Should we expect an announcement this week?

[The Invisible Guest]

I have my pick for who I think could very well be the selection for headliner at Powerfest ...... it's ..... In Flames. They seem to have Euro dates thru March, but nothing is scheduled yet in April.

I saw a post recently on the Perpetual Motion board that stacked CPF, ProgPower, and Heathen Fest, and compared the total # of listens each band received thru Last.Fm. It was a pretty interesting post, but one of the bands that was given as a comparrison was In Flames. They have double the listens of Sonata Arctica .. which was by far the largest band at any of those fests .. according to the numbers. According to this highly scientific date (haha) In Flames would blow the roof off of Powerfest.

http://pmx2.krose.org/forum?action=view&forum_id=1&message_id=51182

Britt

 

[Jasonic]

Umm.. are you serious or joking about In Flames?
I am not even going to go there....

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Umm.. are you serious or joking about In Flames?
I am not even going to go there....

I didn't say I liked them .. just that they are a pretty big band, and might fit the various criteria, and clues that have been given.

Britt

 

[Will Bozarth]

With Nevermore you never know. They are a gamble in my opinion.

Britt

a gamble why? because they had the chance to get a bigger name and expand on their fanbase? the Disturbed tour probably earned them more money than the ProgPower fest would have. as much as it sucks, the music business is just that. a business. do you want to stay in the mail room or get a desk in the corporate office? why? more money.

the only reason Nevermore would turn down this festival is because they're writing for a new CD now. they have NO plans to tour until they release the CD, which will be at the end of 2007... so if, by chance, the Nevermore guys wanted to break away from writing to play a one-off show, they'd do it. the band has done 4 US headlining gigs in the last 4 or 5 years.
Cleveland in 03
California in 06
Virginia in 06
Seattle in 06

Anything is possible. I don't want to get my hopes up, but Nevermore is probably my number 1 prediction

 

[General Zod]

I'll agree with Will. Disturbed's last CD went to #1 on the Billboard charts. Opening for such a band offered Nevermore the type of exposure that doesn't come around very often. ProgPower, as much as I love it, would have done nothing to advance Nevermore's career. Canceling ProgPower in favor of the Disturbed tour was the right move in every possible sense.

I doubt Nevermore would fit. I don't see them as having the type of drawing power that Rob has led us to believe the headliner will have. That said, I suspect the band is scattered to the four winds. I believe Warrell and Jeff are both working on solo projects. Van may also be working on his side project. Who knows what's going on with Jim's and Steve's health situations. And I would expect Chris has got things going on with Jag Panzer.

Zod

 

[Jasonic]

I didn't say I liked them .. just that they are a pretty big band, and might fit the various criteria, and clues that have been given.

Britt

Nothing wrong if you did like In Flames.
Just saying that I don't think it would be met with much excitement.

 

[Diabolik]

cant see In Flames coming over for a one off show, when they tour the states enough on thier own.

 

[The Invisible Guest]

Will, they'd be terrific for Powerfest if you could get them nailed down, but with all of the personal problems that band has had in recent years I think they qualify as a gamble. Some conflict of some sort could pop up at any point, and could cause a cancellation. Great band .. love em', but I think there is some gamble there.

Britt

 

[The Invisible Guest]

cant see In Flames coming over for a one off show, when they tour the states enough on thier own.

I'm not real up on when they have been to America, and whatnot ... just thought they might fit the fest, and provide a possible big draw.

Britt

 

[Diabolik]

It would make the fest sell out for sure, but also I think would comprimise the fest in general. Too make a long story short. Most of the people who would show up just for In Flames would not return the following year, thye would not even care or be interested in the opening acts or even know that it was a festival of sorts. Sure some would maybe like some of the other bands, but most of the people just there to see In Flames, would be doing just that. Plus I think somone that big would outshine the fest and it would become an "In Flames" show. I think that the headliner cant outshine the fest itself. just and opinion......

 

[eaeolian]

Yeah, I really don't know.
You can go ask Warrel on the Nevermore forum, though that is a SCARY place.
One of the worst forums on the web for sure.

Thanks, from one of the irregulars there.

Nevermore touring with Disturbed (who haven't been very "Nu" since the first album) was a no-brainer - even if only 10% of the audience is into you, that's a club's worth of new fans every night.

 

[skyrefuge]

According to this highly scientific date (haha) In Flames would blow the roof off of Powerfest.

http://pmx2.krose.org/forum?action=view&forum_id=1&message_id=51182

lol....one of the main reasons I posted that was to illustrate that a band like In Flames or Heaven & Hell would *not* be necessary to "blow the roof off" (to put a ridiculous amount of weight and focus on that completely nebulous and probably offhand comment from Rob)

Don't you think that any band that draws 3 times the current top-draw (Novembers Doom, 6921 listeners) would be more than sufficient to "blow the roof off"? It's all relative, after all.

You clearly don't need an In Flames, which is *23 times* more popular than Novembers Doom (50x more than Solitude Aeturnus). Nevermore, at 45000 (6.5x) is also more than enough, although that's at least a more reasonable guess.

I'd bet the band is somewhere in the 20- to 50-thousand listener range, although I wouldn't be shocked if it was even less than that. I'd still like my Arcturus idea (26,000), if Dimmu Borgir was starting their tour a day later (it begins April 20th, in Cleveland).

Neil

 

[eaeolian]

Yeah, I really don't know.
You can go ask Warrel on the Nevermore forum, though that is a SCARY place.
One of the worst forums on the web for sure.

Thanks, from one of the irregulars there.

Nevermore touring with Disturbed (who haven't been very "Nu" since the first album) was a no-brainer - even if only 10% of the audience is into you, that's a club's worth of new fans every night.

 

[General Zod]

Don't you think that any band that draws 3 times the current top-draw (Novembers Doom, 6921 listeners) would be more than sufficient to "blow the roof off"? It's all relative, after all.

I disagree. I'm not sure how many tickets Rob and Chris believe the current line-up will sell. I don't really have a feel for ND's drawing power on their home turf. However, as the line up is currently constituted, I doubt they'd move more than 500 tickets (if that). Assuming my guesstimate is somewhat accurate, they're looking for the headliner to move 1,000 tickets. Nevermore, as an example, typically draw 500 people. However, many of the 500 people that would typically go see Nevermore, are probably already counted among that first 500 that the fest will draw without them.

Zod

 

[General Zod]

Nevermore touring with Disturbed (who haven't been very "Nu" since the first album) was a no-brainer - even if only 10% of the audience is into you, that's a club's worth of new fans every night.

I think Disturbed, along with Godsmack, are bands that "real" Metal fans dismiss out of hand. They see short hair and a major label, and just take a pass.

Zod

 

[Dark One]

You clearly don't need an In Flames, which is *23 times* more popular than Novembers Doom (50x more than Solitude Aeturnus). Nevermore, at 45000 (6.5x) is also more than enough, although that's at least a more reasonable guess.

Honestly Neil, while I would ordinarily agree with you here based on what you and I would consider "common sense", every single thing I have read from Rob leads me to believe that the bar was set pretty darn high for the headliner. As time has gone by, the "common sense" factor has diminished considerably for me. Fortunately, it looks like we'll know either way, so we'll see. I just can't imagine a lower tier (albeit more than capable) headliner like a Nevermore being that difficult to track down for a festival confirmation.

Jason

 

[skyrefuge]

Assuming my guesstimate is somewhat accurate, they're looking for the headliner to move 1,000 tickets.

Yikes! What are you basing that guesstimate on? I was assuming "blow the roof off" was to be taken figuratively. Not literally, like "the place will be so packed with people, their metal screams will cause the air pressure to blow the roof off, so we need to buy extra insurance in case that happens".

Not even PPUSA relies on one band to draw 1000 people, and as demonstrated, the drawing power of the CPF lineup isn't even close to PPUSA. I'd be shocked if Chris and Rob set their goal that high, since they seem to be rather sensible guys. Also, if that was their goal, losing that band would basically spell complete failure.

Finally, if one band *did* draw 1000 people, at least some of those people would be pretty pissed off, because they wouldn't be able to see the stage. Again, it's a big room, but the stage isn't visible from a large portion of it.

Neil

 

[Diabolik]

I think Disturbed, along with Godsmack, are bands that "real" Metal fans dismiss out of hand. They see short hair and a major label, and just take a pass.

Zod

I would also guess hearing one song also would make you want to dismiss them.

 

[skyrefuge]

every single thing I have read from Rob leads me to believe that the bar was set pretty darn high for the headliner.

That's because he's trying to convince you (and others) to go! That's his job. But I haven't even gotten that strong of an impression from Rob (maybe I've just missed some comments?); I've seen more hyperbolic statements from the Texas Madfest people, and they have a lot less to offer.

I just can't imagine a lower tier (albeit more than capable) headliner like a Nevermore being that difficult to track down for a festival confirmation.

I see it the opposite way. Big bands are probably easy to track down, because they've been around long enough to know how to be good businesspeople. It's the smaller/weirder ones who are more irresponsible. So yeah, Nevermore is big enough and "professional" enough to not go running off on a three-month backcountry camping trip without a cell phone.

Neil

 

[johnfrank1970]

I would also guess hearing one song also would make you want to dismiss them.

I like all sorts of underground metal ranging from traditional metal to extreme tech death. I also like Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists. It's an anomaly in the world of commercial metal.