Confirmations made for Florida's Sun and Steel festival.

[TheGraveDigger]

The organizers of the first-ever Sun n' Steel festival have announced the initial confirmations for the two-day event, which is scheduled to take place March 6-7 at Pinellas Expo Center in Tampa, Florida.

The lineup for the festival is shaping up as follows (in alphabetical order):

AGENT STEEL
ARCADIO
BLACK WIDOW
BODY COUNT
BRUTALITY
CHRONZON
CONQUEST
DARK SHIFT
DIVINE EMPIRE
END UNSEEN
EQUINOX
ION SIFT
IRON CROSS
JAG PANZER
JOHN OLIVA
LACERATION
LEFT IN ASHES
MACABRE
METAL MILITIA
METH SESSIONS
M.O.D.
NEOMORTEM
NOCTUARY
OCTOBER 31
PARABELLUM
PREMONITION
PREMONITION OF WAR
RAVEN
ROB ROCK
SEVEN WITCHES
SEVERED EXISTANCE
SIXT9
SKELETON WITCH
SPEARHEAD
STONE VENGENCE
TENEBRAE
TESTAMENT
THE APOSTACY
THE END
THUNDERCORE
TRIVIUM
UNHOLY GHOST
VITAL REMAINS (w/ Glen Benton)
YETI

More confirmations will be announced soon.

The Sun n' Steel pre-party will take place on Friday, March 5 at Boomerz in Seminole, Florida. Five bands will perform beginning at 9:00 p.m.


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Agent Steel, Testament, Seven Witches, John Oliva, Rob Rock, Raven, October 31, and Iron Cross are all solid bands to have. However this promoter guy Jack doesn't have the best rep. He also does the Jersey Metal Meltdown Fest in Irvington which last year was a train wreck. I commend him for getting Sinner to play it last year but the whole schedule was fucked and the plug got pulled during Overkill. Hopefully this guy will have things on track this year. I will check out his Metal Meltdown Fest if he gets good bands this year, however I wont travel to Florida unless he pulls some European big boys like Running Wild, Grave Digger, Sodom, Kreator, Sonata Arctica, Rhapsody, Gamma Ray, Edguy etc which I don't think he is capable of doing.

Thank god for this year's Brave Words festival which features Primal Fear, Grave Digger, Seven Witches, Doro and Shadowkeep so far. I think that will be my highlite of the year. ProgPower too can't wait to see who they get.

 

[Purveyor Of Evil]

I agree. I've been to the Meltdowns, too. They are the perfect example of how NOT to run a festival. They get your dick hard with rumors of bands, then pull the rug out from under you. Avoid Koshick's festivals at all costs. About half of the bands will cancel out anyway. All of the ones your dying to see.

 

[TheGraveDigger]

Yeah he talks alot of shit. I saw him at a King Diamond concert a few months ago telling some guy that hes gonna get Grave Digger, Rhapsody and Sonata Arctica for his fest. He told someone else at another point that he was gonna get Grave Digger, Running Wild, Savatage and Seven Witches for his fest in Florida. Seven Witches is the only one he's pulled off so far and I don't see him getting the others. Only people like Glenn and Mark Groman can pull bands like that off. His website also says John Oliva featuring Savatage, thats bull. There was also a report up awhile ago saying he said he was gonna have a Grim Reaper re-union at his Florida fest and the Grim Reaper frontman came out and said he would never do that because it was a mess when they reunited at Wacken and if he was gonna do anything it would be with his new band Lionsheart and not Grim Reaper. Rumor has it right now that for his Jersey Metal Meltdown he will have Seven Witches, Raven, Attacker, October 31, and Manowar as the headliner with of course 8 million Death Metal bands during the day.

 

[nightwish58]

That guy is the biggest bullshit (scam) artist around. I actually attended one of his shit fests in Jersey. It was the year that he proclaimed Edguy was playing. All I can say is thank God for legitimate, hard-working promoters like Glenn. He would never pull that bullshit with the public. I used to go to Powermad as well which Keith Menser ran. While I will say I did get to see a few bands that I really liked, it was the same bullshit with him too. These guys love to advertise bands before they even confirm them. He did that with Symphony X one year, and they claimed that they never agreed to do the show. Prog Power is and will remain the premiere U.S. "Prog Power" Metal Festival. This is the second year in a row that I paid for my badges prior to any announcements being made. I would never even consider doing that for any other festival.

 

[Heavenly Call]

While we're bashing the NJ Metal Meltdown, let's not neglect the mother of all festivals run by Jack Koshick...the MILWAUKEE METALFEST! I attended it two years in a row and it was awful! The only saving grace for me was getting to meet Primal Fear one year and Arch Enemy the next. Obviously the guy is doing something right because he's been doing this for over 20 years. If anyone knows what it is that he's doing right, please let me know because I don't get it. That said...if I can see Testament, Seven Witches, Rob Rock, and Jag Panzer all in one weekend I'll be there...we'll see if they stay on the bill. The best thing to do is to e-mail someone with the bands about a week or so before the show to confirm that they will be there. That's what I've done in the past for his shows and it works pretty well.


Thank god for bravewords and progpower!!!!!

 

[JayKeeley]

That guy is the biggest bullshit (scam) artist around. I actually attended one of his shit fests in Jersey. It was the year that he proclaimed Edguy was playing.

I'm not defending him or anything, but just to be completely fair here, the reason why Edguy didn't show up that time is because their US visas didn't come through in time. They even made a public apology on their website, otherwise they would have showed.

These guys love to advertise bands before they even confirm them. He did that with Symphony X one year, and they claimed that they never agreed to do the show.

Again, just to be absolutely fair here, Symphony X said the same exact thing about Prog Power IV...(after Glenn announced they were on the roster).

 

[Harvester]

Jay,

You are wrong about the Edguy situation. Edguy showed a ton of professionalism by telling the truth..and leaving out the dirt. I will leave it at that as it would not be professional of me otherwise.

As for the SX, I have explained this once, but I do not want the public to get the wrong idea based on your post. I had 100% confirmation on the SX appearance with their manager. It is not my fault that he did not communicate with the band. If you try to compare that situation with the number of no-shows over the years at all of the metalfests, then you are really skewing the numbers.

I'm not lashing out at you. I simply need to point that out as I do not want to be compared to Koshick in anyway.

Glenn H.

 

[Angrafan]

I'd rathar attend a Jon Oliva show for 15 bucks than pay 60 bucks to see Jon Oliva & all those bands.
If they don't confirm any more good bands, I will have to pass.. and it's only a 2 1/2 hours drive from here...

 

[Wandrail]

I knew this thing was a Koshick show when I read that list of bands that was waaaaaay too long for a two day show of any quality - and why? All the unsavory DM bands probably had to pay a grand to play or something, like at Milwaukee, and will get to do so with a fucking curtain seperating them from Seven Witches as they play their set on the same stage or something. It never ceases to amaze me how the hordes of scene-obsessed death metal folks (God love 'em) eat up every crummy festival that sells them $5.00 bottles of water and bad bands with bad sound etc...which is why ProgPower is the American metal fest.

 

[SavaHexe]

Angrafan, Jon Oliva band is NOT confirmed for this festival yet, as I have the certain feeling aren't most of the others on that list, the locals probably.......
This reminds me very much of the screwed up Tampa Metal Festival last year, I got the details since Circle II Circle was supposed to headline there.........the organizers fucked it up royally and then left without even explaining to anybody that the fest was cancelled.......

I hope that I'm not right, but as soon as organizers start announcing unconfirmed bands as confirmed, I get this feeling about the whole thing NOT being right at all.

 

[Sadistik]

We'll see....we're hoping to play, as it will be our first show in Florida, but.....we'll see....I hope they get some bigger headliners...

 

[zinescene]

I did read on several band forums that Sun N Steel are charging the bands $1000 to play and giving them a block of tickets to sell to recoup thier costs. If they sell thier whole allotment they could actually make a little (very little) back. From all the horror storys I've heard through the years about the Milwaukee Metal fest I'd be leary about coming down from Michigan to see this show. As it is there's probably less than 10 bands of 50 that I'm genuinely interested in seeing.

 

[Anthony3]

Its agreed that Koshick is a huge douche bag but sometimes he is the only chance of seeing certain bands play in the US.

 

[TheGraveDigger]

Koshick just confirmed the first few bands for his new Minnesota Metal Fest...

TESTAMENT
ICE T with BODY COUNT
VITAL REMAINS with Glen Benton
CEPHALIC CARNAGE
JUNGLE ROT
FOREST OF IMPALED
BLACK DAHLIA MURDERS

 

[JayKeeley]

I'm not lashing out at you. I simply need to point that out as I do not want to be compared to Koshick in anyway.

Oh believe me, I wouldn't even begin to make that comparison. Your reputation precedes you. However, we only know what the bands themselves choose to share with their fans whereas you have the insider's perspective.

 

[Se7enChurches]

I knew this thing was a Koshick show when I read that list of bands that was waaaaaay too long for a two day show of any quality - and why? All the unsavory DM bands probably had to pay a grand to play or something, like at Milwaukee, and will get to do so with a fucking curtain seperating them from Seven Witches as they play their set on the same stage or something. It never ceases to amaze me how the hordes of scene-obsessed death metal folks (God love 'em) eat up every crummy festival that sells them $5.00 bottles of water and bad bands with bad sound etc...which is why ProgPower is the American metal fest.

not that I've been to any of these festivals, but ease the hell up on death metal fans, dude. We're just as excited to see our favorites as you are to see yours, and if there is a festival that has a lot of them on the roster, even if it is a poorly run one, then so be it. The fact there has not yet arisen a death metal festival of the caliber of prog power is NOT the fault of the fans, and it certainly doesn't make them "scene-obsessed" for seeking out performances by their favorite bands, which i'm sure is a term that could just as easily be applied to prog/power fans. Me, i'm just "metal-obsessed."

Ryan

 

[Wandrail]

I used to play death metal, man, I'm fine with folks, I just used to be amazed at how many people would waste their money either paying to play Milwaukee, or how many would complain and complain about how shitty it was and what a ripoff but then go every year anyway like it was their duty. There are tons of crummy power metal bands that are generic as hell that would probably jump at the chance to pay to play ProgPower, but if it was that kind of affair, I wouldn't patronize it because it takes advantage of both the bands and the fans. That's all I'm saying, I'm just 'metal-obsessed' in general myself, I;m on your side!

 

[TheGraveDigger]

It was on Blabbermouth this morning that the first band "confirmed" for the Jersey Metal Meltdown festival is Symphony X.

How lovely if this is true. Bring an amazing band like Symphony X to the pits of Irvington, NJ.
You gotta wonder what bands like Sinner and Blaze thought last year playing some of their first American shows in one of the most horrifying neighborhoods in the world. I'm still shocked that Manowar is being talked about to play Irvington this year.

 

[MeTuLHeD]

I'm still shocked that Manowar is being talked about to play Irvington this year.

I'll say only one thing...believe it when you see it with your own eyes.

 

[Sadistik]

It was on Blabbermouth this morning that the first band "confirmed" for the Jersey Metal Meltdown festival is Symphony X.

How lovely if this is true. Bring an amazing band like Symphony X to the pits of Irvington, NJ.
You gotta wonder what bands like Sinner and Blaze thought last year playing some of their first American shows in one of the most horrifying neighborhoods in the world. I'm still shocked that Manowar is being talked about to play Irvington this year.

SymX is from Jersey, so not too big a stretch...