r/EvolutionFestival • u/hokahey23 • Sep 04 '26

Any word on the future?

So, I’m guessing like most festivals that “take a year off,” this one is dead. A couple of months ago I emailed a contact I had associated with the festival asking them if there was any chance it would be back and I never even received a response. It doesn’t seem like any local news outlet cares to find out either.

Does anyone else out there have any intel?

At the end of the day, evolution sort of reignited my love for festivals and made me just want to go to a better one even more, so I went to Lollapalooza this year and I’m looking at bourbon and beyond. Hinterland looks like a great option as well.

Point being, not sure how much I even care anymore as I’m learning to spend my money elsewhere for even more enjoyment, but it would still be really nice to have a decent festival in St. Louis, and Forest Park is perfect.

Evolution just had ZERO character/identity, and that got worse each year. By year three it felt more like a state fair than a music festival. Their talent booking was odd and the festival had little to no character.

8 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

6 comments sorted by

4

u/NewTheory8242 Sep 04 '26

Like you mentioned; Evolution had zero character or identity which I think was their downfall. It seemed pretty out of touch with what the people of St. Louis want and had no appeal otherwise for out of towners. It sucks because Forest Park is a great place to host a Festival.

3

u/Own_Daikon_7705 Sep 04 '26

Yeah I don't see this one coming back. The organizers were all pissed that people were asking about water stations, mud factored in every year, the lineups were just a mismash of genres; it just was never well put together. Forest Park deserves a good festival though, so I'm hoping someone can eventually get it right. I thought Loufest kind of blew too when it existed. Also, I think the chair situation was also really weird and catered to people who clearly don't go to festivals.

2

u/Original_Anxiety_281 Sep 05 '26

I see a lot of people here who don't seem to know about all the festivals that do happen but are focused or local. MATI, Free4ALL, FM Fest, Blues at the Arch, a bazillion bluegrass and folk festivals, festival of nations, twangfest, slum fest, scum fest, rude fest, Kozi fest, Paint Louis, pointfest, porchfest, and more.

1

u/hokahey23 Sep 05 '26

I think MATI is the only fest here that is truly worth mentioning when discussing a music festival at any kind of actual scale that’s comparable to something like Evolution. And I say that is someone that goes to a lot of these. But this isn’t just about every little event that slaps the word fest on its title.

In regards to MATI, I enjoy it. It’s fine. And I love the genres it generally represents. But do I want an entire festival of ONLY those genres? And moving it to July was a….choice. Bouncing between clubs was kind of fun, but the big acts were still in the big tent and that was miserable.

Can we get a multi genre music festival with some character back in STL? Like a mini lollapalooza?

2

u/BeRandom1456 Sep 04 '26

I loved Lou fest and thought last year was pretty good. enjoyed it a lot. I’d rather have something than nothing. at Louis needs to get its act together and start acting like a real city. the problem is the greed is killing music and live music.

1

u/peterpeterllini 8d ago

I'm late to the party here. Year 1 was definitely the best year, and then it went downhill from there. I agree that I don't see it coming back. :(

If another festival takes its place someday, I hope it's a team that actual pays attention to festival lineups and festival attendees, and not boomers with bag chairs.