Exactly one year ago, as I write this, I was on my way to Boston, Massachusetts to attend LeakyCon 2009, the very first conference put on by The Leaky Cauldron. Prior to that, I had only attended one other conference, which was Prophecy 2007 in Toronto, Canada, so I had very high expectations. In many ways, however, it is fundamentally impossible to compare the two.
For any of you that have ever attended a conference put on by the HPEF (Harry Potter Education Fanon), you know that the focus of these conferences has always officially been education. The majority of the programming is composed of lectures that you attend to learn more about Harry Potter’s world. And this is fantastic, and incredibly interesting, but I don’t think I’d be lying when I say that the unplanned shenanigans, as well as informal programming, always tend to steal everyone’s hearts at HPEF conferences.
Back in 2006, when there was so much to discuss, this was a good thing. People wanted to be able to discuss the books, the world, and the fandom, because the series had not ended yet, and there was so much left to speculate about. Even at Prophecy, which was the first conference after the release of Deathly Hallows, there was this overarching need for discussion- to be able to talk and share and learn about what we had all just experienced.
But in the years since, the academic side of Harry Potter has become less and less relevant. Many people have attended all or most of the cons since, but the majority do so just to see and spend time with their friends from around the world. The community became the most important part of the conferences, rather than the academics.
And the thing that, most of all, separates LeakyCon from its HPEF counterparts was that the conference had no pretense of education. The focus, officially and unofficially, was to have fun, rather than to learn, and the conference was structured to be as much fun as possible. Formal programming was still scheduled, and I’m sure that many people did attend, but personally, I only attended one formal programming event, which was a presentation on recording and releasing wizard rock by Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters and a number of other notable wizard rockers. I learned a lot, but it had very little to do with academics.
This was LeakyCon’s biggest strength. It was put on by the fandom, for the fandom. No one is more in touch with what the fandom wants than Leaky, and it never stopped reflecting in the amazing weekend they put on. All of the ‘unofficial’ fun at HPEF’s conferences had become the focusing point for LeakyCon, and this pushed the conference into something beyond anything that I’d ever experienced at Prophecy.
Probably the biggest drawback of the HPEF was that it had never fully appreciated wizard rock. At Prophecy, there was only one wizard rock concert, and only the four biggest bands in the fandom got a chance to play. Of course, this didn’t stop many other bands that didn’t get a chance to play (as well as some that did- I’m looking at you, Alex) from performing unofficially in the Common Room area, but this was all fan organized.
At the official wizard rock show at Prophecy, the walls had to be moved out so that the room could accommodate the unexpectedly massive crowd that had assembled there. Over 800 people attended that concert, even though the sound was poorly done, the lighting was terrible, and the wait was excruciatingly long. I was one of those 800 people, and I had the time of my life. But I couldn’t have comprehended how much better it could’ve been until I attended LeakyCon 2009- a conference where they did everything right.
The people behind LeakyCon completely recognized the importance of wizard rock to their conference, and they wanted it done right. So they hired Matt Maggiacomo of the Whomping Willows, and Paul DeGeorge of Harry and the Potters to take care of their live sound. Says DeGeorge, “Most cons don’t understand what is necessary for producing really killer rock shows and they don’t invest the time to learn or the money to hire the right people to execute. They think their job is done once they’ve announced the lineups. In my experience, LeakyCon has been the ONLY exception to this, and a big part of it is because they worked closely with Matt and myself and actually used our advice rather than ignoring it.”
Melissa Anelli and her ragtag gang of badasses couldn’t have made a better decision. Unlike Prophecy, which had only one wrock show, LeakyCon had three. Each of these shows clocked in at four hours each. And that’s not counting the performances that were part of programming- such as Ministry of Magic’s performance on PotterCast, the epic musical that was The Fountain of Fair Fortune, and House of Black’s performance on AlleyCast. If there was one thing and one thing only to be said about LeakyCon, it’s that there was no shortage of wizard rock.
The official wizard rock programming was divided in three: Evil Night, Wizard Rock Night, and Wizard Rock in the Afternoon. This system worked out brilliantly, because the wizard rock fit in around everything else. For example, Evil Night began directly after the Opening Feast, meaning that no one had to go anywhere, and that essentially the first thing we were treated to (besides the delicious feast) was four amazing bands!
Evil Night featured Swish and Flick, Justin Finch-Fletchley, the Parselmouths, and Draco and the Malfoys. And even though JFF was definitely the odd man out in this scenario, he wrocked harder than everyone. It was a smashing success, and it set the tone for the rest of the conference: all of the bands played their hearts out and just had a fantastic time with what they were doing. There really were no holds barred.
Each band had its own strength: Swish and Flick had their stage antics, while Brian Malfoy’s guitar solos melted faces in JFF’s set. Meanwhile, the Parselmouths changed their lyrics to make fun of Alex Day, and finally Draco and the Malfoys had their incredibly strange and incredibly wonderful bluegrass set. There was something for absolutely everyone, and this was only the BEGINNING.
Look for tomorrow’s article about Day Two of Leakycon!
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