1metal1 said:
Constructively:
It seems to me that you took the Power element of 2 years ago and rolled 2 Prog heavy festivals out of it. The excitement that was stirred over Prog 3 was credited by yourself as being a "once in a lifetime lineup" but I think it's that there was, in fact, less of a Prog element overall. Since then, Power fans have had very little to jump up and down about aside from Nightwish. I remember asking you about sponsoring Running Wild or Pretty Maids some years ago and you said, and I quote: "The fan base for those bands is primarily overseas and they would be very little of a draw in the USA". Well I ask you: Where is Adagio, Wuthering Heights, or Into Eternity's fan base? I don't see one at all.
I think that everyone appreciates the job you do, no doubt in the world. Your festival is one of a kind. However, there is still competition for the dollar and I think you could do better for fans of Power metal. I know you said Sonata wasn't available but how about (and these aren't even my favorites, just examples): Rhapsody, Labyrinth, Running Wild, Metalium, Axel Rudi Pell, Dream Evil, Freak Kitchen, Poisonblack or the like?
Honestly, Cleveland is breathing down ProgPower's neck and aside from overall atmosphere, may actually be the festival to see the last 2 years. I'm just saying....
I could not disagree with you more. This festival is called Prog Power for a reason. Glenn tries to give the fans a pretty good mix of each. Some years it may be power heavy while others it may be prog heavy. For the Power fans, you have Edguy, Kamelot, Tad Morose, Brainstorm, Sava (1/2 and 1/2), Adagio (1/2 and 1/2), etc... And the prog fans have PoS, Dreamscape, Wuthering heights to a certain extent, etc..
And as for Cleveland being the fest to see for the past 2 years? What the hell do you base that on? While I hate to compare festivals, Cthat fest had nothing on PP and still doesn't. No other festival in the world gives the fans a great mixture of strictly prog and power metal. If you want predominantly prog or predominantly power, then find another festival. It will never be an even mixture of 5 power bands and 5 prog bands as I am sure it is extremely difficult to book bands in the first place (schedules, availability, pricing, demands, etc...)
How could he possibly do better for power fans? Don't get me wrong, I would love to see Vision Divine, Labyrinth, Helloween, Stratovarius, Sonata Arctica, Skylark, Arwen, etc.., but you act like Glenn hasn't brought any power metal bands here. For god's sake, he had Edguy, Gamma Ray, Angra, Rage, and many more power metal bands over the course 4 years.
I could very easily attend both festivals, but BW & BK did absolutely nothing for me aside from Elegy (who I would have loved to see). I just don't see how these past 2 festivals are prog heavy. Many bands, imo, developed a great mixture of prog and power elements within their sound. I don't think you can solely classify many of these bands as strictly prog, or strictly power. As long as they have elements of both, I feel they are a perfect fit for this festival.