Pain Of Salvation-How Split Is The Audience?

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Walter_Langkowski

Neuroses Facilitator
Mar 7, 2004
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North of the projects, South of the fudgePackers
I had a guy come in to the CD shop I work at today and he and I started up a conversation about PP this year. He was a friendly, energetic guy, and we BS'ed for a while about Metal in general. Turns out that both of us are going, so we just started to smalltalk about the whole sheebang. I have gone last year, and he has gone to every one. So, the topic shifted to Pain Of Salvation, and he was saying that he was surprised that they were playing again. I asked him why, and he replied that the first time that they were there, the audience was so split up as to whether you loved them or hated them. Personally, I have one of their albums (The Perfect Element) and I think it is decent, not great or otherwise, but do-able listening-wise.

He then went on to say that he wouldn't be partaking in viewing their performance at all, and I understood his perspective, as for me last year, I didn't care to watch one second of Nightwish :puke: (sue me!)

I will stay for their set (initially, at least) and I will have an open mind to their performance.

The point of this post is, if you've see POS before live, I'm wondering about anyones personal perspective of what they have to offer, good or bad.

If you stayed for every second and loved it, explain it. And if you couldn't stand them and went and got dinner, then vent that here, too.

Thanks!
 
um..I dunno who this acquaintence of yours talked to, but nearly every single person I hear from who was at ProgPowerUSA 1.0 loved them.

I'll grant you, they are a very hit or miss band. Most people who enjoy their stuff REALLY are into them. And then there are many who "don't get" them at all. But I will say, the #'s of folks who casually like PoS is in the minority. And the ProgPower shows were nothing less than short of legendary..esp the 1st 1 that went 2 1/2 hrs ending at 2:15am being the last band of the festival.

I think, and seemingly am not the only 1, they are an even better live band than they are in the studio. Just look at their 2 PP shows and 12:5 for example. There are folks who weren't even fans until they heard 12:5, granted it's an album that is not displaying their studio albums sound, being acoustic, but then again look at Opeth and Damnation. Opeth gained a lot of new fans..even if it was a way they showed their *lighter* and more *melodic* sound, even if it takes removing death metal vox to get some listenors to catch on, it still is THEM regardless.

Kyle
 
they are the #1 reason I am most upset that I couldn't make it this year. I really like 8 of the 10 bands with the other 2, I am just not super familiar with them or just didn't get into them. I would have been in awe of every minute they were on stage.:worship:
 
Walter_Langkowski said:
I had a guy come in to the CD shop I work at today and he and I started up a conversation about PP this year. He was a friendly, energetic guy, and we BS'ed for a while about Metal in general. Turns out that both of us are going, so we just started to smalltalk about the whole sheebang. I have gone last year, and he has gone to every one. So, the topic shifted to Pain Of Salvation, and he was saying that he was surprised that they were playing again. I asked him why, and he replied that the first time that they were there, the audience was so split up as to whether you loved them or hated them. Personally, I have one of their albums (The Perfect Element) and I think it is decent, not great or otherwise, but do-able listening-wise.

He then went on to say that he wouldn't be partaking in viewing their performance at all, and I understood his perspective, as for me last year, I didn't care to watch one second of Nightwish :puke: (sue me!)

I will stay for their set (initially, at least) and I will have an open mind to their performance.

The point of this post is, if you've see POS before live, I'm wondering about anyones personal perspective of what they have to offer, good or bad.

If you stayed for every second and loved it, explain it. And if you couldn't stand them and went and got dinner, then vent that here, too.

Thanks!
Click to expand...
They are not my cup of tea at all. I've seen them at #1 and #3, and I their live performance didn't turn me on to them more or anything. I just think they are boring, and hard to follow. Their songs are generally not songs - just meanderings that don't make sense to me.

At #3 they played to a half empty crowd and didn't get a great response from what I could tell. I stayed thru their whole set - basically because I want to feel like I saw everything.

To their defense though -- the last spot sometimes sees reduced crowds because everyone is wiped out. It happened to Rage last year as well. Half the crowd was gone by the time they hit the stage.
 
I can't get into them either, their style is just too weird for my personal taste. I'll try to watch some though, and maybe use the rest of the time to get some food, smoke, hang out etc.
 
Yeah, PoS is definitely a love them or hate them band. I've never seen them (having missed PPI and III), so I'm really, really, REALLY looking forward to seeing them this year - and I in fact owe Glenn a big ole lick for the opportunity, too. :)
 
I saw them at PP3 and I thought they were great. I like their vox, lryics and the nice mix of heavy and lighter tunes on their last two albums. I felt their band was most able to reproduce their studio sound live...almost perfect.
 
I've never been able to really get into them either. I have a couple of their cd's but I never spin them. I plan on being around when they go on as I will give most any band a chance to change my mind. Sometimes seeing a band in a live setting will spark something that I've missed before.
 
Heh. I think I'm in the middle, neither loving nor hating them. I own Remedy Lane, and like it a lot, but I haven't been moved enough to run out and buy the others. Also, I have to be in a certain mood to listen to that album.

I wanted to stay for PoS at PPIII. I made it through a few songs and was falling asleep in my chair. Credit that more to getting up at 6:00 am and traveling all day than to their music, though. I plan to watch them this year.

Steve
 
I saw them at PP3 and I think that it was a great show, I love this band, and I mean I love them, when I heard them some of my friends told me that I was in some kind of trance. POS is a great band and I think that every one should give it a shot, they deserve it.
 
The main reason I went to PP1 was to see them and they were awesome. I am one of those who's really into them though. Some friends that were there for PP1 that were not familiar with them, thought they were horrible and boring. They stayed for a while only because I pressured them to, but they left disappointed. I understand that since I don't get into some of the other bands there either. BUT as long as POS is there, I am there. They are worth the trip from Texas all by themselves!
 
Well, any bad whose initials are P.o.S., you gotta watch out for.
Seriously, though, I really can't get into them. I have listened to some of their studio material, and it fails to catch me. Seems a little inconsistent with itself, and frankly boring. I saw the first part of their show at PPIII and despite not getting up that day until 2pm, I couldn't stay awake for it, so I left. If I remember correctly, their front man didn't seem to know how to capture a crowd from the stage- he kinda just stood there and played/sang and then made lame jokes between songs. I am not downplaying their musicianship, I just think it is really not my style- I like a more active show, and Edguy and Angra both blew them out of the water. It seemed like the crowd that most liked them preferred the "sit down, observe and concentrate on the music" show, and the music itself just seemed to take so much focus to play that they didn't have any spare mental cycles for catching the crowd. I know a lot of people will say "the show is only about the music", but I disagree. The CD is only about the music, the show is about the experience.
So far, the best show I have ever seen was Savatage a couple years ago. Only a couple hundred people there, but they just grabbed the crowd- mind, soul, and body and took us on a ride. I think Se7en Churches would second me on that one.
 
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