you're welcome. Now if your lineup is that, I expect 10% off the gate
. Or at least some free backstage and tix. 
You too can plan a Metal Fest!
- Thread starter SwordLord
- Start date
you're welcome. Now if your lineup is that, I expect 10% off the gate
. Or at least some free backstage and tix. 
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
With all due respect to Chris and Rob, I'd hardly tremble in fear at the prospect of competing with Powerfest. Same goes with the others that you mentioned. By and large, with any of these festivals, they'll get the local Metal crowd. The goal is, to make people travel. And if people are willing to travel, they're going to travel for bands, not the festival name. Regardless of whether they've attended Powerfest three years on a row, if your line-up is superior, they're going to go to your festival.
I would think most Iced Earth fans do. Keep in mind, if you were talking summer, you'd also benefit from Pyramaze's label spreading the word about Barlow for you. (Given Glenn's "Not Playing in 2008" thread, I guess this point is moot)
Well, I suspect you'd have, in a very readable font, below the Pyramaze logo, "Featuring Matt Barlow, the former voice of Iced Earth)
No problem.
Zod
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
As I said to Nathan, if I was considering starting a festival, none of those festivals would be a deterrent for me.
I blame the line-ups. I had actually purchased plane tickets and booked a hotel room for Powerfest... and still didn't go. None of these line-ups has ever impressed to the point of being willing to travel to it. I certainly wouldn't rule any of them out in the future, but my attendance will be based solely on the quality of the line-up.
I do agree with you other point, that the U.S. isn't ready for a Euro style festival. There simply aren't enough Metal fans here to make Wacken, or even one of the smaller scale festivals work.
Zod
There are. But you can't just pop down a few dollars, hop on a train and go as you can in Europe. The reason those festivals work so well in Europe, is yeah partly because metal is bigger in general, but I think a lot has to do with how easy it is to commute around.
edgeofthorns
24 Hours Ago...
Something that I think the U.S. desperately needs is a melodic rock festival of some sort. In my opinion, that would cover a fairly broad range of bands. More or less the range I'm speaking of covers veteran rock bands as well as up and coming U.S. bands, plus the vast amount of European bands that are available. I'm thinking of something along the lines of the UK's Firefest. Last year that festival featured bands such as Winger, House of Lords, and Gotthard. I'd love to see those type of bands play under one roof!
Some Examples:
Veteran Bands: Whitesnake, House of Lords, Europe, Winger, and Toto
The New Breed of Bands: Brother Firetribe, Jaded Heart, PC69, Masterplan, and Gotthard
~Brian~
Some Examples:
Veteran Bands: Whitesnake, House of Lords, Europe, Winger, and Toto
The New Breed of Bands: Brother Firetribe, Jaded Heart, PC69, Masterplan, and Gotthard
~Brian~
booB
Señor Member
This may be true for you, but, taking into account the diversity of the lineups of those festivals, I happen to know for a fact that there are plenty of people who wanted to go to Festival A, but were already planning on attending Festival B or C and couldn't afford to do multiple fests. Personally, if money and time weren't an issue (ie, we were in Europe and it was cheap and easy to travel), I would have gone to CPF, the Female Voices fest, and BAR Fest. If these fests were spaced out better (if I remember correctly, they all happened within the span of a month), then I might not have had to skip all but CPF. There's nothing wrong with the lineups; they're just not high-budget enough fests to get Blind Guardian and Sonata Arctica type bands every year. They did all have proper headliners, and from what I understand, all of them were well-run. I don't think any of them expected to draw ProgPower numbers, but they're not ProgPower-style festivals. I still maintain that they would have all drawn better if they were at different times of the year.
agreed... It's a lot tougher to travel the US than it is to travel Europe, because everything's so spread out. We couldn't have a decent public transport system if we tried, and we certainly can't camp near the venue like they do in Europe. I think this is part of the reason things like OzzFest are tours, instead of big open-air fests; that way, people don't have to pay to travel the US to see it. We still wouldn't be able to pull off Wacken/Dynamo/etc. type fests, but I'm pretty sure if ProgPower (for example) had enough seating, and it were easier/cheaper to go there, it would draw somewhere in the multiple thousands of attendees.
Diabolik
Member
I have to agree with Zod...I wouldnt let any other US fest detour you. Liek he said...most just grab the local scene and a few out of towners. The name doestn sell the fest...it is the bands. I have openly stated that the reason last years Powerfest wasnt a huge draw was the line up. Way too many bands no one cared about. It was a greatly run fest but not any exciting bands.
Instead of trying to stick to one genre you could do a mix. Get some power metal like
Freedom Call
Twisted Tower Dire
Dionysus
got some folk metal
Elvenking
Turisas
heavier stuff like
Ensiferum
Carpathian Forest
why just cater to one crowd....get a variety of acts to widen the crowd interest....most metal fans like a variety of genre's.
I am not a traveler but if the fest has bands that are worthy....I would make the trip in a heart beat. good luck.
Heh. CPF had a solid lineup. I figure that Athiest is exciting enough. Lethal didn't attract people as much as maybe could have been hoped. Mystic Prophesy might have sold another 100 tickets. Hard to say.
General Zod
Ruler of Australia
Which is what I said in my first point; don't worry about the competition, just build the superior line-up.
That's obviously a matter of opinion.
There's a great number of tiers between Blind Guardian and Lethal (Powerfest's headliner).
Lethal is a proper headliner?
I think we can agree, you'll always do better in the face of no competition, regardless of what your endeavor is. That said, my primary concern would be establishing a quality line-up, superior to that of my competition, and build the date around the respective schedules of my headliners.
Zod
Diabolik
Member
were you there??? Zero excitement. I was really looking forward to the fest all year and posting on the forum and stuff. Waiting for each announcement...and every time being more and more disappointed. Atheist has a lot of pre show buzz and people talking about flying in...but in reality...it was pretty damn empty for them. On saturday...for the first half of the show there was barely 100 people there...maybe like 100 more once the main bands kicked in. It seemed more people were there for the after party and stuff.
I think a lot of things can go into why certain fest dont do well...it is a gamble. Location and line up are the two that I can think are the most important.
booB
Señor Member
Diabolik
Member
maybe back in the late 90's...now they are irrelevant. I was there...only about 100 people really seemed to care about them. Granted...Mystic Prophecy wouldnt have been a bigger draw either. It all boils down to getting someone who is a draw or a band of the moment. that is what gets people there.
I hate to have to throw this in, mainly for future reference for folks who come across the forum who aren't regulars, etc.
I know Nathan is awesome (along with Tammy, John a couple other fest owners here of course). That said, had this been posted by anyone else the thread probably would have been removed due to conflict of interest with ProgPower USA. Nathan's around the scene and knowledgeable enough to know the same bands that are desired by PPUSA folks here (he's a fan first like most of us!).
Anyways, business mode over, back to the lists.
I know Nathan is awesome (along with Tammy, John a couple other fest owners here of course). That said, had this been posted by anyone else the thread probably would have been removed due to conflict of interest with ProgPower USA. Nathan's around the scene and knowledgeable enough to know the same bands that are desired by PPUSA folks here (he's a fan first like most of us!).
Anyways, business mode over, back to the lists.
Glenn and the guys at Maryland (at least I think), are the only ones who seem to be profiting on metal fests in the first place.
Madfest will probably turn profitable at some point. I don't know about Chicago. Nathan's cohorts have already ended one of their fests, and possibly Heathen Crusade too.
Madfest will probably turn profitable at some point. I don't know about Chicago. Nathan's cohorts have already ended one of their fests, and possibly Heathen Crusade too.
Rocklahoma or whatever they called it, yeah. I think Twisted Sister headlined, but I didn't think Dee was the organizer. Anyone know how their attendance turned out? They were expecting 40-50 thousand.
booB
Señor Member
How come? The way I see it, it's because of Glenn and his success with ProgPower USA that we're even having this discussion at all. And we've had extensive threads about CPF, Texas Madfest, etc... those are fests that already exist... not to mention PP Europe, which is directly conflicting with PPUSA this year. Nathan's thread is regarding options and possibilities for future fests.
I don't understand how anything we're discussing is a conflict of interest... even if someone did come up with a similar lineup, they wouldn't be able to re-create the atmosphere and other components that make PPUSA unique.
Re-read my statement to why I posted what I posted, it's all in there and you seem to have overlooked the real purpose of my post and concentrated on the "conflict" part, out of context. Let's not continue to discuss my post as it wasn't meant to be dwelled on.
To quickly add to it, PPUSA is indeed unique and hard to replicate. Will there ever be another fest to really challenge it? Maybe not...maybe so...if anyone could 110% guarantee me a definite answer to that, hey, life is good .
Nathan is a savvy fellow, and there's plenty of others out there. You can never take success or status for granted when it comes to business, as I am sure Glenn doesn't.
Anyways, like I said, let's not dwell, back to the lists!
To quickly add to it, PPUSA is indeed unique and hard to replicate. Will there ever be another fest to really challenge it? Maybe not...maybe so...if anyone could 110% guarantee me a definite answer to that, hey, life is good
.Nathan is a savvy fellow, and there's plenty of others out there. You can never take success or status for granted when it comes to business, as I am sure Glenn doesn't.
Anyways, like I said, let's not dwell, back to the lists!
I hate to have to throw this in, mainly for future reference for folks who come across the forum who aren't regulars, etc.
I know Nathan is awesome (along with Tammy, John a couple other fest owners here of course). That said, had this been posted by anyone else the thread probably would have been removed due to conflict of interest with ProgPower USA. Nathan's around the scene and knowledgeable enough to know the same bands that are desired by PPUSA folks here (he's a fan first like most of us!).
Anyways, business mode over, back to the lists.
Plus there is the issue of Professional Courtesy, which Nathan has. Not just for Glenn and ProgPower but for all festival's.
Now back to the List, and our regulary scheduled program.
