Don’t look now but the rock-etship known as Kanrocksas is about to attain lift-off…



Sources say, Kanrocksas is poised to make a partial lineup announcement next week and put phase two of its discounted two day festival passes on sale.

Other than a 12 hour pre-Christmas ticket sale late last month, mum’s been the word for the alternative rock fest slated for June 28th and 29th at the Kansas Speedway.

The bottom line being: This year’s lineup is a major go, organizers say.

“We’ve got solid bands booked for each night, we really do,” says organizer Bill Brandmeyer. “We’re going to do a festival that’s full of bands young people want to see, people 18 to 34.”

Which may explain in part why the rampant rumor that Kanrocksas was going after the Rolling Stones as one of its headliners will not be happening.

“I mean, I thought it would be cool to have the Rolling Stones, but it would also be cool to have Prince,” Brandmeyer says. “But that’s not the kind of festival we’re trying to build this year. And we don’t want to bring in an iconic band. We learned our lesson the last time with Eminem.”

Sources say Kanrocksas shelled out a million bucks for Eminem for its 2011 fest.

“Besides, the number’s not a million dollars for the Rolling Stones, it’s twice that,” Brandmeyer says. “I’d rather have Mumford & Sons but they’re not available for us.”

Speaking of which, Kanrocksas festival-goers will have to wait a while more before more of the acts are announced, but each of the four main stages will have its own headliner, Brandmeyer says.

“We’re going about this in the right way this year,” Brandmeyer adds. “We have a very close knit team including Ground Control out of Sacramento doing the ticketing, onsite credentialing and promotional work. They did Fun Fun Fun festival in Austin which was named Festival of the Year by Consequence of Sound. The Kanrocksas team also includes Director of Festivals and Art Curator and Festival Co-Producer for Coachella Phillip Blaine and local event management company evenergy doing logistics with local and regional pr powerhouse wgpr. wgpr has tasked national music agency MSO with industry outreach that did Coachella, Vans Warped Tour and Budweiser’s Made in America festival this past summer.”

In other words, Kanrocksas is swinging for the fences this summer.

Brandmeyer is also extending an Olive Branch to radio station The Buzz and its Beach Ball this summer at Livestrong (or whatever the soccer stadium is called by then after Lance Armstrong gets through tap dancing with Oprah).

“I’d love to have them as a media partner for Kanrocksas,” Brandmeyer says. “It’s smart business.”