A Theory About the Timing of the Cap Shows

TL;DR: I think the timing of the Cap shows may be to ensure that the return from hiatus is at a special show for us rather than at a festival.

The first application for the permit that Yahn Dawn (YD) is being held under proposed Labor Day weekend for the dates. The County Board rejected that, obviously, then rejected another request before approving the current dates. Secret Dreams then took Labor Day weekend, of course.

Since the only other non-festival shows are geographically dispersed, with one near each coast (NY and CA) and one in between (NOLA), I assume they always planned to play the Cap or at least somewhere in NY. But I suspect there is zero chance PL would have added the Cap before YD if it had been held on Labor Day weekend. That would not make good business sense. Moreover, YD is clearly a special event for them (and a lot of us), and they probably wanted it to mark the end of this hiatus.

I seriously doubt they wanted to start the return with Secret Dreams. Rather, I suspect they wanted to play a show of their own before doing any festivals (similar to 2024, when they started with Hampton prior to Bonnaroo and Electric Forest). I suspect this is particularly true since the last dates prior to the hiatus were at festivals (Secret Dreams and Elements).

If I'm right, I think this is a nice touch for fans - so thanks, PL. I love "festival sets," but the regular shows are more carefully curated and special. As much as I'm looking forward to Secret Dreams, standing around a bunch of oblivious Ohio State students who are just there to party over the holiday weekend is not how I wanted to reconnect after the hiatus. Now we get to do that at a special venue, and we know the sets will be curated for the core fans.