Whatever Happened To: Planetfest

For a decade, Planet Radio’s Planetfest was one of the biggest live music events in all of Jacksonville.

The music festival, first held in 1999, routinely drew crowds of over 10,000 fans in its later years. It featured quite an impressive collection of acts: 3 Doors Down, P.O.D., 30 Seconds to Mars, Shinedown, Yellowcard, Staind, Saliva, Papa Roach, and many others appeared at the festival over its ten years of existence.

It was held every year from 1999 to 2009 with the exception of 2001. Metro Park served as its venue, with two stages set up: one for the main acts, and one for a collection of local bands.

Jacksonville-based Yellowcard and The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus played on the local stage in 2003 and 2005 respectively. The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus soon became widely known for their hit single “Face Down”, and would later go on to perform on the main stage of Planetfest in both 2006 and 2008.

In the summer of 2010, festival sponsor Planet Radio suddenly ceased operations, with its station being converted to Magic 107.3 (now JACKfm 107.3). This unfortunately meant the end of Planetfest as well — Planetfest 10, held in November of 2009, would be the final incarnation of the event.

Since its demise, other events such as 102.9’s Rock on the River have sought to take its place. However, nothing has been able to match the success of the later years of Planetfest so far.

Planet Radio returned to the city in 2013, originally as 106.9 Planet Radio and now operating on station 97.3. The station, however, doesn’t seem to have any plans on bringing back their once-popular event.

Maybe one day Planetfest will be revived — or another great festival will come along and make us forget its absence.

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