(Post-)Christian Hardcore, Community, and Nostalgia at Furnace Fest

The Work that Music Festivals Do in the World

Online, October 14, 2022. Registration is free!

Abstract

At Furnace Fest 2021 (Birmingham, Alabama), attendees traveled from across the U.S. and Canada for three days of emo, hardcore, and metal performances. Furnace Fest originated in the Christian hardcore scene in 2000, running for four years before folding. The crowd reflected this background: over 85% of survey respondents were in their 30s or older; similarly, 86% responded that they had grown up in a Christian household. But in 2021, if many were returning to Furnace Fest out of nostalgia, fewer doing so were Christian: only 39% currently identify as Christian. Participants (organizers, bands, attendees) were respectful, welcoming, and inclusive—far from the polarization that dominates public discourse in the U.S. As a nostalgic event with an engaged fan community, Furnace Fest provides a unique opportunity to think longitudinally about the work that festivals do for music communities. What aspects of the community that gathered at Furnace Fest make it meaningful? How do religious convictions—or the lack thereof—contribute to this community’s overall sense of belongingness? Based on ongoing, collaborative fieldwork in the Furnace Fest community, in this paper I build upon prior work that posits festivals as physical places for imagined communities (Mall 2015; cf. Anderson 1991 [1983]) and scenes (Mall 2020) to consider how music festivals, as sensational forms (Meyer 2009), substantiate musical community itself (see, e.g., Shelemay 2011).

Furnace Fest’s famous “shed stage” was sponsored by the body jewelry company Plug Your Holes in 2021.