OT: Petition for Opeth concerts in the Southeast US
- Thread starter Rose Immortal
- Start date
Kenneth R.
Cináed
only, it doesn't. if that were the case i would understand, but this is not the case... if they were really such die-hard fans, they'd roadtrip it. The US isn't a massive place like China or Russia, and there are enough dates on both coasts to reasonably satisfy most people. If you can't make any of those, then you're probably a casual fan and the band shouldn't have to go out of their way to book a date in your backyard. get a grip...ptah knemu said:
5 hours is reasonable. 2 days is not.
I drove 5hrs to see Dream Theater in Quebec, and again to see them in Connecticut.
Jax
Forum Goddess
The band/management aren't the ones to petition about this. We've had this same discussion about SymX, & the bands aren't the ones who choose where they want to play.
Here's how it works:
A booking agent puts out the word that a band is going to tour..and venues make offers for dates & financial compensation. If venues don't offer gigs, the band can't play there. And if there aren't enough offers, or enough good offers, to make hitting a certain area of the country financially feasible, then odds are the band won't play there either (unless they're financially solvent enough to throw away tens of thousands of dollars). Touring the US is more expensive than ya'll realize..just renting a bus is close to $1K per day, not to mention gas (which, as we all know, is not cheap right now), paying the bus driver & renting him a room at each location, paying the crew, and so on. So you guys need to be letting your local venues know that the interest is there..this sort of petition is admirable, but isn't really going to help you reach your goal.
Here's how it works:
A booking agent puts out the word that a band is going to tour..and venues make offers for dates & financial compensation. If venues don't offer gigs, the band can't play there. And if there aren't enough offers, or enough good offers, to make hitting a certain area of the country financially feasible, then odds are the band won't play there either (unless they're financially solvent enough to throw away tens of thousands of dollars). Touring the US is more expensive than ya'll realize..just renting a bus is close to $1K per day, not to mention gas (which, as we all know, is not cheap right now), paying the bus driver & renting him a room at each location, paying the crew, and so on. So you guys need to be letting your local venues know that the interest is there..this sort of petition is admirable, but isn't really going to help you reach your goal.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
From New Hampshire, where my home is. I'm in London for school.kazahana said:From Islington? That's some car
- Jun 19, 2004
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Jax said:
Thanks for your thoughts.
I think we'll probably still send this, but you make a lot of sense--a two-pronged approach is needed...a frontal advance AND catch 'em around the left flank...um...never mind. So seriously, this raises the question of how do you find out which venues are the ones with enough pull to get a band in, in your area? Let's take Memphis, for instance...if it were you, how would you go about it?
Yngvai X
Dark Emperor
I remember reading once that a lot of southern venues won't book them because they're ultra conservative/christian and don't want to book metal bands because they think they're all satanic...
ThornsOfSorrow
Member
I think everyone needs to set their religious differences aside and just get over it. I know religion isn't a bad thing, but that's just bullshit.
And Jax is right about the venue thing. I tried to get a venue in Connecticut to book Opeth on their last tour, but it didn't work.
And Jax is right about the venue thing. I tried to get a venue in Connecticut to book Opeth on their last tour, but it didn't work.
Yngvaii's point about the Ultra-Conservative Christian Southerners may have some truth to it. I don't mean to stereotype, but when I was in South Carolina this summer, in my hotel room, I was listening to my music via ipod+speakers, and some dude from I don't know what rock he crawled out from banged on the door, yelling at me to shut that devil music off, a.k.a. DREAM THEATER!!!!!! Then, When my buddy was in a music sture, buying a Judas Priest album, as we were walking out, I heard him mumble something about the devil.
If something like that set people off, I find it easy to assume that they'd show about half as much tolerance for one of those bands actually touring there.
If something like that set people off, I find it easy to assume that they'd show about half as much tolerance for one of those bands actually touring there.
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Yngvai X said:
That may be true of some venues--but I'd be willing to bet that wouldn't be true of every single club in a given Southern city, if the city's of decent size. I would think a venue could be found if you don't have any expectations of filling a stadium.
BTW...not all Southerners are so uptight about metal. I'm not--and my parents have actually requested Symphony X and Ayreon on car trips.
Kenneth R.
Cináed
Yngvai X
Dark Emperor
Silent Song said:Symphony X and Opeth are a bit different
Well SymX and Opeth are different than say, Kreator and Dimmu Borgir
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Yngvai X said:Well SymX and Opeth are different than say, Kreator and Dimmu Borgir
LOL, point made much better than I could ever manage!
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Kenneth R.
Cináed
Jax
Forum Goddess
I don't think it's so much anything a single venue could do; it'd be more a matter of enough venues in a region all presenting suitable offers. Say one venue in Memphis offers a great package, but the nearest other venues are a day or more travel time away. The band's going to be more likely to skip Memphis because expenses to get to that venue, & then to the next venue, would be more than what they'd be compensated from that single show.
So if you really want to make a project of it, it'd be better to gather interest in multiple venues within a day's drive or less of each other..Memphis, Nashville, Jackson, etc..that, as a whole, could make it worth it for the the band to travel down there. That'd increase your odds of success tenfold.
So if you really want to make a project of it, it'd be better to gather interest in multiple venues within a day's drive or less of each other..Memphis, Nashville, Jackson, etc..that, as a whole, could make it worth it for the the band to travel down there. That'd increase your odds of success tenfold.
I know how it is in the southeast. I live in the panhandle of Florida and there is a ton of clubs and such but the problem is they are not the types of clubs you see up north, they are more of like dance/hip hop sorta clubs rather than something like L'Amour or whatever its called that is just pretty much a bar with a stage. There is a particular club in the town I live in that gets all kinds of famous acts but they are more in the mainstream. For example they have had Saliva on many occassions along with acts such as Hoobastank, Vanilla Ice (yes Vanilla Ice came like twice), Chevelle, and Papa Roach. There have been many mainstream groups that aren't quite as well known too like Silver Tide, Crossfade, and Trapt. It just grates on me that they can get those kinds of acts but when it comes to real metal they would never even consider being as the type of club they are. I think a lot of it has to do with the type of venue it is because here in the southeast we don't have clubs like that save for L' Amour and House of Blues in Atlanta and the latter of the two in Tampa and Orlando Florida which is too far for other SE states anyway.
BTW, I think Atlanta is pretty cool because if any acts are in the southeast its usually in Atlanta. I went to Atlanta on two occassions for a convention that had nothing to do with music, and when I wore my CoB shirt one day during BOTH visits somebody was like "CoB, hell yeah!". When I wear my shirt in my town nobody says anything except the few who think it says "Children of Sodom" or my Opeth shirt says "Oprah". The first time someone recognized my CoB shirt the guy had just seen them like a week before when they were there with Iced Earth and Evergrey. The second time I was there and a guy recognized my Bodom shirt it was just a metalhead cause he was wearing an In Flames shirt (not that In Flames is underground anymore or anything but still).
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