The Big Re:SET

ISSUE #242

It’s no hallucination. That metallic rumble you’ve heard on the distant wind since February? It’s real, and it’s true—this summer, just as Peak Festival comes roaring back from a pandemic lull, there’s a shiny new festival coming to your city. You guessed it: it’s called Re:SET.

Twelve cities—Atlanta, Columbus, Nashville, San Francisco, Dallas, New Orleans, Boston, D.C., New York, Chicago, L.A., and San Diego—will all be seeing the same acts on one stage over three days, with sets full of special guests each headliner brought themselves. Steve Lacy picked James Blake, Toro y Moi, and Foushée; LCD is playing with Jamie xx, IDLES, and Big Freedia; and boygenius is bringing along Clairo, Dijon, and Bartees Strange.

The trick is that Re:SET is essentially three individual traveling shows, with each headliner playing on the same night in different cities, then everybody hopping on a plane and swapping for the next night, and the next. For example: Jamie xx will be play New Orleans on Friday, fly to Atlanta for Saturday, and end the weekend in Dallas. Rinse, repeat for the whole month of June.

In this way, Re:SET is more like a standard tour than a festival. It’s seemingly designed to solve the headaches that have plagued festivals for decades—the single stage promises no conflicting acts, and performers won’t have to blow their big song in the middle of a set to give the audience enough time to cross the park for the next band. It also likely comes with a higher paycheck for artists—festivals typically pay more than regular shows because they’re bolstered by sponsors—which is great news when streaming royalties are 65 cents a month.

“Who could this be who started this Re:SET?” I thought when I first heard that rumble in spring. “Some enterprising upstart? An industry professional gone rogue?” No, of course not—Re:SET is from none other than AEG, second-largest events brand after Live Nation, owner of Crypto.com Arena and promoter of Coachella. When you see new things that threaten to innovate and improve, assume the old hands made them to stabilize power. Even eugenics once flew the flag of progress.

This playlist features songs that each act will be playing, along with some songs from other artists that they’ve been known to cover. In the end, a great collection of musicians—to see Jamie xx in the States alone is a miracle, the most single persuasive reason for tickets. At least there’s always the art.

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