For those who question the impact of Arcturus, their announcement has me considering ProgPower more seriously than I have at any time in the last 6 years. Since I see no shortage of shows in Chicago, it takes something pretty exclusive to get me to go to Atlanta. Arcturus isn't quite Conception-level exclusive (what got me to PPUSA VI), but it's probably a slight bit ahead of Rage (what got me to PPUSA IV).
Arcturus!!! At ProgPower!!!
Over the years my shifting music interests have moved me away from the core ProgPower demographic, but at the same time, Glenn has thrown in bands that pull ProgPower back *toward* my musical interests. I remember over a decade ago trying (and failing!) to sell 'La Masquerade Infernale' to the Perpetual Motion forum as "a slightly darker version of Dream Theater's 'Awake'", so Arcturus (along with bands like Amorphis, Tyr, or Orphaned Land) seems more like a case of ProgPower coming to meet me.
Anyhow, to the topic. When trying to figure out how this lineup compared to others in terms of overall draw for me, I asked, "how many of the bands announced for each ProgPower did I already know and like at each announcement?" I used ownership of an album from the band as a proxy for "know and like", and here are my results:
#01: 4/11 (went)
#02: 7/10
#03: 5/10 (went)
#04: 5/10 (went)
#05: 6/10
#06: 5/10 (went)
#07: 2/10
#08: 2/10
#09: 6/12
#10: 4/11
#11: 4/12
#12: 6/12
All the ProgPowers that I've attended* got me there with 50% or less of their rosters, and look, I have 50% of XII's roster. Hmm. Overall, I'm surprised at how consistent the numbers have been for me over the years. Yeah, things fell off a cliff for VII and VIII, and weren't great for X and XI, but having IX (maybe one I should have gone to) and XII back at the level of III and IV was something I wouldn't have expected.
Of course, those totals come through a combination of "new" bands (Arcturus, While Heaven Wept, Amorphis, etc.) and ProgPower-core bands that I own decade+ old albums from, acquired back when I was still in the ProgPower-core demographic (Eldritch, Labyrinth, Iron Savior, etc.) Which is a good indication of how there is not a single thing that sells out ProgPower; rather, it's a coalition of sometimes-disparate interests that come together in aggregate form to make a full house. And Glenn seems to do a damn good job in shaping lineups to build those coalitions.
Here are the lineups for each year, with the bands I've owned albums from bolded. Note that these are the lineups *as announced* (as far as I could determine), not the lineups that actually performed (since I'm comparing too the PPUSA XII announcement).
#01: Symphony X, Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Jag Panzer, Destiny's End, Ion Vein, Reading Zero, Zero Hour, Power of Omens, Etheria, Onward
#02: Symphony X, Kamelot, Evergrey, ARK, Angel Dust, Steel Prophet, Spiral Architect, Nightingale, Balance of Power, Superior
#03: Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Angra, Pain of Salvation, The Devin Townsend Band, Edguy, Threshold, Silent Force, Reading Zero, Zero Hour
#04: Nightwish, Rage, Symphony X, Evergrey, Circle II Circle, Vanden Plas, Secret Sphere, Mercenary, Pagan's Mind, Redemption
#05: Savatage, Edguy, Kamelot, Pain of Salvation, Tad Morose, Brainstorm, Wuthering Heights, Dreamscape, Adagio, Into Eternity
#06: Stratovarius, Angra, Conception, Therion, Orphaned Land, Pink Cream 69, Symphorce, Manticora, Circus Maximus, Stride
#07: Evergrey, Nevermore, Epica, Mercenary, Freak Kitchen, Thunderstone, Savage Circus, Vision Divine, Pyramaze, Wastefall
#08: Sonata Arctica, After Forever, Primal Fear, Pagan's Mind, Threshold, Redemption, Virgin Steele, Firewind, Communic, Raintime
#09: Iced Earth, Amorphis, Jon Oliva's Pain, Riverside, Volbeat, Iron Savior, Andromeda, Rob Rock, Elvenking, Spheric Universe Experience, Serenity, Pathosray
#10: Fates Warning, Andre Matos, Brainstorm, Royal Hunt, Pagan's Mind, Sabaton, Orphaned Land, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Circus Maximus, Tomorrow's Eve, Power Quest
#11: HammerFall, Kamelot, Delain, Tarot, DGM, Týr, Oceans of Sadness, Stormwarrior, Seventh Wonder, Nocturnal Rites, Paradox, Illusion Suite
#12: Therion, Sanctuary, Dream Evil, Arcturus, Labyrinth, Mob Rules, Red Circuit, Eldritch, While Heaven Wept, Voyager, Haken, Creation's End
One final interesting fact falls out of this: I can see why the headliners are headliners. Even though I only matched on 44% (56/128) of the bands in the history of ProgPower, I hit on 88% (21/24!) of the headliners. If they match with *me*, that means they must have a pretty widespread audience that will draw from a wide pool of potential attendees. Nothing really unexpected there I guess, but interesting to see it in the numbers so starkly.
So I'm curious to see how the numbers of other people compare to mine. If you want to play along with the band lists, I think you can copy the list section from my post and paste it into your reply (rather than using the quote function) to remove my bolding, and then add your own. And I suppose this thread must have been done in years past, but I don't remember seeing it recently.
* The ProgPower with the biggest match for me was really day 1 of ProgPower Europe 2005, with 67%: Epica, Green Carnation, Orphaned Land, Novembers Doom, Throes of Dawn, Disillusion
Neil
Arcturus!!! At ProgPower!!!
Over the years my shifting music interests have moved me away from the core ProgPower demographic, but at the same time, Glenn has thrown in bands that pull ProgPower back *toward* my musical interests. I remember over a decade ago trying (and failing!) to sell 'La Masquerade Infernale' to the Perpetual Motion forum as "a slightly darker version of Dream Theater's 'Awake'", so Arcturus (along with bands like Amorphis, Tyr, or Orphaned Land) seems more like a case of ProgPower coming to meet me.
Anyhow, to the topic. When trying to figure out how this lineup compared to others in terms of overall draw for me, I asked, "how many of the bands announced for each ProgPower did I already know and like at each announcement?" I used ownership of an album from the band as a proxy for "know and like", and here are my results:
#01: 4/11 (went)
#02: 7/10
#03: 5/10 (went)
#04: 5/10 (went)
#05: 6/10
#06: 5/10 (went)
#07: 2/10
#08: 2/10
#09: 6/12
#10: 4/11
#11: 4/12
#12: 6/12
All the ProgPowers that I've attended* got me there with 50% or less of their rosters, and look, I have 50% of XII's roster. Hmm. Overall, I'm surprised at how consistent the numbers have been for me over the years. Yeah, things fell off a cliff for VII and VIII, and weren't great for X and XI, but having IX (maybe one I should have gone to) and XII back at the level of III and IV was something I wouldn't have expected.
Of course, those totals come through a combination of "new" bands (Arcturus, While Heaven Wept, Amorphis, etc.) and ProgPower-core bands that I own decade+ old albums from, acquired back when I was still in the ProgPower-core demographic (Eldritch, Labyrinth, Iron Savior, etc.) Which is a good indication of how there is not a single thing that sells out ProgPower; rather, it's a coalition of sometimes-disparate interests that come together in aggregate form to make a full house. And Glenn seems to do a damn good job in shaping lineups to build those coalitions.
Here are the lineups for each year, with the bands I've owned albums from bolded. Note that these are the lineups *as announced* (as far as I could determine), not the lineups that actually performed (since I'm comparing too the PPUSA XII announcement).
#01: Symphony X, Pain of Salvation, Evergrey, Jag Panzer, Destiny's End, Ion Vein, Reading Zero, Zero Hour, Power of Omens, Etheria, Onward
#02: Symphony X, Kamelot, Evergrey, ARK, Angel Dust, Steel Prophet, Spiral Architect, Nightingale, Balance of Power, Superior
#03: Blind Guardian, Gamma Ray, Angra, Pain of Salvation, The Devin Townsend Band, Edguy, Threshold, Silent Force, Reading Zero, Zero Hour
#04: Nightwish, Rage, Symphony X, Evergrey, Circle II Circle, Vanden Plas, Secret Sphere, Mercenary, Pagan's Mind, Redemption
#05: Savatage, Edguy, Kamelot, Pain of Salvation, Tad Morose, Brainstorm, Wuthering Heights, Dreamscape, Adagio, Into Eternity
#06: Stratovarius, Angra, Conception, Therion, Orphaned Land, Pink Cream 69, Symphorce, Manticora, Circus Maximus, Stride
#07: Evergrey, Nevermore, Epica, Mercenary, Freak Kitchen, Thunderstone, Savage Circus, Vision Divine, Pyramaze, Wastefall
#08: Sonata Arctica, After Forever, Primal Fear, Pagan's Mind, Threshold, Redemption, Virgin Steele, Firewind, Communic, Raintime
#09: Iced Earth, Amorphis, Jon Oliva's Pain, Riverside, Volbeat, Iron Savior, Andromeda, Rob Rock, Elvenking, Spheric Universe Experience, Serenity, Pathosray
#10: Fates Warning, Andre Matos, Brainstorm, Royal Hunt, Pagan's Mind, Sabaton, Orphaned Land, Diablo Swing Orchestra, Circus Maximus, Tomorrow's Eve, Power Quest
#11: HammerFall, Kamelot, Delain, Tarot, DGM, Týr, Oceans of Sadness, Stormwarrior, Seventh Wonder, Nocturnal Rites, Paradox, Illusion Suite
#12: Therion, Sanctuary, Dream Evil, Arcturus, Labyrinth, Mob Rules, Red Circuit, Eldritch, While Heaven Wept, Voyager, Haken, Creation's End
One final interesting fact falls out of this: I can see why the headliners are headliners. Even though I only matched on 44% (56/128) of the bands in the history of ProgPower, I hit on 88% (21/24!) of the headliners. If they match with *me*, that means they must have a pretty widespread audience that will draw from a wide pool of potential attendees. Nothing really unexpected there I guess, but interesting to see it in the numbers so starkly.
So I'm curious to see how the numbers of other people compare to mine. If you want to play along with the band lists, I think you can copy the list section from my post and paste it into your reply (rather than using the quote function) to remove my bolding, and then add your own. And I suppose this thread must have been done in years past, but I don't remember seeing it recently.
* The ProgPower with the biggest match for me was really day 1 of ProgPower Europe 2005, with 67%: Epica, Green Carnation, Orphaned Land, Novembers Doom, Throes of Dawn, Disillusion
Neil
