After infiltrating the world of Super Pacs and political rallies, Stephen Colbert's quest for satirical world domination continues on Friday night when he assails the world of the indie-rock fest with a sort-of spoof music festival in New York.
The festival, which features a seriously cutting-edge slate, will be held on the flight deck of the Intrepid, the aircraft carrier-turned-museum docked on the west side of Manhattan island.
"This will be the greatest thing ever to happen on the Hudson river. Suck it, Sullenberger," Stephen Colbert promised on the 31 July episode of The Colbert Report as he announced his free festival: Pepsi Presents StePhest Colbchella '012: Rocktaugustfest, with a reference to the US Airways pilot Chesley Sullenberger, who successfully brought his stricken aircraft on the water in 2009.
Much like 2011's Dr Pepper Presents StePhest Colbchella '011: Rock You Like A Thirst-icane, Colbert includes the soda sponsors in the title to drive a subtle, satirical blow to the commercialized festivals that dominate the summer.
In 2011, Colbert explained why he was incorporating music into his cadre of movements, and said it was a fight against the: "half-naked patchouli-soaked white-guy-dreadlock festivals, like Lollapalooza, Bonnaroo, Coachella, Salmonella," and pointed to the big-name brands that support the "indie" rock-fests.
The not-very-indie Toyota, Citibank and Gap back the "cutting-edge" Lollapalooza, and Bonnaroo lists Ford, Dell and Miller Lite as some of its corporate sponsors.
State Farm marketing director Steve Gold explained that these milquetoast brands sponsorship of festivals know for their drug use and hip crowd to the International Business Times. Gold said: "We are a brand that has been around for 90 years, and we want to make sure that State Farm is as relevant to these young adults as we've been for their parents and for their grandparents."
These festivals rely on their corporate sponsors, and aside from any satirical agenda, Colbert's festival is about celebrating music and entertaining his fans. Well, that and to fight summer – a season Colbert said has a "well-known liberal bias."
This year, Colbert will bring Santigold, Grizzly Bear, The Flaming Lips, fun. and Grandmaster Flash on board the flight deck of the USS Intrepid in New York for a batch of performances and interviews to air the following week. Along with the musical stars and satirical master will be the 1,500 fans who reserved free tickets online.
When offered the opportunity to make his second appearance on The Colbert Report, The Flaming Lips frontman Wayne Coyne exclaimed: "Oh gosh! The terror that strikes when I realized I'm going to be interviewed once again by Stephen Colbert! … No. It's wonderful but him playing stupid is the smartest thing you'll encounter! What a rush to even think about it!"
Performances from Friday's festival will air every night during the week of August 13 beginning with fun. performing Some Nights on Monday and The Flaming Lips performing Ashes in Air Thursday 16 August. Each band will be performing a second song available exclusively on colbertnation.com.
