The REAL problem from here on out

[Greykiller]

I think Glenn made reference to what I see as the REAL problem from here on out: There are no longer those HUGE bands that people will die to see. From here on, it seems to me that this festival will serve to satisfy the most niche factions among us. I mean, if enough people are asking for Pretty Maids or Paradise Lost or whomever the case may be, I think that would be the obvious direction to go. We've seen the big guns, and yes, they can come back, but they're already touring somewhat regularly.

And now the second problem: We're still on first tier/high second tier bands and people are whining about who's this and who's that and how do the sit as high as they do and even "how did this band get chosen". I'm in constant awe at the lack of knowledge of some on this board. No, you can't know everyone, but damn, we're on the big names of Europe still and many don't have a clue around here. This, in turn, seems to "lessen" their view of the festival. Me? I'm getting more and more excited each year at the increasing chance to see Pretty Maids, Tiamat, Charon, and whoever else. What's going to go on at this board with all the bitching, whining, crying, questioning, and whatnot when we move away from the Blind Guardians and Edguys and Nightwishs? It seems like it will be one fucking cry-fest with folks scratching their heads about this and that unknown (to them) band.

That being said, I can certainly endorse questions and disappointment by individuals, but when we've got members of this fucking board suggesting that they "don't know much about Sonata Arctica", brother, we're in for some big fucking trouble about 3 festivals from now.

Who is Woosta and why is he making me feel SO bad? I just dont think i can handle this ANY MORE.
Waaah! If Disturbed doesn't play progpower I will just cry! WAaah!

I think that the whiners should just get over themselves, buy a ticket, and appreciate Glenn's choices without whining in public forums.

(unless they are whining about POS, if that is the case then go ahead)

 

[mtndewqueen88]

ProgPower is more than just a concert, it's a weekend of great music, cool people, killer parties and CD shopping.

Seconded! I view ProgPower as the best learning experience in the entire world. I've only just started listening to this genre of metal, and I highly value Glenn's opinion in choosing bands. Without him, I wouldn't have discovered (and then seen live!!) Mercenary, Pyramaze, or Freak Kitchen. What I didn't count on was the family-like atmosphere at the festival and number of dear friends I would make. I knew I was coming to VIII before VII was over!

Am I familiar with all the bands on this year's line-up? Nope. But I've got about 3508943 people offering opinions personally to me - you know who you are! I just absolutely love it, and I wouldn't miss it for the world. Just $140 for FOURTEEN metal bands? + all the above-mentioned side benefits? That's a deal even if you aren't the biggest fan of the bands! If you're feeling iffy about the line-up, come for the friends, stay for the show, and leave as a new fan. Done deal.

Tell me where else you get this? Glenn, you may have to work at getting headliners, but you've already got a first-class audience. That, in my opinion, can make all the difference. You've created loyalty to the festival itself, and trust in your judgment. People will keep coming back because of that - I know I am.

 

[Pellaz]

The challenge for this type of festival I think is not in finding solid headliners to round everything up (I mean, that is the challenge NOW), but to find a cohesive lineup that makes sense. Changing the format would be a bit much; adding doom, death, or black metal bands into the picture would kind of detract from the title of "Prog Power."

Over the course of a few years, I think it might detract from the 'quality' of the audience as well. I love melodic death and black metal, but the current PPUSA audience is a different animal from the usual DM/BM audience. Not "better" per se, but judging from this forum, somewhat better-spoken.

As it stands now, PPUSA is a great environment to watch and enjoy the bands, without having to watch out for crowd-surfers or mosh-pits or -- excepting the promoter -- stage-diving ......and I'd love it if it stayed that way.

Bring in Ayreon. Problem solved!

That'd be worth two upper slots, with an intermission.

Hell, it'd probably cost as much to get Ayreon/SoP as it would to get two normal headliners, so ....yeah, two slots.

 

[Ascension]

You nailed it on the head. He was probably only trying to appease the largest demographic of his long time audience which wanted to hear "everything" and in doing so left out some of his best material. Some of his choices made me wonder "why is he playing that" but i still was completely satisfied in getting to see Jorn Lande peform in the USA. I'd like to thank Glenn for bringing Jorn to the USA and making him the headliner. And i'm probably the only one from this message board who feels that way as most people here really like to blame Jorn for this last festival not selling out a few more days than others, LOL.

You're not the only one. A possible top 20 power metal band was replaced with argueably the top vocalist in metal today. l'd say that was a good trade. Jorn can do whatever he wants to at this point. If he wants to do prog...he can. Power? Sure. Melodic? You bet...he's doing that. His voice and presence is signature now. Labels know this. He can sell.
Obviously, his drawback at PP was relying on his melodic material instead of pulling out Ark/Masterplan stuff. Had he done that...the responses would have been different.

 

[General Zod]

You're not the only one. A possible top 20 power metal band was replaced with argueably the top vocalist in metal today. l'd say that was a good trade.

For you, it was a good trade. For Glenn, it wasn't.

Zod

 

[Braxil]

You nailed it on the head. He was probably only trying to appease the largest demographic of his long time audience which wanted to hear "everything" and in doing so left out some of his best material. Some of his choices made me wonder "why is he playing that" but i still was completely satisfied in getting to see Jorn Lande peform in the USA. I'd like to thank Glenn for bringing Jorn to the USA and making him the headliner. And i'm probably the only one from this message board who feels that way as most people here really like to blame Jorn for this last festival not selling out a few more days than others, LOL.

Jorn's biggest problem what that he was trying to play everything...from the Whitesnake catalog.

 

[Bear]

Here's something that hasn't been brought up yet in regards to return bands. How many times do you go see your favorite bands? For some of the older fans, how many times have you seen Aerosmith? Maiden? Metallica? Or whatever your favorite band is? (Glenn, how many times have you seen Jimmy Buffet?) Odds are you've seen them multiple times and the next chance you get to see them you'll probably go again. No one ever says "My Favorite Band, seen them once, no need to see them again." (unless they can't afford to or their favorite band sucked live but those are rare exceptions). So if you're a huge Edguy fan (for example) and you seen them headline ProgPower once before a few years ago and since that time they've put out a few more albums that you've really enjoyed, why wouldn't you be excited to see them headline again? Plus you'll get to see a few other bands you love that same weekend and likely discover a few new bands that will become favorites. Where's the problem?

I don't see the problem with having return headliners as long as they're at the top of their genre and still putting out new material - Gamma Ray, Blind Guardian, Edguy, Symphony X, Evergrey, etc. And don't forget that every ProgPower is someone's first. Every year more and more people are discovering this type of music. Why shouldn't they have the chance to see some of those killer bands as well?

I also don't think the short regional "tours" hurt the draw of the festival either. For example someone living in Minnesota could have seen Epica last year, but only at ProgPower could they have seen Epica, Evergrey, Jorn, Mercenary, Thunderstone, Freak Kitchen, Vision Divine, ect. in one weekend!

ProgPower is more than just a concert, it's a weekend of great music, cool people, killer parties and CD shopping.

Well just to say I have seen Queensryche 16 times and Dream Thtear 15 times...Y&T 27 times, so LOL

 

[Bear]

You nailed it on the head. He was probably only trying to appease the largest demographic of his long time audience which wanted to hear "everything" and in doing so left out some of his best material. Some of his choices made me wonder "why is he playing that" but i still was completely satisfied in getting to see Jorn Lande peform in the USA. I'd like to thank Glenn for bringing Jorn to the USA and making him the headliner. And i'm probably the only one from this message board who feels that way as most people here really like to blame Jorn for this last festival not selling out a few more days than others, LOL.

Your both full of shit and butta

 

[Stingray11214]

Peeps;

I am reading all of this, and I am asking myself "Is ProgPower really in trouble?" I would have to say that I do not believe that ProgPower is in trouble AS OF YET. However, I do see a case of the "Eddie Vedder Syndrome" creeping in.

Are we all too terrified of "Success"?

Well, what would "Success" mean? It would mean the mallkids jumping up and down for Raintime. It would mean the 14 year-old girls swooning to Toni Kakko. It would mean Hot Topic selling Pagan's Mind and Nightwish T-shirts. It would mean Glenn and his merry PP hordes will grace the cover of Rolling Stone, and they will all buy five copies for their mother. Is that a bad thing?

From the mentalities of some people, the answer is a resounding "Yes".

However, there is a remedy for all this. However, many of you may not like it. The problem is it may have to become the reality of the situation. I know that people don't want TPTB in the music industry to take over what we have. You know what will happen: "Jorny baby," says Mr. Record Industry Suit "You gotta do it this way. Trust me, Jorny baby, it'll sell millions.". There is a defense to this. This is where we come in. It may come to the point where we become commercial without being commercial.

5 things

1) Make ProgPower a truly "National" festival - Some people may say it already is. In reality, it is not. How many bands from the US are usually in it? Not many if you look at PP's past history. That can change if you go National. That does NOT mean tour the 50 states. That means having mini-fests in 8 regions of the USA. Let us niot get into the money aspect as of yet. What is the purpose of these "mini-fests"? One, is to introduce the natives to ProgPower type music. Two, it is to create a buzz outside of the usual suspects. But, third, and most important, these mini-fests would serve to improve......

2) The Showcase - Huh? Well, why don't we make this a competition. The winner of the 8 regional fests would be invited to a finals competition. The top two would be the openers for ProgPower proper, and the other 6 in order of finish would fill the Showcase. I am sorry, but there is no reason for past ProgPower acts to be on the Showcase. It should be reserved for UNSIGNED or SMALL/TINY label acts based in the United States. Not only would it introduce people to these acts, it would also strengthen the case for ProgPower type music that these bands DO exist in the USA.

3) Bring in heavy duty sponsors - For the life of me, I cannot understand why in the middle of Atlanta that Coke is not a major backer of ProgPower. I say this for another reason. Let's face it, all the individual sponsors are nice, but I sincerely doubt they have money trees in the back of their homes. Eventually, unless you got people with 40 backers at $500 a pop, it is going to be too expensive to bring in bands from overseas for people to do it on their own. I know it sounds like "Ray wants PP to go commercial", but the reality is that major backers may have to come down the pike eventually.

4) Build an Alliance with Eddie Trunk - Huh? But is he not ancient history? Not really. He is getting religion. He presented Stratovarius in NYC 2 months ago. He is improving with the times. Furthermore, he has a NATIONAL audience and is one of metaldom's most influential personalities. Picture Pagan's Mind on Friday Night Rocks? Or Sonata? Or Communic? et Cetera. How much of a base will be built when Trunk says "They will be headlining at ProgPower in Atlanta on x"? How about General Zod rubbing elbows with Jasmine St. Claire or Pamela Anderson? Or Shkr0k rubbing elbows with Chris Jericho or Mike Piazza? With Glenn Harveston standing at center stage in his Hawaiian shirt as the King on the same footing as a Ron Delsener or a John Scher. Build an alliance, and watch PP sell out in 2 seconds, never mind 2 days.

Last, but not least;

5) Do not be afraid to roll the dice - I know hedging the bets are for monetary reasons. However, there is a big world out there. Do not be afraid to grab the dragon by his nostrils. The worst that can happen is you get burned. Remember, if you bring them to the American market, YOU and nobody else will get the credit for it. And, you will expand the market even further. PP will be well on its way to being bigger than even Ozzfest.

It can happen, it should happen.

If the advice is followed, it WILL happen.

Peace,
Ray C

 

[Meteornotes]

I think that one of the things going on is that the scene is sort of in a state right now where some of the older bands have either gone away, or are not putting out new material at a somewhat consistent pace (Symphony X, Enchant, Superior are just a few examples). You also have a TON of bands that have put out one CD that's really good, but who knows if it's going to be a one-off, or they will develop into something bigger. I can think of lots of bands that have one or two discs out that I'd love to see at the show, but you can't fill the bill with bands like that. Well, you could, but outside of me, I'm not sure who would buy a ticket.

There are headlining bands, but they've either played the show, or will not play the show for some reason, either thinking themselves too cool for the room, not caring about the US market, being too goddamn expensive (Ayreon, though I would kill to see this), or just not being a live band (Shadow Gallery). I personally don't have a problem with repeats, as outside of PP, you don't get to see these bands very often, unless you live within driving distance of Jaxx. And even if you do, like us, I personally would much rather see a band at a place like PP where everyone can see the band and the sound is not being mixed by a guy that thinks all bands should sound like the sonic equivalent of an exploding cement mixer.

Maybe there could be the occasional "experiment" that moves a little outside what we've become used to seeing at PP. A doom band, or (my preference) an instrumental act. We all love the reunions and special acts (well, I do), but I know that putting these types of things together every year is pretty much impossible. So you're left with bands that may have played the show before, or may have toured the US, or may not be the most massive thing in the US being headliners. Personally, I've felt that Sonata would make perfect headliners for the last couple of years, and am really happy that they're finally going to play PP, even if I've already seen them twice on tour. I suspect that they will tear the place up, and pretty much everyone will be entertained.

No matter what Glenn (or any other festival promoter) does, people are going to bitch. They're going to bitch if Helloween and ten bands that sound just like them are booked, they're going to bitch if Dream Theater decides to play the show, they're going to bitch if they've never heard of a band before the show, they're going to bitch if the show is not happening right across the street from their house...you get the idea. People might bitch on here, but if the show sells out (and it has every year since III, and would have last year if Nevermore had played), and pretty much everyone there seems to have a good time. I think some people go to this show and never watch any bands, but if they're paying for a ticket, well, that's all that matters.

I personally laughed my ass off at everyone that bitched about Freak Kitchen playing the show, and then smiled some more when I saw a band that pretty much no one wanted to see outside of a small number of us pretty much take control of the crowd. A lot of people don't like to experience anything outside of their comfortable little box, which makes life pretty fucking dull, at least to me. I trust Glenn when he picks bands that he's picking ones that he knows will deliver a kick ass show. He's occasionally wrong (Secret Sphere), but I think there have been three bands in the history of PP that I thought were not entertaining, and one of those (Nightwish) I would never find entertaining no matter what, so I think he's been doing a pretty damn good job of putting together ten bands every year that make the cost of a ticket and travel to the show well worth it.

Bottom line, there are still tons of bands out there that can play this show, there are plenty of bands that have played PP already that I would love to see again, and I don't see the pool of potential bands drying up any time soon. This is still the best festival in the US, and is the musical event I look forward to the most every year.

Oh, and can Pretty Maids please be booked next year so we don't have to hear Woosta talking about them any more? Thanks...

dt

 

[Ascension]

For you, it was a good trade. For Glenn, it wasn't.

Zod

You're assuming it was the trade off of headliners that caused the no sellout of course. It could have just as well been the rest of the lineup that didn't draw. One band doesn't make the entire festival.

 

[fatesmiles]

I don't have time right now to post my elaborate response but I will in a couple of days. However, there are always up and coming bands that may hit it "big" enough to warrant a 1st or 2nd slot and a couple years later maybe move up the ladder.

Of course there are still those out there who can headline who have never played here despite touring (Fates Warning, Opeth, After Forever, Helloween, TNT reunion, Crimson Glory reunion etc.) and plenty of mid-tier bands from multiple genres such as Falconer, Lost Horizon, Elegy (reunion), Nocturnal Rites, Elvenking, Jag Panzer, Masterplan, Shadow Gallery, Solitude Aeturnus, Anathema, Eternity X. I guess my point right now is there are still a lot of bands who have not played here that may at some point.

A more detailed response to some great points later. I know you cant wait.

 

[Wyvern]

We've seen the big guns, and yes, they can come back, but they're already touring somewhat regularly.

I'm going to disagree and this is going to be a cry in the desert, but is my right to do it.

Some of us (the very few) come fm places were NO ONE EVER tours, so not only I couldn't saw any of the great bands in their time: Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, etc. Nor I can see any of the other bands I like either: Megadeth, Blind Guardian, Cathedral, Dream Theater, Saxon, etc. but I have not the time or money to go to USA or Europe every time a band tours.

For me a festival is the best way to check some bands I like altogether, again I have not the money or the time to jump to KIT, HOA, WOA, Sweden Rock, Metal Mania, Bloodstock, etc. So the closest and most available will be PPUSA in my case and if from now on the festival will be not for the bands I already like but mostly for unknown, newer or "too experimental" then it may not worth the money and effort.

My $1 on the issue.

 

[Greykiller]

Peeps;

I am reading all of this, and I am asking myself "Is ProgPower really in trouble?" I would have to say that I do not believe that ProgPower is in trouble AS OF YET. However, I do see a case of the "Eddie Vedder Syndrome" creeping in.

Are we all too terrified of "Success"?

Well, what would "Success" mean? It would mean the mallkids jumping up and down for Raintime. It would mean the 14 year-old girls swooning to Toni Kakko. It would mean Hot Topic selling Pagan's Mind and Nightwish T-shirts. It would mean Glenn and his merry PP hordes will grace the cover of Rolling Stone, and they will all buy five copies for their mother. Is that a bad thing?

From the mentalities of some people, the answer is a resounding "Yes".

Well...you CAN get Nightwish T-shirts at Hot Topic, so some inroads are being made there. But I digress. Your definition of Success may need to be revamped...because we can all have an idea of what PP success is, the sole real authority on Success is Glenn. I would never speak for Glenn, but the impression I get is that his version of "success" is to bring this festival to us every year, have a great time during the show, and make just enough profit to stay interested in having it the next year.

If you have a different idea of success, you can become a promoter and do whatever you want to bring your version to fruition--I think that the wider our audience is, the better off we all are. But I would NOT want, as you say, TPTB dictating how "our" bands should do business. The problem is, how do you avoid that issue?

1) Make ProgPower a truly "National" festival - Some people may say it already is. In reality, it is not. How many bands from the US are usually in it? Not many if you look at PP's past history. That can change if you go National. That does NOT mean tour the 50 states. That means having mini-fests in 8 regions of the USA. Let us niot get into the money aspect as of yet. What is the purpose of these "mini-fests"? One, is to introduce the natives to ProgPower type music. Two, it is to create a buzz outside of the usual suspects.

I think having 8 of these shows would be fantastic, as a fan. What you need is to figure out how to bring in tens of thousands of other persons who had not heard of this music before. This would work if you had big money to buy air time, and, most importantly, to get the music played on radio stations throughout the 8 regions. Myspace tracks for download is great, but ticket buyers need to hear the stuff on the radio first. A grass-roots effort, while admirable, takes an incredible amount of energy that has very little return on the investment when compared to airplay. How do you get around this? There is no short term solution (other than buying out ClearChannel and reprogramming all the stations!) But I do believe that using satellite radio to get our message out will be a real help. Both Sirius and XM need channels dedicated to "our" music. The word has to be spread from somewhere. Savvy businessmen with the "right" idea of success can bring these bands to the masses without destroying the art form.
Also, bringing the bands in for one weekend can be a logistical nightmare....how bad do you think bringing them in 8 times would be? How bad would it be to keep them in the country for 8 weeks? All of this takes money. And a team of people dedicated to making sure it all works. It feels like TPTB have their collective nose in the tent flap...

But, third, and most important, these mini-fests would serve to improve......

2) The Showcase - Huh? Well, why don't we make this a competition. The winner of the 8 regional fests would be invited to a finals competition. The top two would be the openers for ProgPower proper, and the other 6 in order of finish would fill the Showcase. I am sorry, but there is no reason for past ProgPower acts to be on the Showcase. It should be reserved for UNSIGNED or SMALL/TINY label acts based in the United States. Not only would it introduce people to these acts, it would also strengthen the case for ProgPower type music that these bands DO exist in the USA.

I disagree. Leave the choosing of showcase bands up to the promoter. They know enough about this industry to see how crowds react in the 8 regional shows.

3) Bring in heavy duty sponsors - For the life of me, I cannot understand why in the middle of Atlanta that Coke is not a major backer of ProgPower. I say this for another reason. Let's face it, all the individual sponsors are nice, but I sincerely doubt they have money trees in the back of their homes. Eventually, unless you got people with 40 backers at $500 a pop, it is going to be too expensive to bring in bands from overseas for people to do it on their own. I know it sounds like "Ray wants PP to go commercial", but the reality is that major backers may have to come down the pike eventually.

I agree 100%. As long as the heavy duty sponsors do NOT try to dictate the lineup. The more $$ Glenn has to spend on acts, the better off we all are.

4) Build an Alliance with Eddie Trunk - Huh? But is he not ancient history? Not really. He is getting religion. He presented Stratovarius in NYC 2 months ago. He is improving with the times. Furthermore, he has a NATIONAL audience and is one of metaldom's most influential personalities. Picture Pagan's Mind on Friday Night Rocks? Or Sonata? Or Communic? et Cetera. How much of a base will be built when Trunk says "They will be headlining at ProgPower in Atlanta on x"? How about General Zod rubbing elbows with Jasmine St. Claire or Pamela Anderson? Or Shkr0k rubbing elbows with Chris Jericho or Mike Piazza? With Glenn Harveston standing at center stage in his Hawaiian shirt as the King on the same footing as a Ron Delsener or a John Scher. Build an alliance, and watch PP sell out in 2 seconds, never mind 2 days.

I agree again. But not for the same reasons. Building alliances with any heavy hitter in the music industry enables us to have a wider audience and more avenues to watch the shows. If I can see bands I want to watch 8 times a year, both the bands and the fans win. Who is employed to get that done is secondary (again, as long as they do not dictate the talent).

Last, but not least;

5) Do not be afraid to roll the dice - I know hedging the bets are for monetary reasons. However, there is a big world out there. Do not be afraid to grab the dragon by his nostrils. The worst that can happen is you get burned. Remember, if you bring them to the American market, YOU and nobody else will get the credit for it. And, you will expand the market even further. PP will be well on its way to being bigger than even Ozzfest.

It can happen, it should happen.

If the advice is followed, it WILL happen.

Peace,
Ray C

I agree that, if your definition of "success" is for vastly wider audiences and more frequent festivals, you have a pretty good starter plan. I think that the promoter of ProgPower may have a different idea...

I am just very happy that this discussion is occurring, it proves this industry is NOT failing and that PP is NOT hurting...because people care enough to think and post ideas.

 

[Ruthven]

Or Shkr0k rubbing elbows with Chris Jericho

I'm actually surprised that hasn't happened anyway. I was at a Fozzy show and Jericho went out of his way to talk to me about my Edguy shirt. Seemed like a nice guy, though I know nothing about wrestling.

 

[General Zod]

You're assuming it was the trade off of headliners that caused the no sellout of course. It could have just as well been the rest of the lineup that didn't draw. One band doesn't make the entire festival.

I think it's beyond an assumption. I get that you dislike Nevermore, but to say they have can't outdraw Jorn Lande, makes no sense. Nevermore is on MTV. They've done Gigantour. They're regularly given premiere spots on all the European festivals. They do their own headlining tours, both in the US and worldwide. Their forum is 2nd (by just a few hundred posts) to only Opeth as the most frequented on UM. Why do you think Glenn has twice asked them to headline ProgPower?

Look, have whatever opinion you want of the band and their music. But to compare Nevermore to Jorn Lande as a draw?

Zod

 

[Petethedrummer]

I dislike Nevermore. A lot. Really, aside from a few songs, I really don't like listening to them at all.

And Jorn is probably one of my favorite singers. Ark's burn the sun is probably my favorite disc ever. And, all the stuff he's done with Masterplan has been phenomenal.

Nonetheless, I've got to agree with Zod. Nevermore's drawing power is MUCH greater than Jorn's, at least here in the United State, and probably similar throughout Europe too. That's just the way it is. It happens.

 

[Bryan316]

I'm thinking through the last two ProgPowers, and each year, there was ONE band I didn't enjoy. That includes the preparty bands. That doesn't mean I'm only grading the bands I was familiar with or excited to see. Every band. Period. Even if I didn't know a thing about many of those bands, after their performances, I enjoyed them.


That means, Glenn is hitting more than 90%. That's an A on my grading curve.

 

[SymphonyOfDreams]

I still think there's a lot to draw from still... Prog Metal and Power Metal have an interesting thing about them, and it's its capacity to spawn great great bands in a matter of 2 album releases... and when you add to that the fact that either of those genres are popular enough in the US to get those new bands touring... the ProgPower festival idea is almost impossible to go down...

Look, you have a band like say Sun Caged, it was a band that became relatively huge with barely 4 demo songs or something, and that's something not unusual.

You still have bands like Andromeda, Dali's Dilemma (whom I think are well and kicking still), Aghora, etc... that are doing or did well with barely one album at their time (Andromeda's got three now, and each one is better and better).

Power Metal seems to be spawing a lot of new good bands every day (even though it's not my favorite genre in the world).

I do believe however, that specially in prog metal,things are changing, and some more ecclectic bands might be needed to fill in... I dunno how would that work with the regulars of PP since I dont see how that would fit some of their taste...

Say, a band like Farmakon death/prog/funk very very weird stuff, but very fun music nontheless, the same Aghora... bring stuff like Vintersorg black/prog/folk to the plate... or the idea of a band like Dillinger Escape Plan, or even bands like Atheist or Cynic... prog reaches a very VERY wide scope that would defenitly bring a different audience to the plate, and keep things fresh in the festival.

I dunno... that's just my idea... but I'm sure the festivals hold a lot from its regulars, and it's reasonable for Glen to keep it as it is now, and not take the risk of pulling a bizarro lineup and stuff. But it would be very fun, IMO, just to keep people guessing.

 

[trentdk]

If all the "big headliners" are gone, then start booking more of the up-and-coming prog/power bands and lower the damn ticket prices.

If there is an increasing lack of headliner status then the increasing price of tickets does not correlate (from an attendee's p.o.v... its fine for the promoter).

The REAL problem: no more Blind Guardians, Edguy's, Nightwishes, but ever more expensive tickets.

SA is one of my favorite bands in the world, and I saw them for like 12 bucks in Atlanta, front row. If one makes SA $15, and then apply a relative price to the other PP bands according to the status numbers conceived in another thread, one would come out with tickets around $90 to $95 -- psychologically much more appealing.