I didn't meet a single person at the show this year that knew who they were. I talked to ALOT of people on saturday, 90% of them were discussing not coming next year do to only 1 or 2 bands coming that they want to see.
As I said before, I hope I'm wrong about it too. I do NOT want to see this festival come to an end due to lack of interest in 1 years line up.
A couple things wrong with what you said here. First, you're saying how no one at the fest knew who they were. More people know than what you may think. Also, the main draw they will get who will attend most likely will be people who weren't even there this year. One of the things Glenn is trying to do is get new fans in and this band totally does it.
Also, yeah maybe right now people only have a band or two they're interested in, but a lot of people will do some digging in the bands and will be turned onto more bands over time. Trust me.
Fixin' what ain't broken. It's been happening on and off since PPVII. It wasn't necessary then, it's not necessary now. The huge success of this last PP proves that. If you can sell out PP in a crappy economy using the same formula that's been used since PPIII, that means it STILL WORKS.
Guess what? It is broke. No offense to Glenn or anything. The main reason he picked this lineup doesn't have anything to do with what happened this year, it has to do with what happened at X. This lineup was in place much, much earlier. Glenn had no way to know it would sell out this year, plus let's be real here it barely sold out. I know that sounds silly but it wasn't until the week before it actually sold out, and to be honest I think one of the main reasons it did was due to Kamelot cancelling their major tour which is what made it an exclusive. I honestly don't know if Khan was with them and they were doing the tour as planned if it would've sold out to be perfectly honest.
And anyone who knows how these things have worked would know that the predictions tend to be what people want to see.
Some people, yes. Other people like me, no. Let's use James Labrie as an example here. I think way more people guessed Labrie as a headliner more due to his picture with Glenn than people who actually wanted him to headline.
I agree that it has become as much as a metal convention. People do come regardless of the lineup. However, you gotta remember that Sanctuary, Arcturus and While Heaven Wept will draw people outside of the ProgPower scene. You can expect tickets sold for those bands alone.
I disagree. I believe if he keeps on booking bands that tour the US all the time, or it's not a once in a lifetime thing you will eventually start going down the drain. You need to keep things fresh, you need to evolve. I think ProgPower gains more fans by branching out to these new directions than loses fans because of the same reason.
Plus comparing PP 3 with last year is just not right. The situation of the whole prog/power scene is completely different!
Word. I've always felt the exclusives are what sells this fest. Like I said up above, if Kamelot had gone with the tour, it may not have sold out. When it was made into an exclusive, it sold out. And technically speaking, Hammerfall was an exclusive too as they were not touring currently, though they did earlier in the year. Also when they did earlier in the year, they completely disregarded anything near Atlanta.
I'd actually say that Arcturus is more of a headliner than Sanctuary, but that's irrelevant, I suppose.
I can't really tell you exactly how many people came out to see Therion last time they were here because they only Atlanta show they've ever played was at PPVI. However, based on conversation, number of shirts, number of requests I get on my show, etc, I can tell you that Therion is well liked around these parts.
Also, if Atlanta is anything like the Chicago area or other parts of the country, Therion has a HUGE following amongst the Hispanic population. I noticed that at the Chicago show as it seemed a little bit half of the ethnicity of that show. I honestly don't know why this is the case, but it is something I've noticed and makes sense considering how well they do in Mexico City.
