Last year, our in-house publishing imprint, Standard Press, released its latest book, Festivals Are Good—photographer and filmmaker Cheryl Dunn’s look at music festival culture. The book takes a notably different tack from your typical music photography book. Rather than training her lens on the performers who grace festival stages or the backstage shenanigans, Dunn cast her gaze upon the crowds. The book is a meditation on the power music has over people. It goes a long way towards understanding why thousands upon thousands make pilgrimages to these gatherings every year.
Over the past three months, we too have been exploring and experiencing the power of music. We got drunk with a young rockstar. We went deep with disco legend Nile Rodgers. We looked back at some of the incredible performers we’ve hosted through the years. We also saw approximately one million shows—from Annie O in the Penthouse to jazz at The Top of The Standard to Wild Belle at our Hollywood High festival at The Standard, Downtown LA.
To bring it all full circle, Cheryl Dunn recently returned from her latest foray to that fest-of-all-fests, Bonnaroo, and she shared this remarkable selection of photos capturing the agony and ecstasy of festival-going.
Read our interview with Dunn here.
