Who will Headline?

[Entrerie]

Ooops.... Add to my previous list, under the "would be cool, but maybe not as a headliner":

Cynic
Superior
Nocturnal Rites


AMBR, Amorphis are a great band IMO, but they've toured the States fairly recently. Ditto for whoever mentioned Dimmu Burger, although THAT was an awesome headlining show.

I wouldn't mind seeing Demon Burger, but I didn't think they would be considered since not many like harsh vocals it seems, even a little bit.

 

[Cheiron]

Jon Oliva's Pain is headlining ProgPower Europe the same weekend as ProgPower USA, as Glenn stated ealier. Also at ProgPower Europe is Circus Maximus. This year for both is going to be interesting as far as who is playing where, but as usual Glenn will bring in the best, as seen by the first three announced.

Yes. But JOP could headline one night at PPUSA, and then go to Europe for their show the next night. Its hellish travel, but they are willing.. so.. yeah throwing them my support.

 

[AMBR]

Ooops.... Add to my previous list, under the "would be cool, but maybe not as a headliner":

Cynic
Superior
Nocturnal Rites


AMBR, Amorphis are a great band IMO, but they've toured the States fairly recently. Ditto for whoever mentioned Dimmu Burger, although THAT was an awesome headlining show.

Agreed, but I missed that tour. Dead on with Nocturnal Rites. That stole the show completely at Powerfest. If we're turning this thread into yet another wish list, regardless of placement, I'll add:
Firewind (smoked at Sweden Rock!)
Cloudscape
At Vance
Sonata Arctica
and TAROT (Yea, I know Glenn said, not likely, but if the dreamers can hope Jon O. will do back to back shows including a red-eye flight, then I can dream too. )

 

[i am fabio]

Symphony X (fingers crossed...only seen them once at gigantour played six songs)
Sonata Arctica (fuckin' helluva fun band)
Luca (this would be extremely cool, I would settle for RoF if I needed to)

Also Last Night I Dreamt that Shadow Galleryplayed @ PP VIII
Seemed So Real

 

[Bear]

Symphony X - haven't been around much

hmmm you mean lately? If they play next year it will be their 4th PPUSA appearance. But I am sure no one minds that, I certainly dont.

 

[Riceloft]

Pain of Salvation (smuggle them in)
Sonata Arctica
Symphony X
Rhapsody (screw that new name)
Kamelot
Orphaned Land
Anything Arjen Lucassen related

I know I'm not very origional .

 

[Jibrille]

I think we need to start a tradition of having a lot of people on stage at once and have Haggard play. They'd probably be something like a 3 spot though.

 

[cantharsis]

CRIMSON GLORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Unca Kev]

I think Sonata should definitely headline this bitch!!!


Couldn't agree more, even though I saw them in Fort Lauderdale.

I saw that show too. Sonata Arctica put on a GREAT show and I'd LOVE to see them play at PP!

 

[Formerly known as Chris F5]

I agree with you that Dragonforce would draw the completely wrong crowd. At the New England Metal Fest an army of really unlikeable people swarmed in for Dragonforce and split immediatly afterwards... AND GAMMA RAY WAS ON NEXT! If you show up for Dragonforce and leave for Gamma Ray there is somthing seriously wrong with you.

Furthermore... Dragonforce sucks! They are more emo than powermetal and attract that goofy demographic of emo kids who wear iron maiden shirts - and with good reason. Their whole appeal is a big gimmick, and emo kids think its funny cause they are singing about dragons and wizards, etc. But c'mon, listen to their songs. They are so trite and obvious, evey solo is a wank fest without a moment of thought or melodic consideration. Not to mention their non-asian guitarist is friggen TERRIBLE. He's argueably the most sloppy guitarist I have ever heard, and puts no emotional dynamic into his playing. Not that that should be too much of a compliment to the asian guitarist - I guess at least his technique is fine but... you can't have every solo be a scale run of notes in precisely the same intervalic spacing, capped off by a big floyd pull. To me those guys represent everything that can suck about the genre of power metal - bland, obvious, rehashed progressions and mindless shred solos. Too many people feel obligated to like a band just because the band exists in a prog/power genre. If you want to like Dragonforce go ahead, but I just can't one finding any more appeal to them than a gimicky one trick show.

So would you also think that cute 18-21 year old girls are the wrong demographic too.
Because there are a LOT of cuties into this band(for Christ Sakes,they are being played in every Hollister in every mall in th ecountry)
I for one and sick of the 50-1 male to female ratio that every metal show is,and most of that 1% being(I'm going to keep my mouth shut here as I'm about to be polliticly incorrect)
You will have a lot of converts to this style of music,and some of us might not need to go to the Cheetah club afterwords (see disclaimer above)

 

[Hajeka]

I agree with you that Dragonforce would draw the completely wrong crowd. At the New England Metal Fest an army of really unlikeable people swarmed in for Dragonforce and split immediatly afterwards... AND GAMMA RAY WAS ON NEXT! If you show up for Dragonforce and leave for Gamma Ray there is somthing seriously wrong with you.

Furthermore... Dragonforce sucks! They are more emo than powermetal and attract that goofy demographic of emo kids who wear iron maiden shirts - and with good reason. Their whole appeal is a big gimmick, and emo kids think its funny cause they are singing about dragons and wizards, etc. But c'mon, listen to their songs. They are so trite and obvious, evey solo is a wank fest without a moment of thought or melodic consideration. Not to mention their non-asian guitarist is friggen TERRIBLE. He's argueably the most sloppy guitarist I have ever heard, and puts no emotional dynamic into his playing. Not that that should be too much of a compliment to the asian guitarist - I guess at least his technique is fine but... you can't have every solo be a scale run of notes in precisely the same intervalic spacing, capped off by a big floyd pull. To me those guys represent everything that can suck about the genre of power metal - bland, obvious, rehashed progressions and mindless shred solos. Too many people feel obligated to like a band just because the band exists in a prog/power genre. If you want to like Dragonforce go ahead, but I just can't one finding any more appeal to them than a gimicky one trick show.

EVERYONE can agree that they would draw a different crowd, but I doubt EVERYONE really cares enough about being perfect and playing with feel and this and that. I have a best friend always talking about that stuff and he digs DragonForce. Of course they're going to play sloppy when they're jumping off of trampolines on stage and doing "flying kicks". I'm not defending them to make them seem like the best guitarists in the universe, I don't spend my time eliminating bands for that reason, I enjoy music that is good, and in this case, I happen to think that DragonForce is VERY good. They're fast, heavy, catchy, plain and simple, I don't really need to explain why I like them, I just do, and obviously lots of other people here do, too, while the rest may not.

I'm also not going to think a band sucks based on their fan-base. Yeah, it's annoying that they are a Metal band and have all these kids coming in to see them and not know who the hell any other Power Metal band in the universe are, but that doesn't imply in my book that they suck or anything. I see that to a lot of people it does, not you, just saying in general. But what are you saying by "Non-Asian Guitarist", who cares where he is from, or what his race is? Anyway, before they blew up it would have been great to see them at PP. I'm sure everyone on this board has atleast seen them once or twice by now (I've seen them 4 times), or atleast will get to see them, eventually. But because of their wide spread fan base, everyone here knows it's a huge "no". And I don't know what you mean about people feeling obligated to like a band because they are in the prog/power genre, cause there are a lot of Prog bands I can be the first to say put me to sleep. And obviously if read well around this board, a lot of people don't like some Power Metal bands, either. So can't say I have any idea by what you mean by that.

But I will defend them and say, they are NOTHING like emo. If you don't like a band, cool, whatever, but calling them EMO? C'mon, man.. lol. Nothing like emo. DragonForce is great, makes me feel great listening to them, and what I like, is they have stated numerous times, they don't take it serious, they don't care and they're just doing what they like and having fun. That's the RIGHT atitude.

 

[General Zod]

So would you also think that cute 18-21 year old girls are the wrong demographic too.

For this show? Yes. Sorry brother, I don't want to spend my ProgPower weekend partying with kids. And before the younger posters on the board get bent out of shape, let me say this... I have no issues with younger folks at ProgPower. EVERYONE at every ProgPower I've been to has been nothing but cool. However, there's a huge difference in the dynamic when there are a few 18 year olds mixed into a 30-something crowd than when those demographics are reversed.

I for one and sick of the 50-1 male to female ratio that every metal show is,and most of that 1% being(I'm going to keep my mouth shut here as I'm about to be polliticly incorrect)

I'd say that ratio is down to 10-1. As a married man, I obviously come at this from a different perspective than you. However, I'd hate to see the vibe of this festival upset for one band.

Zod

 

[adaher]

I don't think it would be a problem. It'll attract some Atlanta townies, but how many casual Dragonforce fans are going to travel, get a hotel, and pay $100 to sit through two days of bands they've never heard of just to get to Dragonforce?

 

[General Zod]

I would imagine Dragonforce would sell out Earthlink by themselves. If they can't, than they probably wouldn't bother playing Atlanta. I would suspect, any band who could sell Earthlink out on their own, will never take part in a festival where they are part of a five band bill.

Zod

 

[dcowboys311]

EVERYONE can agree that they would draw a different crowd, but I doubt EVERYONE really cares enough about being perfect and playing with feel and this and that. I have a best friend always talking about that stuff and he digs DragonForce. Of course they're going to play sloppy when they're jumping off of trampolines on stage and doing "flying kicks". I'm not defending them to make them seem like the best guitarists in the universe, I don't spend my time eliminating bands for that reason, I enjoy music that is good, and in this case, I happen to think that DragonForce is VERY good. They're fast, heavy, catchy, plain and simple, I don't really need to explain why I like them, I just do, and obviously lots of other people here do, too, while the rest may not.

I'm also not going to think a band sucks based on their fan-base. Yeah, it's annoying that they are a Metal band and have all these kids coming in to see them and not know who the hell any other Power Metal band in the universe are, but that doesn't imply in my book that they suck or anything. I see that to a lot of people it does, not you, just saying in general. But what are you saying by "Non-Asian Guitarist", who cares where he is from, or what his race is? Anyway, before they blew up it would have been great to see them at PP. I'm sure everyone on this board has atleast seen them once or twice by now (I've seen them 4 times), or atleast will get to see them, eventually. But because of their wide spread fan base, everyone here knows it's a huge "no". And I don't know what you mean about people feeling obligated to like a band because they are in the prog/power genre, cause there are a lot of Prog bands I can be the first to say put me to sleep. And obviously if read well around this board, a lot of people don't like some Power Metal bands, either. So can't say I have any idea by what you mean by that.

I couldn't have said it better myself. For me, when I go to a live show, I expect a good performance. When I saw Dragonforce, they were highly entertaining AND sounded great. Who cares if they mess up one or two notes? They're human, you can't possibly expect them to be perfect.

About the fanbase: If you're listening/not listening to a band because of their fanbase, you're listening to music for the wrong reasons. Tool has one of the most annoying fanbases in music, but is that going to stop me from listening to the band? Hell no! I love their music and no matter how annoying the fanbase is, I'll still continue to support the band.

For this show? Yes. Sorry brother, I don't want to spend my ProgPower weekend partying with kids. And before the younger posters on the board get bent out of shape, let me say this... I have no issues with younger folks at ProgPower. EVERYONE at every ProgPower I've been to has been nothing but cool. However, there's a huge difference in the dynamic when there are a few 18 year olds mixed into a 30-something crowd than when those demographics are reversed.

Zod

As one of the 18 year olds who attend ProgPower, I completely agree with you. If I want to party with people my age, I'll go to any other metal show in Atlanta. Hell, most of the 30-somethings I've met at ProgPower are cooler than the 18 year olds I've met at other show. I'd much rather party with the ProgPower crowd.

 

[Cheiron]

Plus beer sales would go down. That's bad news!

 

[Jibrille]

So would you also think that cute 18-21 year old girls are the wrong demographic too.
Because there are a LOT of cuties into this band(for Christ Sakes,they are being played in every Hollister in every mall in th ecountry)
I for one and sick of the 50-1 male to female ratio that every metal show is,and most of that 1% being(I'm going to keep my mouth shut here as I'm about to be polliticly incorrect)
You will have a lot of converts to this style of music,and some of us might not need to go to the Cheetah club afterwords (see disclaimer above)

The show I went to certainly didn't bring out the girls. It was mostly 16 year old boys moshing. Of course, they were playing with Atreyu or something like that (which the few girls aside from me were screaming for). This couple about 2 feet to my left were actually having a conversation Dragonforce's entire setlist with the girls back to the band. Seriously wtf. My boyfriend and I cut out right after Dragonforce.
I do however think that even Dragonforce playing wouldn't change the crowd over much. How many kids actually would pony up the $100+ to just see them not knowing the other bands?
I don't care if they play sloppy or that I really only even regularly listen to maybe 2 of their songs. They are fun to see live and fully worth the ticket price.

 

[SyXified]

Empress - Just to clarify - I only used the terms 'asain guitarist' and 'non-asian guitarist' because I don't know their names, didn't feel like looking them up, and figured that was the easiest way to identify which one I was talking about. I could care less where any musician hails from.

I don't dislike Dragonforce BECAUSE of their fanbase. I dislike Dragonforce, and I also happen to dislike the attitude and behavior of some of their fanbase. I went to see them with a completely open mind having only heard a bit of their material and simply was not impressed what I heard and saw. I also was not a fan of the crowd they drew - but I am particular about crowds: I also dislike interacting with mosher/headbangers and the funny folks who stand upfront and mime all the guitar licks in the air as if the band is going to go 'hey... I see you can play the songs! Get up on stage and play this next song with us!' This is largely why I like the prog-power crowd so much. People manage to show a ton of support and enthusiasm without having to kill eachother or be (overly) musically snotty.

However, it's one thing to miss a few notes due to focusing on your performance and another to be sloppy. Steve Vai is ALL over the place live and he plays next to flawlessly. Yngwie is a madman live - but he still articulates everything extremely well. To me the large part of what makes a performance go from amaturish to professional is how tight and accurate the band is live. You like the songs - you should expect to see them performed well live. A band owes it to their audience to be able to put on a quality performance of the base material. I can watch any average joe jump off monitors. That's not exactly a skill - nor have I ever said 'well, band X's music is mediocre, but they sure run around on stage a lot, so I'll go see them'.

There is also a difference between missing a few notes live and being downright sloppy with everything. I mean, there is a REASON guitarists slave away for hours practicing, and going on forums, and experimenting to find out how to keep string noise down and how to pick a quick run for the desired sound. To go on stage and play somthing messy strikes me as half assed and lazy. If I were to call myself (and sell service as) an audio engineer - you would expect me to be very well versed and talented with my mixing software. You would sure be disappointed if I was just slapping fades and filters on carelessly and without much thought. Similarly, if you are going to walk on stage and profess that you are about to perform certain licks - you should be able to play them WELL. I'd rather see a guitarist not try to play beyond his abilities than try to fake an ability to play things beyond his skills. If you play somthing sloppy - you are not really playing it at all.

Obviously you don't expect a bands performance to be technically flawless like a Symphony Orchestra (where you often get the boot if you botch a single note on a sight read - which shows you how much certain demographics value technical musicianship) because there is more showmanship involved. But there has to be a balance where the music does not suffer noticably or to an extent that begins to detract from the aural quality of the performance.

 

[urayoan]

Pain Of Salvation (Prog)
Iced Earth (Straightforward metal)
Orphaned Land (Brutal and melodic)
Rhapsody of Fire (Symphonic metal assault)

 

[adaher]

I would imagine Dragonforce would sell out Earthlink by themselves. If they can't, than they probably wouldn't bother playing Atlanta. I would suspect, any band who could sell Earthlink out on their own, will never take part in a festival where they are part of a five band bill.

1500 tickets? That's a tall order. There are some national acts on major labels that play Earthlink and don't sell out. Ciara is playing on 12/7. Tickets went on sale three weeks ago. It's not sold out and I doubt it will be. I also doubt Dragonforce is a bigger draw than Ciara, who is getting MTV airplay around the clock, as well as BET airplay and VH1 airplay.