30 years is a long time for an annual festival to be running. Think it's time for Hot 97 to reimagine this. Few thoughts to consider:
1) I know they have an impossible task of selling out MetLife. It's going to be hard without transcendent artists. Moving to UBS Arena isn't the first time they've done an arena format. It was actually in arenas from the onset till 2003. I think actually having a "festival" type of environment would be fun. That is not what you see now. Might be hard to do though for a multitude of reasons, as detailed later in here:
2) Seeing some clips of yesterday's show, the performance factor just wasn't there. Maybe it's because some artists prefer performing in outdoor arenas, but the acoustics and such didn't hit. It was truthfully a boring show. However, the issue Hot 97 has is that certain artists that have the performance appeal bring a lot of baggage and thus poses a bigger liability premium than others. That proved to be problematic over time.
3) Other artists have legit beef with Hot 97 and will never appear here. That is also a problem.
4) Trying to bridge older and younger hip hop fans ain't it. The festival should really be about catering to the current music. Bringing Meth, Red, Jadakiss, Big Daddy Kane, etc. does not cut it, even for a 30th anniversary show.
5) If you actually want to commemorate the legends, hold a smaller show catered to the old school acts and fans. That'll be sold out ASAP.
