How do you solve a problem like “Tarp Nazis”? July 25th, 2010
Does the term Tarp Nazis exist at other Folk Festivals? Because if they do, I think that Calgary can be called the commander and chief of the festival die-hards.
Admitedly, I haven’t been to a lot of four day music festivals, so I don’t really know how to compare the Calgary Folk Music Festival to others, but when I see people lining up at 8pm to get in the next morning, I know that something isn’t right.
If you’ve never seen this tarp phenomemon, what happens is this: People line up at all hours of the night waiting for the gates to open, once they do, they run to the mainstage with tarps, coolers, blankets and place-markers in hand. These “nazis” then claim their 6×7 foot patch of land and begin to set up shop.
This sounds all fine and dandy, but the system becomes horribly flawed. First you have people in the first fifty or so rows that are really excited about maybe one artist, that means they spend the rest of the time wandering the grounds and can rarely be found on their actual tarp. If they are there, chances are they aren’t going to be paying attention. That is how you end up with a Swell-season incident.
Secondly, 6×7 feet is a LOT of space, especially when it might just be for one or two people. Just because you can have all the space, it certainly doesn’t mean you have to take it. If everyone is there to enjoy the music, why not let as many people enjoy it as possible?
I was so desperate to see The Swell Season, that I walked up to a stranger with a huge amount of space to himself and asked if he would be willing to share. I know, very un-Canadian of me. Luckily, he was Canadian, grumbled something under his breath and then let me sit. J’aime Passive Aggressiveness!
But the Tarp Nazis are a Calgary tradition and if there is one city that is stubborn about their traditions, it is this one.
So how do you fix it? Actually, I think it is quite easy.
I think the first twenty feet of space in front of the stage should be reserved for the standing room only. That way, if you are die-hard enough, you most certainly deserve to stand there. Chances are the people in the standing-room only area will flow in and out depending on the artist. The musicians benefit from the set-up because they aren’t trying to perform to a certain pocket of fans stuck 75 feet away because of the maze of tarps.
The tarp-nazis won’t be pumped about it, but they can still get a good spot, just not the prime real-estate in front of the stage that they end up wasting anyway.
If the Calgary Folk Music Festival is really about celebrating the best in music, Canadian and otherwise, we should let real fans enjoy as much of the music as possible, even if they don’t sleep on the pavement.
Eh, based on my experience at other stages around the festival, if you’re behind a crowd of people standing, you certainly can’t see too much. So it certainly won’t solve all the problems. I think that’s why they have those dancing areas on the side of the stage, actually.
Honestly, I generally have avoided the mainstage, partly due to being tired to all the people at the end of the night and because it’s a pain to watch from so far back. Even Sam Roberts, who I love seeing live, wasn’t nearly as fun to watch from halfway across the huge field. Ah well.
At the Edmonton Folk Festival, people seem a bit more relaxed about seating arrangements.
The line up is different too. There are specific times to line up each day – no overnighting is allowed. Then you get a lotto ticket, and the order is called out randomly, so the first person in line isn’t actually the first through the gates. This cuts down on people lining up overnight. And there are marshalls to prevent you from running to get your spot, walking only. First prize in the raffle is the golden tarp, which means you get to be first in every day of the next year. There’s also a silver tarp for second place, though disappointingly the tarps aren’t actually that colour.
There are also some huge screens half way up the hill so people at the top can see. I think the fact that Edmonton’s is on a big hill, instead of a flat area, makes a big difference too.
No standing is allowed, and dancing is only allowed beside the stage, which I think is fair. Unless the artist asks you to stand, then it’s ok. No one seems to mind this. If you really want to see someone, and you ask nicely, I’ve never had anyone mind if I sat on the corner of their tarp up close for one act. Plus there’s all the side sessions where you can get up close and personal with the artists.
I’ve always thought it’s about the atmosphere, not where you sit anyways.
Sounds like the Edmopnton people have worked out a good system. I know I wasn’t too pleased when a grp their lawn chairs in front of our blanket today.
Sorry! My text is disappearing from my screen. I’m typing in the dark! lol
Lisa, the system you describe is great, but it’s not remotely “relaxed.” What we have in Calgary is TOO FUCKING RELAXED with none of the bureaucracy you have in Edmonton. We need it to be less laissez faire- less FOLKY in other words. Your rules about no standing sounds pretty asshole-y though. Very, very un-RELAXED.
We have huge screens in the middle of the mainstage field as well. We also have (1) SHADE and (2) a setting right in the downtown, both of which make CFMF superior to EFMF. In my opinion, of course.
Mike,
I think the phrase “tarp Nazi” is extravagantly over the top and equally misplaced. There is nothing sinister about the folks who camp out or get up super early to snag the best spot. It’s a bit of fun and a folk fest tradition. When I first arrived in Calgary I was told about “the running of the tarps” (aka The Birkenstock 500) and I thought it was awesome. Having done what they did folks are entitled to be more than a bit miffed if people crash their space. You asked and you received and that seems a good way to do it. There are dancing areas on either side of the main stage if you want to get up close and personal with any one act in particular.
The main reason behind the Swell Season incident seems to me to be the monstrous ego of the man himself when confronted with troubling evidence that the world didn’t revolve about him. Asking the audience if they had come to see his band looked looked like the height of vanity. The fact is that the tarpies at the front may not be super-stoked to see him or any band that night. They are super-stoked to be at the Calgary Folk Fest. Some performers get that and some performers don’t.
Mike, the topic and correct term to use would be “tarp whore” and you would be guilty of this offence if you didn’t ask to occupy someone else’s tarp space. Most tarp whores don’t ask and most tarpies are too sun baked to move or do anything about it for fear of unecessary sweating. Most tarp whores i’ve encountered are the stalker type with really big cameras looking for a good angle and are so into their subjects that they ignore the person’s plate of food they just stepped in and quietly move on after a set.
As for Edmonton vs. Calgary, they are both excellent festivals with pluses and minuses and its a matter of personal taste. Calgary wins for me based on its beer gardens being far superior in beauty. Edmonton’s gives you the illusion that you had too many pops when you try to walk across the sloped field. It is sloped isn’t it? Isn’t it?
The same folk go to the same festivals. Its a lot of work to attend four days of music and I know that when I forget my wallet on my tarp it will be their when I get back.
Finally, you can’t see music, you hear it. People standing in front of me has never been an issue. The big screens do enhance the visual experience however.
Cheers!
A festival like CFMF is different from a concert. It took me a few years of calling people ‘folk nazis’ to realize it, though.
It sucks when an artist you love is performing and it seems like people aren’t paying attention, but that’s part of being in a mixed crowd. When you go see a show at a club or concert hall, everyone has bought a ticket and gone to see this ONE BAND. So, they’re all into, or at least interested in listening to, that ONE BAND. At a large festival, everyone is there for different artists and are following different schedules. You might think the guy on stage is the absolute highlight of the festival, someone else thinks it’s background noise during dinner. Last year, I was excited about Iron & Wine, but everyone around me was grumbling because he wasn’t Michael Franti.
I think the standing/dancing areas on the side are a good compromise. People who are really into someone can get closer and be surrounded by people who are equally into it. The rest of the crowd can watch from where they are. Or not.
That’s my fair and balanced take on things. My unfair opinion is that nobody paid attention to Swell Season because they’re freaking BORING. sorry.
What, no link love for using tarp nazi in the your comments? For shame! For shame!
I think people should be told to take their tarps with them if they’re not using them – open up the space and let somebody else move in. It’s nice that people are so excited for the folk festival and want to sit up front, but the last time I was at the CFMF, they were really aggressive about their tarp space. Very un-folky. It’s like the hippies grew up and became passive aggressive tarp freaks.
(not all of them, of course, blah blah blah…)
I have been attending the Calgary Folk Fest for 12 years now and it was my second year that I became one of those crazy people who line up early and/or sleep overnight. Why do I do this?? So I can get up close and see the variety of artists the festival has to offer. Yes there is often open tarp space around me and on my tarp. I am MORE than willing to share my tarp IF someone ASKS. But if they really wanted to be up close why didn’t they show their love and appreciation for their favorite artist by doing what I did? And yes I may be sitting and enjoying the music because…this is NOT VIRGIN Fest or EDGE Fest! I do not attend said festivals because I do not enjoy jumping up and down with a bunch of drunks! Those of us up front are getting tired of the festival goers who rush the stage, stomp all over are stuff and push us out of the way. I was beside the winners of the Golden Tarp and the people who went up for Swell Season hopped back over the fence and stood right in front of the Golden Tarp winner. She explained to them that she was the winner of the tarp and they should have to move. These lovely girls stood on a 2″ slit of grass in front of her tarp and said “WE’RE NOT ON YOUR TARP!” Disgusting! Had they said “We really like Michael Franti can we stand behind you?” She would have said yes but they were smug and disrespectful called her nasty names and refused to move! Things got way out of hand this year.
Oh and as far as Glen getting upset over people talking during their set…..I can tell you that every time the tarp poachers get closer to see their favorites I have to not only have my space invaded and my things stomped on but I also have to listen to their fans chit chat away instead of actually listening!!!
SO to sum it up…if you want to stand and dance….go to the standing/dancing area on the side. If you want to sit and watch from the front of the stage do what we do or ask us if you can watch from our tarp. But please show some respect and save the wild part for the other festivals.
“But if they really wanted to be up close why didn’t they show their love and appreciation for their favorite artist by doing what I did?”
Because not all of us are able to sleep out in the park overnight. As for your things getting stepped on…well, your tarp is not hallowed ground. Deal with it. If those of you up front don’t like people coming up to watch, sit farther back or off to one side. It seems to work for everybody else.
As one of the organizers of the CFMF I actually don’t get to see a lot of music, and definitely don’t take part in tarpland but when an act I am dying to see starts up I usually walk half way back of the field so I can see closeups on the jumbos and get the best sound.
My concern is mostly for the artist who, like Swell Season, feel like they are playing to a field of very complacent folks and get frustrated. Granted, the Canadian folk fest model is very unlike most other major festivals and the tarpsters are one of the key differences.
The Regina folk fest came up with an awesome solution that I would love to implement in Calgary – they created a dancing area in the whole front of the stage, then a fenced throughway and then the seating fir tarps began. The aisle between the two was deep enough that the folk sitting in the first row of the tarp area could easily see over the heads of the dancers without getting their stuff stomped on. So, would people who wait overnight be satisfied with getting not as close as before so that we can accommodate more
fans at the front? I don’t know.
Regina didn’t have that issue to contend with when they started. I’d like to think that if I was in the front of the tarp area that when the artist I was really hazard to see came on I’d jump into the dancing area, and I’d be happy for a pretty sweet spot to soak up all the rest.
Damn iPhone:
“Artist I was jazzed to see” not “hazzard to see”.
[...] comes back to see the headline acts. I think it’s a great way of doing things although others disagree. Getting up early is a great way to win friends and influence people too as they can come and share [...]
Great article , cheers and we want much more! Added to FeedBurner too