Nebraska Pop Festival dates announced

The Nebraska Pop Festival has announced dates for this fall, running a full five days from Sept. 15 to 19.

Three Benson venues will be hosting the festival, including The Sydney (one night), P.S. Collective (two nights) and Barley Street Tavern (two nights).

Admission will be $5 per night and the fest plans to host 25 to 30 bands over the five nights.

They're boasting that bands will come from all over the world, with a lot of Midwestern and Lincoln/Omaha groups thrown in there too.

The whole thing is a benefit for UNO MAV Radio, and bands won't be getting paid for their performances.

I'm all about the fest and all about the radio station making itself some money, but not paying bands always worries me. I think bands should be getting paid for their performances, even if it makes ticket costs go up for a benefit like this.

Now, this is a benefit and anyone that believes in the cause is more than welcome to give up their time for free. But the two things that worry me are these: Young bands will think that they need to give away their stage time for more exposure when they should be getting paid AND with good artists around town expecting to be paid, it can hurt the lineup at festivals like this.

I say pay the bands. At least the headliners for each night. You'll get bigger names locally and regionally, ticket prices will only go up a little bit.

One fraternity at Creighton does an annual benefit for the ALS and they usually raise more than $10,000 each year. How do they do it? They book big bands at Sokol (Blue October and Eric Hutchinson are past groups). They pay these groups, tickets are $25 to $30 and they make a killing. Just a thought.

Anyway, no lineup has been announced (and the press release said it won't be until July), but it makes me wonder who they'll get if they won't be able to pay anyone.

Get more info on the five-night concert at their MySpace. You can listen to the radio station through their website (you're looking for the poorly-placed "Listen Here" link at the top of the site).