Having attended two Minneapolis Mayhems, two Flight of the Valkyries and one Heathen Crusade, it seems like the comments are always the same for these types of small festivals:
"Too bad the attendance sucked, because it was a lot of fun."
It makes me wonder if the issue is the lack of a local audience, underground bands rather than mainstream, economic/travel factors, or just widespread lack of interest. Obviously, lack of attendance hurts the financial outcome, but "commercial" acts would cost more (more upfront risk) and seem to go against the very spirit of these events. Is Minnesota too far out of the way for anyone except the most dedicated metalheads to even consider attending? Would the overall good time be compromised by making it a larger-scale event with more mainstream bands?
The reason I ask is that Station 4 was packed at the Amon Amarth/Ensiferum/Belphegor/The Absence show not long before HC3. Amon Amarth is the only band on that bill that I would consider to have any particular draw in a small metro area like Minneapolis/St. Paul, so a somewhat more mediocre turnout could have been expected for the same show with Ensiferum or Belphegor headlining. I wasn't at the Paganfest date here, so I don't know how ticket sales were for that, but is it reasonable to assume that an event on the same level of Heathen Crusade (be it HC4 or something else) isn't EVER going to reach what most people would consider amazing attendance? Is Minnesota simply not an enticing enough destination for any but the absolute diehards?
I like being able to see a bunch of new (to me) bands, navigate the venue with ease and not wait in line half an hour for a beer or a piss . . . but I'm also not the guy having to go over the numbers at the end of the festival. Personally, I'd love to be able to just assume that this kind of thing can happen every year without reason to doubt.
"Too bad the attendance sucked, because it was a lot of fun."
It makes me wonder if the issue is the lack of a local audience, underground bands rather than mainstream, economic/travel factors, or just widespread lack of interest. Obviously, lack of attendance hurts the financial outcome, but "commercial" acts would cost more (more upfront risk) and seem to go against the very spirit of these events. Is Minnesota too far out of the way for anyone except the most dedicated metalheads to even consider attending? Would the overall good time be compromised by making it a larger-scale event with more mainstream bands?
The reason I ask is that Station 4 was packed at the Amon Amarth/Ensiferum/Belphegor/The Absence show not long before HC3. Amon Amarth is the only band on that bill that I would consider to have any particular draw in a small metro area like Minneapolis/St. Paul, so a somewhat more mediocre turnout could have been expected for the same show with Ensiferum or Belphegor headlining. I wasn't at the Paganfest date here, so I don't know how ticket sales were for that, but is it reasonable to assume that an event on the same level of Heathen Crusade (be it HC4 or something else) isn't EVER going to reach what most people would consider amazing attendance? Is Minnesota simply not an enticing enough destination for any but the absolute diehards?
I like being able to see a bunch of new (to me) bands, navigate the venue with ease and not wait in line half an hour for a beer or a piss . . . but I'm also not the guy having to go over the numbers at the end of the festival. Personally, I'd love to be able to just assume that this kind of thing can happen every year without reason to doubt.