Trace said:
Bands that should be at Bloodstock are
NIGHTWISH AGAIN!
Dimmu Borgir
Lacuna Coil
Nevermore
Sonatica Artica
After Forever
Samael
The Prophecy
Sentenced
Arch Enemy
I will try and write this so it isnt rude. but for £39 for the 2 days, i think Bloodstock should be attracting ''bigger'' more ''up to date'' bands than what they are currently getting.
Its really just a comparison to what you can get on the continent. I went to Graspop this year and that cost less and that weekend camping ticket included train fares and car parking.
Also wacken is a lot cheaper too compared to Bloodstock and thats 3 days and you get more stages etc.....
It has been proven that Metal music from Europe is growing in the UK, look at Bloodstock 2003 nearly selling out with Nightwish on the bill, and also the Metal Odyssey (dimmu headlined) in London 2 years ago and how that was upgraded to the Astoria from the Mean Fiddler due to a sell out.
Frustrates me sometimes..... My other half sent an email to Trail of Tears saying that he would love to see them play the UK, but they said they dont sell enough CD's and Merchandise, so they guess they dont have a fan base...
But u need to get over here, and then see what happens.... There are plenty of unknown bands play the UK. Look at how much Lacuna Coil have grown since they played the Metal Odyssey 2 years ago, now they are headlining their own gig above Moonspell in December!
Good comments, but we should need to stress the following with regards to Bloodstock in the UK:
1. The European Festivals you talk about cater for 10's of thousands of fans, multiply this by the ticket price and you can afford many big name bands. typically a festival band budget is 1/3 of overall sellout cost (i.e. wackens band budget (30,000x55Eu / 3 is 0.5Million Euro's!!, Bloodstock is 40,000Euro's)
2. Bloodstock caters for 2,000 fans, multiply this by the ticket price and you can afford 1 big name band and several minor / smaller acts. Or you can afford several mid-range acts who do not come to the Uk very often. Case in point - Manowar will want @ £20,000 which is 25% of Bloodstock door price. This would then not be Bloodstock but a standard Manowar show as we would not be able to get any other bands. Same goes for Bodom, Priest, Motorhead, Iced Earth, Dimmu, Rammstein, even Dio and Queensryche! ................ As soon as a band gets wind of headlining a festival (regardless of capacity - 2000 - 30,000), they want their "festival" fee (Priest with Ripper was £60,000, how much now)!!
Your lineup would cost @ £60,000 in bands fees and transport and accomodation alone, however it is likely you will see these bands at Bloodstock festivals over several years (not in 1 go, as it would be rare that they could all play our little festival in 1 go)!!
Gone are the days of tour support from Record Labels. Gone are the days of festival sponsors.
3. If we get to the size of Donington in a few years then we can put on a Wacken style lineup. BUT do you fans really want this?, and look at the price for this years show!!
4. 50% of a typical European bands fee is increased by the fact that they have to travel to the UK for a one off show - much cheaper if it is part of their tour schedule (a la Primal Fear shows), i.e. the tour has a budget not individual shows.
5. Also in the UK our overheads are higher, VAT is 17.5%, suppliers are more expensive than Europe etc etc etc.
6. You did not mention the cost of travelling to these festivals, i.e. Flights to Germany, Ferry, Driving (fuel) etc (can be 100's of £'s), whereas in the UK you are 30 miles from the show?
7. We have been in existence for 3 shows so far - Wacken is in its 15th Year - go back to 1991-3 and see who they had on their first few festivals and how many people attended - a parallel with Bloodstock do you think? I don't think we are doing too badly.
So - the question to you is:
Do we have several mid-range bands who work with us to put on a great show, or 1 big band and a bunch of unknowns? Most of our band budget will go on the 2 headliners ............
In order to reduce the ticket price do we go to one main stage, less bands etc. Remember Bloodstock is a UK Metal Festival and is a showcase for BRITISH METAL also, hence a lot of decent British metal bands!
Bloodstock at the moment can only be compared to "indoor" festivals abroad, i.e. Z7 (Swiss), Biebob (Belgium), you cannot compare with Graspop, Bang your Head, Sweden Rock, Wacken, having said that - you can but on a much smaller scale!! More stages? Find me an indoor venue with more than 2 stages? Are we big enough to go outdoors? If we do will we lose the current Bloodstock fanbase who like it indoors? So many questions ...........