Powerfest overall review

GateXII said:
To bring it closer to home for some of you (Rich, Amber)...how would you feel if I came to one of your Snappy Weiner parties & while there (or even the next day on your forum if you had one) complained about how long I had to wait for beer, that the beer/booze selection could've been better, how much it sucked that you only had one bathroom for everyone, how much some of the bands sucked, how much the sound quality was poor, whatever. NONE OF WHICH I FOUND ANY FAULT WITH...cuz I don't bitch about shit like that...PLUS, I appreciate all the work you guys did to organize the party. Just making a point. So...would you be cool with that complaining?
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Well, I think it's important to distinguish between the two scenarios. I'm not about to go arguing on band selection -- This is not a festival tailored to me, you're trying to reach the widest possible audience and ensure the largest attendance, that I completely understand. I simply voiced my concerns about the venue policies (bathroom, etc). because I thought it was something that could (relatively easily) be addressed by the venue, that will have a positive impact on the overall festival.

If someone were presenting concerns to me in that fashion, I'd like to say I'd be OK with it -- if I'm not being told "It's your fault!" and people are offering methods to fix issues that will make my life easier, I'm all about it.

I've said my piece. I don't think my continuing this discussion will get anyone anywhere, and I want to reiterate, I'm not trying to fault anything in your organization of the fest -- There's no way I could pull off anything like that, and I have nothing but respect for you for doing it. Had I not been financially tied up due to other issues, I'd've sponsored this year, and assuming you offer it next, I'll be on board to do my piece to help.

... And to be fair, at the Weiner, everyone just peed in the bushes because some asshole was locked up in the bathroom smoking weed for an hour, or the floor was covered in pee that I had to mop up at one in the morning. The sound quality was poor because the rented PA that we hauled home in the backseats of several cars and was setup under a tarp in a rainstorm by people who didn't know what they were doing was being run off a busted-up 3000w construction generator in the shed that kept running out of gas. And hey, at White Trash night we had PBR, Schlitz, Milwaukee's Best, Old Milwaukee, AND Blatz, what more beer selection do you need?!?! ;)

We did it in high style at the Weiner!

- R
 
Just in case anyone wants to use that image as an avatar, here are some reduced-size versions. You're welcome. ;)

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Wow, all this hullabaloo over someone on the interwebs posting a well articulated review with some negative comments? To the people in charge, whenever anyone puts any event like this together there are always going to be people who find problems with it. I don't see a need to lash out against them for posting a simple review. The internet isn't that serious business. You know you put a great event together, the majority of the people I know (including myself) thought the event was incredibly successful. Take solace in that and chill out a little bit when people post negative feedback. Its always going to happen... Thanks again for putting it together.
 
"Hamlet", Act III, Sc.2, (line 242)
which occurs during the performance of the play-within-the-play.
Hamlet asks the Queen, his mother, "Madam, how like you this play?"
and she replies, referring to the queen in the play
"The lady doth protest too much, methinks."
 
Ok first of all...If you look by the door at the Pearl Room, it says 1400 legal capacity...I know for a fact there was ATLEAST 300 on the top floor, because I counted that many and stopped. I was up there all 3 days so i had a pretty good view of some of the stuff that went on with security. Oh and for the doubters, I recieved messages from bands about the show within a day or two of their performances on myspace. But believe what you want. They all thought THE SHOW was great...and it was, it was planned well, and organized, I never once said that CJR did anything wrong with it except maybe mixing genres that dont compliment each other very well. The planning and execution by them was great. But there can always be a few tweaks here and there.

Now to the vehemently hateful responses to some criticism. At what point did I say that the organizers were morons? I do believe that I said it was a great show and that there just needed to be a few things tweaked. You chose the venue you did, because it has served the purpose for you thus far. Nothing wrong with that. But does that mean that it always will? I was pointing out that if its going to get any bigger than it was this year, it will probably have to be moved. Maybe you want it to stay at this size..probably be easier to manage and plan. I definately will still be posting my individual night and band reviews, probably later tonight, I am actually working on them right now (though I should be studying for finals). Chris and GateXII you guys definately need to step back and look in the mirror and ask yourself why you got so worked up over a little constructive criticism. You both completely blew everything negative I said out of proportion and didnt even look at the positives. Maybe its because I stuck a spot that was already sore so you decided to take it out on me since I am new and not from the Chicago area. Hell I spent $1000 to get me and a friend there for the show. I plan on going again next year, and have been telling all my friends where I live about it. I already have 3 that didnt go this year wanting to go with me next year.

I would love to get VIP passes, but unfortunately I live in an area that is low income and I am a full time college student, plus I only found out about it with like 6 weeks notice. I would like to save the money and get a VIP for next year.

Anyway, Im done with the ppl that just want to spit hate, its just gonna roll right off me. If you dont like my review, then dont read it. im just being honest.
 
Paganfest review...

Overall, Paganfest was the best night of the shows (while not necessarily the best individual performances) From the opener to the headliner, there was not a dissappointing performance. The ONLY negative I can say about this night is that Tyr should have played before Eluveitie. Tyr played great, but their style is not as high energy, so following Eluveitie they were not nearly as appreciated by the fans. Other than that it was great!

Earthen- 6.5/10- Really good, especially for an opening band. I was suprised to find out the guy singing wasn't the normal singer. He was great! I know this is a new band and think with a little work they could get big.

Eluveitie-10/10- Awesome performance. This band sounded great and conveyed a crazy amount of energy. I was totally blown away. I can't say enough good about this band.

Tyr-8.5/10- They were great. I love their style and sound. The only negative to their performance would be that they werent energetic, but its not completely their fault. Following a high energy act, it made them look less energetic than they actually were.

Turisas-9.5/10- Another band with great energy and sound. They interacted well with the fans and put on a great show. Definately a top notch performance.

Ensiferum-9.5/10- Again, great energy, great sound. Seemed to do everything right.

I would go see any/all of these bands again without a second thought. Awesome night. I can't wait for my next chance to see a show this great!
 
Velheru said:
Chris and GateXII you guys definately need to step back and look in the mirror and ask yourself why you got so worked up over a little constructive criticism. You both completely blew everything negative I said out of proportion and didnt even look at the positives.
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They get worked up about it because they spend six months (or more) working their asses off to make this fest work; many times at their own expense. They'd just prefer you sent any suggestions you may have directly to them and focus on the positives of the fest on the board; because otherwise it just degrades into an argument over the negatives that winds up going nowhere but makes everybody upset. And then the negatives get overly emphasized, which completely sucks for Chris, Rob, and John who, as I said before, work their asses off for this fest and have built it up over several years and deserve better than that.

Following this topic makes me realize what they are saying 100%. The last thing you want to see after a stressful (but fun) weekend is a bunch of negative comments about your fest; it's just counter-productive. And there has been a lack of things being said in a respectful manner about the fest in the past; which just adds insult to injury - I'd get pissed off, too.

So basically (or... in summary), focus on the positives. Like what you thought rocked.

And with that, I am done arguing this point. I think all the bases have been covered. :erk:
 
Ok, there has to be a worst day...and this one was it. Overall, it wasnt that much lower than the others, it just didnt flow as well. I understand that in an effort to reach a broader audience, different genres were mixed in together. This works sometimes, it just didnt work on this night. When you have a band telling the audience to "shut the fuck up" because the fans are showing their displeasure in the performance, then it kind of gives it away that something isnt right.

Arise and Ruin-4/10- Just not my style. They DID put everything they had into it though didnt let anything slow them down. Great for them. Im sure someone in the venue was enjoying their performance, it just wasnt anyone that was around me.

Ion Vein-7.5/10- At first I really wasnt sure what to think of Allen. The band sounded great but his eccentric act was a little offputting at first. I figured surely he was just putting on an act to have fun and get a rise out of ppl. After meeting him later that night I found out that this is pretty much what it was. I met Allen and Chuck after the show and BOTH are great individuals that really appreciate their fans. I hope this band goes far, they have the talent and a true love of what they do and who they do it for.

Epicurean-6/10- I really wanted to like this band. Everytime they started playing a song, I would start moving with it...then the singer would open his mouth. I don't know if it was tech. problems, he was just off with his voice that night, or he just really doesnt have a style that matches the music being played, but it sounded like he was singing one song while the band played another.

A Life Once Lost-2/10- The ONLY reason this band doesnt get a zero is because I can understand how frustrating it had to be for them. They were the victim of circumstances. Their style just didnt work well with that of Iced Earth, and since most pll were there for IE, they didnt care for what was being played. They would have scored even with Arise and Ruin, but they acted immature and started to berate the fans...never a good thing.

Iced Earth-9/10- This was the first I had seen them. It was powerful and they definately had good chemistry. The only thing I can say negative is it just seemed something was missing. Don't know what it was, maybe because it had been so long since Matt had performed with them. Who knows. Great show anyway though.

Again, while this is my lowest scoring night of the three, it was in no way bad. I few tweaks here and there and I would have had a hard time finding a "worst night". I think by the end of this night I was definately going hoarse from all the screaming and yelling.
 
Definately been working on getting the positives out there. Just not had much time. Only reason I started with the negatives is to clear them out and not have them cloud my thoughts while I was writing my individual reviews. I understand they might get frustrated, but that is no reason to blow things out of context. I do believe that in my first post I said something along the lines of "dont get me wrong, I loved the show," but I figured someone would get offended by it. Cant make everyone happy, and its not going to stop me from speaking my mind about stuff.
 
This would be the middle day for me. While it did have the best performance of the whole show, it didnt have the flow of Paganfest (then again, CJR werent putting together a bunch of similar styled bands that were going to perform everynight for months so its only to be expected, nothing against them, they did great).

Chaoswave and The Autumn Offering had to drop out of the show so no review for them.

Sacred Dawn-7.5/10-Wow, these guys werent even scheduled and they still came and played an awesome set. I can only imagine what it would have been like had they been really preparing for the show!

12th Gate-6/10- Im not sure what was wrong with this band. I have heard good things about them, but they just didnt have it this night. This was my first experience with them so I dont know if it was a normal showing for them or if they had an off night. The screaming was just overdone I think. Would have to hear them again to be able to judge them better. Just saw in another thread that they were having technical problems during their performance. So while my score is low, its not really a reflection on the band, just on this showing. At least they stayed with the show and didnt throw a fit like another band...

Suidakra-9.5/10- Awesome show, these guys were great. This performance stood to show that 12th Gate was missing something. They just seemed to click right. Also want to say thanks to this band for communicating with me after the show.

Darkane-8.5/10- Was pleasantly suprised by this one. I had heard so many ppl say so much negative about them that I wasn't sure I was going to like them. Honestly I thought they were good. They werent quite my style, but they did what they did well and put on a good performance.

Testament-13/10- Wow...these guys put on an amazing show. They sounded great, they performed great, they interacted great. This was an awesome way to cap off a killer weekend of metal. I think CJR did a great job in putting them on Saturday. If they had switched them with IE it would have seemed anti-climatic. Great call on this one guys. I loved this performance.

An awesome ending to an awesome 3 days of horns up rocking. I will definately be attending next year, and will be bringing at least 3 new faces with me.

Thanks CJR for putting on a great show. I hope this thing gets bigger and bigger. I know I will keep telling friends about it and trying to get as many ppl to come as I can. Keep up the great work...and please dont take any negative comments personally. They arent meant that way.
 
Just figure I'd toss in my 2 cents....

The Snappy Weiner beer selection did suck..I mean seriously kegs of Miller Lite...what were we thinking????

Anyway, I've been to the Pearly Room on many occasions and I honestly thought this past weekend was probably the best time I had there in terms of the venue itself. I've always had problems with security there and to me it seems like they really lightened up for this show....every venue you go to will have it's downfall, in fact oddly enough the downfall is usually consistent from venue to venue so I don't know why people feel the need to speak up about this one while the Metro, Riv, Aragon, House of Blues all get away with their problems. My only bitch about the Pearl Room is security but if they stay how they were for Powerfest, that's good by me.

Like anything else..despite the bitching and threats..if you build it they will come...and if they won't somebody will more than gladly go in their spot...
 
Velheru said:
Ok first of all...If you look by the door at the Pearl Room, it says 1400 legal capacity...I know for a fact there was ATLEAST 300 on the top floor.
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Why would you pay all that money to show up and count people.......seriously even if the bands weren't that great I"d hope I could at least find somebody to socialize with...in fact I could come up with about 1000 other things to do at a show before I'd start counting people...
 
Mountain King ^^^^^^

Are you the guy with the license plate SAVATAGE (or some derivative) parked at the Super 8 last weekend? I saw that plate and thought, "That is probably the dude with the Hall Of The Mountain King avatar.
 
Wow, I just read this whole thread. Can someone please give me that 20 minutes of my life back? LOL, some of you sound like teenage girls bitchin' at each other. For christ's sake, it's the Internet ... don't have a forum if you don't want to hear the good and the bad. Double wow.
 
Mountain King said:
Why would you pay all that money to show up and count people.......seriously even if the bands weren't that great I"d hope I could at least find somebody to socialize with...in fact I could come up with about 1000 other things to do at a show before I'd start counting people...
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Yeah but last time you started trying to come up with other things to do you ended up without pants and security running you out of the building!

- R
 
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