added and at least two UK bands have been confirmed. Punktastic believes one of them is [spunge]. We know who the other band is but we’ve been asked to keep their identities a secret. Tickets are now £39.50 – a whacking £22 rise from last year. The changes were made late last week when Download promoters Clear Channel offered Destiny, who run Deconstruction, the chance to hold the stage at the festival, which also features Limp Bizkit and Marilyn Manson. However, the original plans were not meant to be like this. Two shows were scheduled for June 7 and 8 in London, at Finsbury Park or Clissold Park, and at a skate park in Birmingham. This was confirmed to me last week, along with ticket prices of £17.50. Two days later, P-Rock, who were to sponsor Decon, pulled out but no-one at the station could be contacted to say exactly why they have done so. A post on their website merely states: “There’s been a load of last minute changes that we only got told about yesterday which we were none too pleased about.” Rumours suggest that this is because of the switch to Clear Channel, others because of the link to rival station Kerrang. As I say, no-one was willing to confirm or deny these rumours. I contacted Destiny who said that changes had been made but I would have to wait until Monday before I could post them. Further attempts to get more answers have since been rebuffed to Wednesday. It seems the changes have been instigated by the big US corporation Clear Channel, a firm you can learn all about here. Our research has shown that for the last two years Deconstruction has made a loss and again although we pushed for an answer, we don’t know for certain what the financial deal is with Decon at Download. But at £39.50 a ticket, you can only guess. However, it has also come to light that the costs in London for holding the festival this year would have been ‘astronomical’ and this also may have played a part in the decision. But on the other hand, the London date has always had the best crowd, with some dates receiving less than 1000 people in Europe. Although nothing has been confirmed, Punktastic has heard that at least one band is considering withdrawing from the festival. However, despite attempts to do so, we could not get this confirmed at this time. Certain bands on the tour have been vocal against Clear Channel in the past, so whether these rumours are true remains to be seen. In light of the bands that Fat Wreck Chords have been signing and the political anti-Bush stance they have taken, and the fact they appear to be anti-major corporations, who knows what twists the festival will take next. Punktastic can reveal that Deconstruction organisers are flying in to London tomorrow to continue talks on what has developed and we will bring you the result of them. Of course the news has already angered music fans and an online petition, which is NOT affiliated to Punktastic, has since been set up to state people’s disapproval. At the end of the day it is disappointing, it doesn’t seem the ‘punk’ thing to do and it will alienate a lot of people because of the cost. But Destiny is a business…and I’m sure this won’t be the last of it. We were told this evening that we would have to wait until Wednesday before Destiny could answer any of our questions because of tomorrow’s talks. I may be wrong, but the cynic in me says that a magazine pprinted on a Wednesday is hoping for the ‘exclusive’ and so we’ve been put off. Oops…
