Prog Power Crowd?

[Evergore]

I've never been to a PP and I was planning on going this year...I absolutly love power metal its my favorite! Anyway Ive been to a few power/prog shows (Blind Guardian, Symphony X) and the crowds have to put this a nice way really fucking sucked..I dont know why just bc the singers have talent not to say that death or black metal isnt but why does no one fucking move around during the shows...Ive seen clips of shows in Europe and the crowds totally into the thing as if you were seeing a death show or something...anyway what I wanted to know is since this is a festival is the crowd up and moving around or is it just a stand there and stare kinda thing
thanks for any comments

 

[nightwish58]

It's a stand there with your arms crossed and stare kind of thing; the way most people like it so that they actually have a chance to enjoy he music w/o some jerkoff pushing into them and leaning their elbow on their shoulder every 2 minutes. I guess we won't be seeing you at any future progpower shows if that is all you are concerned about. Some people feel the crowd "really fucking sucks" when they act like assholes and start moshing around and ruining other's experience. I for one don't mind people getting into it and having a good time, but I get aggravated when it interferes with my enjoyment of the show.

 

[Evergore]

I can understand that...thats cool and im not real big into having huge pits and everything for a show like this but I dunno I guess if i were in the bands shoes Id just want ppl to get into the music a little more, but yes friend you will see me there well thats if you go bc I love the music and I guess if standing is what i have to do to see some great bands live I guess Im gonna have to suck it up and enjoy the show...: )

 

[Harvester]

I think you will see that the crowd does get into the show. Evidence is in the some of the videos on this website. Fans jump, headband, throw the horns up, and sing their ass off. Hell, Edguy had that placed rocking a few years ago, even in the seats (which is rare as hell in my snooty prog fan section).

Moshing is outlawed. That will be strictly enforced this year.

 

[Evergore]

LOL well thats cool then thanks a lot for the information and I absolutly love you for bringing these great bands to the States your work is MUCH appreciated!
Keep Rhapsody in mind
thanks again

 

[aztattooedsean]

Being a fan of so many genres of metal, I can pretty much enjoy myself at any type of show. I will say from someone who leans alittle more towards the heavy side, I still had to make it to a progpower which I did last year. I learned alot about the bands and I saw in Glenn's videos from past years how much the crowd went off enjoying themselves. It brought back flashbacks from the shows I would see when I was stationed in Germany during the early 90's. People and even some bands must realize that people enjoy themselves at shows in their own way. I might not mosh like when I was a youngster but I am probably enjoying the performances as much if not more than the kid going off the most in the middle of the pit. :Spin:

 

[Curufin]

I remember when Gamma Ray was getting ready to play I was getting all geared up and juiced. Then when they began their show, a couple of drunken assclowns decided it would be cool to push and shove and elbow everyone around them. Needless to say, it halfway ruined that part of the show for me. I also thought the fans were going to rip down the curtain after the show... they came really close to doing it.

You can headbang, throw up the horned hand, sing at the top of your lungs, and occasionaly jump up and down, but please: Don't mosh.

 

[BABS]

You are going to love Progpower that I can guarantee! Let me share my first PP story with you (this year will be my 5th festival!). I always shyed away from attending a lot of metal shows because #1 I'm female, #2 I'm a petite female and always feared getting shoved and tossed around.

I can remember attending the first festival in Lansing, IL at JJ Kelleys. I'm standing on tiptoes trying to see when a bunch of metal guys noticed and yelled up to the rows ahead of them "Let the short girl through" and then they told me "go on up to the front!"

To me that was the absolutely sweetest thing man! I'll never forget that. Also kudos go out to the tall people that pick me up at the festival and let me take a look around (giggle)!

You are going to have a blast Evergore and it won't involve any contusions or lacerations to your skull

BABS

 

[Evergore]

Thanks for all the feedback...I am soooooo PUMPED for this show and I dont even know whos gonna be there!!! If it were Rhapsody or Elvenking Id prolly die...

 

[Dustro25]

the only show I have been to were it has gotton crazy was Guardian and symphony at the metro in chicago! what a show...

 

[Mephistopheles]

the only show I have been to were it has gotton crazy was Guardian and symphony at the metro in chicago! what a show...

That show RULED! It was a little crazy... but the mosh pit wasn't too out of control.

 

[Burke]

You want crazy people, come stand next to me (If I have the luck I did last year).

At one point, me and my friend had these two or three south american guys behind us, screaming in spanish and whipping their hair around - blatantly smacking anyone around them with it and not even giving a fuck.

But way above that, my biggest pet peeve was 'crowd lead singers'. Yes, those folks who don't kind of sing the lyrics along to themselves, but sing FULL OUT AS LOUD AS THEY CAN RIGHT NEXT TO YOU, with absolutely no regard for the fact that you paid $80 plus bucks to listen to a band but spend the entire set listening to THEM sing OVER the band's song. And this drunk dude next to me, I think he was german, starts finding his friends in the crowd on the floor right below us, and then gesturing at them to come over and COME ON UP - so they have to climb over a row or two and them SQUEEZE in to space that isn't even there - stepping on my feet every two and a half minutes, again not caring that there is anyone else in the row. And then I had knuckleheads in STEREO singing next to me. Everytime I tried to forget about them and concentrate on the band, I got bumped, stepped on, and my ear screamed into.

Yeesh....... that was fucking annoying...... I don't mind 'getting into the music', but after that experience, I'd almost rather find the 'standing still with the arms crossed' people......

 

[Daybreaker]

Hmmm. What I dont think alot of people out there realize is that to many of us a concert is a huge release, especially a concert like Prog Power where it's so many great bands that have come for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm one of those assholes that sings at the top of my lungs, and I'm one of those assholes who pumps my fist in the air and then for a brief ten seconds rests it on the guy in front of me's shoulder, (every time I do this however I apologize and so far havent had anybody get mad at me). What I don't do however is push and shove and all that shit, even though I easily could knock everyone out of my way. The floor seems like it is the area for the active participants, the ones that go crazy for the bands. I think that the seats offer a great, uninterrupted view for those that wish to just observe the band and not have me screaming in their ear. It might also be that I've been in the front rows quite alot, but I have yet to see many people get aggravated or annoyed up there, they are usually just as if not more excited and crazy as I am. There's also a reason why the bands usually talk and cater to the front few rows, that's because they're the ones most active. Hell, some of these bands, even though the crowd loves em, during their show if no ones really moving they just kinda get confused. Take Pagans Mind last year, they went over extremely well between songs but during the songs it was utter stillness, the guitarists were beckoning everyone to move a bit about three or four times a song, not out of "canned interaction time" but out of desperation it seemed. They feed off our energy just as we to them.

Those are just my thoughts, as a whole the Prog Power crowd is great, but maybe just a tad too used to the rare niceties of this show. There's only one thing that I find uncomfortable at any show, when the guy behind me for some reason feels that he can jump through me so throughout the entire show I feel like I'm being dryhumped from behind. Other than that, I just go with the flow and thank god I'm seeing Nightwish / Gamma Ray / EDGUY etc.


Ben

 

[Riceloft]

A swift elbow to the gut fixes the annoying jumpers, trust me .

 

[Evergore]

BEN!
thank you so much brother you said what I tried to so much better...its not that I really have to push and shove but I feel like some of the bands really want that is it...obviously im not gonna do that if the ppl around me dont want too...I just dont want the bands to play flat bc they think that the crowd is flat...I dont want these bands going back to Europe and saying what everyone says about us over there (that we are too timid)

 

[Ninkasi]

The only Progpower that I have been two is PP3 (I might be going to PP5). While it may have been one of the less crazy metal concerts that I have been to, everyone was still really into it - especially the power metal bands. It was definitely the best concert I have ever been to. To me, the quality of the bands is way more important than the "show". It would be fine with me if the bands didn't have any backdrops or special lighting effects - as long as their music is good.

 

[Burke]

Hmmm. What I dont think alot of people out there realize is that to many of us a concert is a huge release, especially a concert like Prog Power where it's so many great bands that have come for this once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm one of those assholes that sings at the top of my lungs, and I'm one of those assholes who pumps my fist in the air and then for a brief ten seconds rests it on the guy in front of me's shoulder, (every time I do this however I apologize and so far havent had anybody get mad at me). What I don't do however is push and shove and all that shit, even though I easily could knock everyone out of my way. The floor seems like it is the area for the active participants, the ones that go crazy for the bands. I think that the seats offer a great, uninterrupted view for those that wish to just observe the band and not have me screaming in their ear. It might also be that I've been in the front rows quite alot, but I have yet to see many people get aggravated or annoyed up there, they are usually just as if not more excited and crazy as I am. There's also a reason why the bands usually talk and cater to the front few rows, that's because they're the ones most active. Hell, some of these bands, even though the crowd loves em, during their show if no ones really moving they just kinda get confused. Take Pagans Mind last year, they went over extremely well between songs but during the songs it was utter stillness, the guitarists were beckoning everyone to move a bit about three or four times a song, not out of "canned interaction time" but out of desperation it seemed. They feed off our energy just as we to them.

Those are just my thoughts, as a whole the Prog Power crowd is great, but maybe just a tad too used to the rare niceties of this show. There's only one thing that I find uncomfortable at any show, when the guy behind me for some reason feels that he can jump through me so throughout the entire show I feel like I'm being dryhumped from behind. Other than that, I just go with the flow and thank god I'm seeing Nightwish / Gamma Ray / EDGUY etc.


Ben

Let me just clarify that I also believe the crowd at PP is great and one of the best of any type of concert I've ever been to. The crowd at PP2, my first one, was just amazing to me. Just last year, I had a big streak of bad luck. And yeah, it was in the seats and that's what bugged me the most. The floor is for getting INto it man, for sure. Hell I was down there for Symph X in a heartbeat. What happens on the floor comes with the territory. It was just that fact that this guy had NO reagard for anyone around him in the seats and obviously didn;t give a shit. And when most other people in the PP crowd are so damn cool, it's annoying as hell.

(oh and as for someone's elbow comment, man lemme tell you, it wasn't that I didn;t think that. My friend next to me knew what was going on and was watching me cause he saw how pissed I was and was WAITING for me to start swinging. But I didn;t - cause then it's a whole different ballgame - what was supposed to be a fun night, turns into a fight - with me most likely getting thrown out with the other guy and kissing my ticket money goodbye. Not to mention causing an 'incident' at the show and I'me sure Glenn has MORE than enough stress to deal with at one of these besides a brawl breaking out in the middle of one of his band's sets. The guy works way too hard on these to have to worry about MORE BS.)

 

[jaimek]

Having been in both American and European audiences, I will say from observation that Americans tend to reserve their glee for their *favorite* bands, and do the crossed-arms thing for the openers. Europeans bounce like mad through the whole damn thing no matter who's playing. One isn't necessarily better than another, unless you're the opening band getting the vacuous stares. lol. I don't mind crowd singers - crowd surfers and moshers who can't keep it to their own little corner, however, deserve a boot to the head.

What I really hate is when I like one of the *opening* bands but all the fanboys crowd the front of the stage from the minute they hit the floor, and stand there with their arms crossed but won't let anyone else up to enjoy the openers. I went to see Evergrey when they toured with Arch Enemy and I couldn't get through the death-metallers that didn't give a crap about E but didn't want to give up their precious spot for a measly half hour.

 

[tenebre]

I have been to several shows in the states and in europe. i noticed that the europeans no matter how excited dont act like jerks and push other people. They have a good time in their own space. PP is a good show because of this. If i wanne get pushed Ill go to a bar and get in a bar fight. I pay good money to watch a show and just want to enjoy myself without being annoyed by some goon.