Mogstock Spotlights Venue Partners for 5th Anniversary

For years, the highlight of an Eorzean summer has been Mogstock, a musical festival that is so much more than music. Bringing together the Star's top musicians alongside some of the best food, comfort, and summer activities for a weekend of celebration and community.

That sounds thrilling, and attendees regularly have a good time. Some have such a good time they come back with their businesses or musical talent and help the event further grow. Even expanding their schedule to five bells in celebration of the fifth anniversary of the festival, there were more applications to perform than spots on the schedule. The Star's biggest acts like Melodi and the Muses, Chaon Vision, The Drama Club, The Fens, and Mai Secret Valentine will take the stage this year.

But nothing's perfect. And that's inspired the unofficial slogan for this year.

"Hah, yes, but I can't swear, right? 'Go to the fucking venues, they are amazing' seems a really obnoxious tag line!" laughed Braely Fiala, standing with me in one of the beautiful spaces for people to relax during Mogstock. "But it's real, you know? Go to the venues! We work hard at making them amazing. Take a moment from the music to enjoy the food and culture and diverse groups that are all contributing."

Fiala, a senior organizer at Mogstock, knows all too well that over the years, the performers have been the spotlight of the massive celebration. That makes sense, but for this year, she wanted to find a way to bring more attention to the many venues and organizations who dedicate their time and energy to the festival every year.

"Last turn was a bit of a wake-up call. Things that had worked before seemed to get a bit hazy, right?" Fiala explained. "How do we get festival goers to visit venues? How do we make sure venues feel important and special, just as much as the musicians ... we've come up with some ideas we genuinely hope not only delight the Mogstock festival goers, but really make the venues that give of their time the same magical feelings about participation that it created in the early turns of the festival."

These ideas include new incentives for festival goers to patronize and learn about the participating venues, and showing a deeper appreciation for those venues. In addition to normal efforts like the prize parade that does short giveaways at partnering venues, a large-sum lottery will be held based on those who spend time patronizing a venue. To fund this and other exciting events, Mogstock is finally allowing its partners to offer gil donations to the festival, which has been highly requested by the event's business partners.

And to thank all their partners this year, Mogstock is holding a ball honoring the sponsors; both those who gave gil and those who gave time. Fiala also detailed an until now unannounced detail: sponsors will have a chance to win performances from some of the big names at this year's Mogstock.

Those venues partnering this year include legacy partners like The Dueling Otters, Tonberry Tavern and Bandee Pakshee as well as newcomers Shroudrose Teahouse and Wanderer's Respite, bringing together some of the most active venues in the festival and market scene.

Additionally, photographers, artists, and other pop-up events will be scattered through the festival grounds that weekend. One of those will be a pair of fashion contests asking participants to hit the themes Cottagecore and Rockstar. Fiala encouraged attendees to really make Mogstock a whole-day experience, including staying at the inn rooms available on site. She called Mogstock a "sampler platter" of the arts and culture of Etheirys; food, music, nightlife, art, photography, and so much more.

Another change this year comes each night when the lights come down at the end of the festival. Mogstock has always a lively afterparty scene with ones hosted by Mogstock partners for years. This year, those partners include Afterglow, Risque, and The Grind. Paired with Bandee Pakshee, that's a significant increase in the adult entertainment specialists involved in Mogstock. While none of the venues that normally provide courtesan services will be 'on the clock' in that sense at Mogstock, their inclusion is a clear signal that Mogstock has a little spice to it in it's fifth year.

"Nightlife is part of Eorzea, no?" Fiala said, after what I must admit was a dangerously enticing preview of a cabaret performance for The Grind's event. "So we're doing a disservice by pretending like we're too pure for that nonsense, when we're not. We can have some cheeky fun and they can be sponsors, too. None of the more, let's just say 'scandalous', offerings will be made... but they will be participating in cheeky fun, and if someone then wishes to go to Risque, Pakshee or Afterglow, then there you have it."

Mogstock After Dark will have the aforementioned cabaret relying heavily on stage magics, as well as casino and comfort offerings typical of a certain kind of nightlife. But the most exciting offering will be a 'cheeky' game show Fiala calls The Dating Game. Contestants will have to ask a panel of three 'bachelors and bachelorettes' and choose their favorite. Being held at Elysian Springs Spa, the dress is anticipated to be quite revealing.

Tamer late-night offerings include returning game Ballafell, where opposing teams try to knock away a lalafell with torrents of water. As you do. The game is tentatively scheduled to run on the festival's last night, to honor the nameday of festival luminary and Huckleberry Saloon owner Doc Laladay.

These changes do come after a hard fourth year at Mogstock. While attendance was high, it wasn't a record for the event, and attendance far more concentrated on just the bards, causing the larger festival ground, the subdivision in Ward 22 of the Lavender Beds' Mateus neighborhood, to feel less alive. While attendees were still enjoying the event and it could only be deemed a successful festival, these issues did make the team evaluate what went wrong. There were long conversations in the following moons about what to improve and how to improve it, and that helped inspire the event's managers to rebalance things to inspire a real bang for the fifth anniversary.

"I think it just reminded the music and bard end of things to remember that the thing that made Mogstock special was its universal appeal," Fiala said. "So I made sure to speak up and to really put serious thought into things we could do better, as I promised I would last year... And honestly it keeps things in line with my whole ponderings about 'what could we do better, what could I do better as the lead of the venue aspects,' to make this anniversary Mogstock one of the best that we've ever had."

With everything done to rise above the issues of last year and reach new heights. Mogstock is poised to be a can't-miss event. Mogstock '12 is poised to be one talked out for a long time to come.

Editor's Note: The Black Chocobo Courier is a sponsor of Mogstock 7AE12.