The Enit Festival was a one-night electronic music festival created by
Perry Farrell
Perry Farrell (born Peretz Bernstein; March 29, 1959) is an American singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the frontman of the alternative rock band Jane's Addiction. Farrell created the touring festival Lollapalooza as part (one of the ...
in 1995. Originally created as an after party for
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
, Farrell tried to take the space based festival on the road after minimal success. The name is derived from
Ludwig Pallman's book "Cancer Plant Remission". According to early ads for the festival, it was described as "an inter-planetary festival celebrating cosmic peace and sexuality."
Enit events
The festival, like Lollapalooza, was a traveling tour and visited cities such as Dallas, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Camden, Phoenix and Holmdel. Enit was generally held outdoors and consisted of multiple stages as well as several "rooms." Each room would explore different realms, such as a room each for sexuality, psychedelia, and art. In the room for sexuality, there would often be painted naked or half-naked women walking around or dancing under neon lights and heavy electronic music. As for the psychedelic and art rooms there would be paintings or still-models posing in a room reminiscent of an acid trip. On the main stage, acts such as
Porno for Pyros
Porno for Pyros is an American alternative rock band formed in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1992, following the break-up of Jane's Addiction. The band currently consists of former Jane's Addiction members Perry Farrell (vocals) and ...
,
Black Grape
Black Grape are an English rock band, featuring former members of Happy Mondays and Ruthless Rap Assassins. Their musical style fuses funk and electronic rock with electronic programming and samples.
History Formation, first two albums an ...
,
Sun Ra Arkestra
The Sun Ra Arkestra is an American jazz group formed in the mid-1950s and led by keyboardist/composer Sun Ra until his death in 1993. The group is considered a pioneer of afrofuturism. As of 2022, the Arkestra is led by saxophonist Marshall Alle ...
, the
Rebirth Brass Band
The Rebirth Brass Band is a New Orleans brass band. The group was founded in 1983 by Phillip "Tuba Phil" Frazier, his brother Keith Frazier, Kermit Ruffins,Skelly, RichardAllMusic Profile Retrieved 2013-02-9 and classmates from Joseph S. Clark ...
,
Meat Beat Manifesto
Meat Beat Manifesto, often shortened as Meat Beat, Manifesto or MBM, is an electronic music group originally consisting of Jack Dangers and Jonny Stephens that was formed in 1987 in Swindon, United Kingdom. The band, fronted by Dangers (the only ...
,
Lady Miss Kier
Kierin Magenta Kirby (aka Lady Miss Kier) is an American singer, songwriter, DJ, designer, fashion icon, and activist.
During her career, Lady Miss Kier has been the vocalist for the band Deee-Lite, a disc jockey, and solo songwriter. She support ...
and various DJs, such as
Andrew Weatherall
Andrew James Weatherall (6 April 1963 – 17 February 2020) was an English musician, DJ, songwriter, producer and remixer. His career took him from being one of the key DJs in the acid house movement of the late 1980s to being a remixer of trac ...
, would play music through the entire night. At one point in the night, Farrell and a local conservationist group would hold a tree planting ceremony that everyone attending could join in giving back to the earth.
[ENIT Festival Hits Some Wrong Chords , E! Online]
/ref> Enit also provided a free vegetarian meal to all attendees.
Success & decline
As more fans experienced the bizarre festival for themselves, many strayed away from its unstable and poorly structured event. Geared towards a younger crowd, the festival saw a dramatic drop in attendance. In 1996, due to a combination of high production costs and a lack of fanbase, the festival called it quits.Perry Farrell’s Enit Fest Loses Some Dates - MTV
/ref>
See also
*List of electronic music festivals
The following is an incomplete list of music festivals that feature electronic music, which encapsulates music featuring electronic instruments such as electric guitar and keyboards, as well as recent genres such as electronic dance music (E ...
References
External links
{{Electronic music festival
Music festivals established in 1995
Electronic music festivals in the United States
1995 music festivals