Kansas City Power Metal Fest

No no, not a selfish question at all. Manilla Road was great. Hell Roadie sang (he was a very nice dude). As for the set list...I honestly couldn't tell you, sorry. I'm a novice when it comes to the Road. I'll see if I can find it and get it posted.
 
Glad to hear they went well.

Can't wait to see what you line up for next year.

Diabolik and I did honestly consider attending this year, but then Alehorn (right here in Chicago) got added the same weekend.

I ended up having family obligations which kept me away from that as well anyhow.
 
How was Avenger Of Blood?

They were fuckin' awesome! One of the best performances all weekend. They had so much energy onstage (despite driving 20+ hours to get there) it was incredible. They debuted a new guitar player Friday night, who did a great job. Thrash and death metal go over well in KC, so it's no surprise that the crowd loved them. They had a great time too...we would love to bring them back here again.
 
Glad to hear they went well.

Can't wait to see what you line up for next year.

Diabolik and I did honestly consider attending this year, but then Alehorn (right here in Chicago) got added the same weekend.

I ended up having family obligations which kept me away from that as well anyhow.

There's always next year :) We definitely got the bad luck with Alehorn being the same weekend. Half the bands we wanted to put on the bill played Chicago that weekend. Damn the luck! The bands who did play for us, however, were kick-ass. :headbang:
 
probably slough feg and pharaoh....and I hope next time it isn't 21+ when Manilla Road plays, I neeeeed to fucking see them!
 
Another reason...there are just too many fest now a days...not that it is a bad thing. The thing that makes them special is gone. Asides for ProgPower which is an event every year with added surprised and solid line ups...most fest are just longer shows with more acts packed in with nothing special to make it stand out from any other show. Having a band do a special acoustic set or play a classic album straight through is something that would make it stand out from the rest.

How true, but if you are able to find you niche, then you will be pretty much okay.

Another thing is and you touched on it, "DEEP POCKETS" you can't expect to do a show with only $1000 and get one that will make money, and also you can't expect other people to put up Money for you, especially if they are not familiar with the genre or you. Just because you think you know what your doing, sometimes you really don't. And some people get in over their heads right away, make big plans, have no financial means to pull off anything, then blame it on other people.

Plus you have to, and this is very important, know your audience, and know the drawing power of each band, and plan accordingly, don't base your expectations on what promoter A did or what promoter B did.

Looking back it all boils down to RESEARCH, RESEARCH, and be willing to take the financial gamble.
 
I think the #1 thing that hurts many festivals (and I am not pointing fingers at the KC fest) is overestimating the drawing power of a band.

Secondly, failure to properly promote a festival.
I have seen tons of shows and festivals where promotion began and ended on a handful of message boards.
 
I think the #1 thing that hurts many festivals (and I am not pointing fingers at the KC fest) is overestimating the drawing power of a band.

Secondly, failure to properly promote a festival.
I have seen tons of shows and festivals where promotion began and ended on a handful of message boards.


Agree on both points. During the early days, I relied on research to every website and forum I could find on bands. I also checked with vendors on sales. I also checked with other agents to see what they knew of the band's drawing power. I hired a PR firm to get me interviews and send press releases out to 1,000s of websites and contacts. I also advertised like hell. I use to have ads in Brave Words (print), Metal Maniacs (print), and several others. I'd have the festival name tied into label advertising for their band (Pitulski, formerly of IOMA used to do me real good with their ads). I advertised in the local papers, put flyers out everywhere, and then went to every local concert and my local "street team" handed out flyers to everyone waiting in line. I had to really work my ass off to get the word out. It paid off as now I do "nothing."

G.
 
people forget to advertise all the time and put up flyers and put ad's in local papers. Just putting a poster up at a local record store isnt enough. There are people who listen to the music who dont go maybe to that one store. There are people who dont even look and see what is coming up concert wise. One time when I was at a show this guy was talking about Sonata...and how he really hopes they hit the states one day. They were playing in that same venue in two months....the guy had no clue. You pretty much have to put it right in there faces and make it totally easy for people now a days. Before the internet....you had to search all over for info on shows. Basically flyers was the only way to find out about stuff.
 
I know people hate to hear us older guys use the whole "back in the day" routine......

BUT..."Back in the day" you wouldn't walk out of a show without 4 to 5 flyers in hand. You would see these flyers at EVERY bookstore, coffee shop, bar, record store, tattoo parlor, etc in the city of a show and every surrounding suburb. There was never a reason to say, "Oh, I didn't know about that show"

The internet is an AMAZING tool, though I think it has unfortunately led to a lot of laziness on the part of promoters and bands

(And once again, I am not speaking about any one band / fest in particular, even though I am posting on the KC fest thread).
 
did you get the guys in 12th Gates autographs too?

Nope, but I got a shirt and life long friendships worth more then any autograph. Those guys were awesome and I cant thank them enough for being as cordial and friendly as they were. I would consider each member of 12th gate a member of my extended metal family.

:kickass::kickass::kickass::kickass::kickass::kickass::kickass:

:headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang::headbang: