Here is my take on the festival and this is by no means meant to be derogatory, etc. This is an honest opinion from someone who cares about this music and has supported melodicrock.com above and beyond the casual visitor. Also, many would call me a bit of an audio purist and very picky when it comes to sound, etc. That is fine but I did talk to MANY other attendees as well as MANY of the performers and crew over the weekend, so as the opinions expressed below are mine, many of the sediments were confirmed by others who attended and performed. This was in my hometown and I knew a lot of people there and value their opinions as well.
There was an awesome selection of talent that performed over the weekend, there is no disputing that. If you like Melodic Rock, this line up had something for everyone. My biggest issue was with the sound and the venue. I will try and keep this short and to the point.
-If you are going to have 10+ bands each day over 14 hours with no place for the general public to sit, this is a very bad idea, it was the biggest complaint I heard all weekend. In & out privileges were great but not much to do outside if you dont have a vehicle. By the time the headlining band came on Saturday night they were 75 minutes behind schedule, it's know wonder only a few hundred people were left.
-To have bands travel from all over the U.S. and the world to play this festival and have the VERY limited selection of equipment (back line) is an insult to the bands. This was not only my opinion but actually communicated to me by a few of the performers. The guitar sound was poor all weekend due to the single mic'd Marshall half stack that each guitarist had to use (no alternative amp selection). Best sound of the weekend I thought was Pete Lesperance (Harem Scarem) and that is because he brought his own head/effects rack. The drum set was very small and limited options to configure.
-The mix was poor all weekend, vocals were always up front but guitars and keyboards for the most part were buried (Heaven & Earth had the best mix of the weekend but that is because they had their own guy back mixing). The house mixer obviously didnt know the music or just didnt care (as was evident the multiple times I went back to tell him that we couldnt hear the guitars but he was too busy playing with his phone). That upsets me and the promoter should be held responsible.
It just updates me, as someone who would love to see this festival succeed and grow, that these issues are not addressed. I have reached out to Andrew in the past and will continue to do so in the future to help. I would love to hear other peoples comments on the issues I listed above.
