With that said, the line up is solid. It WILL draw well, but it will draw a totally different crowd as well. Some of your "regulars" may feel let down a bit.
If this lineup draws well, then good for the promoters and bands. And if you guys win new fans over then good for you. Well deserved on all accounts -- if we all had the balls to do what Rob & co do then we'd all be hosting festivals.
From a totally selfish standpoint, however, we, your fans, would love to see you alongside other bands of a similar genre or theme. That way, when we travel halfway across the country and pay for flights, hotels, taxis, and strippers, we're getting our moneys worth. And with this economy, we'd be paying for lap dances with food stamps.
But come on, this is why we fly to Heathen Crusade. This is why we fly to ProgPower. With all due respect, I'm struggling to understand why anyone would want to fly to Chicago to see one band (unless it was a once-in-a-lifetime reunion or some cult offering.)
Somebody once told me the other day that they couldn't understand why any Opeth fan wouldn't want to own at least one Novembers Doom CD. I get that you need to expand on your fan base, but it would be so much better if you were appreciated by fans who would stay true to you just as you have stayed true to us. You are not a fad to us. Hot Topic bands are.
Just as an
example, imagine if you ended up in a US fest with a line up like this:
Opeth
My Dying Bride
Agalloch
Novembers Doom
Gwynbleidd
Fen
All I'm saying is that all those bands exposing their music to all those fans would no doubt win over new fans over for life. Granted, it may be less in number, but I have to think that having 100 new fans for life is better than having 1000 new fans for the day.