Something that pissed me off about ProgPower

[Bryan316]

Okay. I can't say who said it, not cuz I'm trying to keep anonymity, but cuz I have no idea who the guy was...

But I was talking to someone about ProgPower, and they had heard of it. But, they thought that the show was going downhill because Glenn wasn't getting the big names over here anymore.

Now, I didn't have the time, nor the inclination to start an argument. But I had the terrible urge to STRANGLE him. I completely understand Glenn's direction: Get every band possible a chance to come over here, keep bringing back the bands that the fans go apeshit for, but don't overexpose the market to the same headlining bands.

It's an impossible balance to keep, without having people bitch and whine.

But DAMNIT, to think it's going downhill because Glenn's trying to bring variety and originality and breadth of selection? Come on. Even I would get sick and tired of seeing Symphony X four years in a row. I dunno, man. I like the idea of no repeat shows except for the Showcase. Play once, come back in two years. Gives time for new albums, new material, different show dynamics and song selection.


Can't make everyone happy all the time, I guess...

 

[nailz]

No, you can't, and as it's been pretty much argued before.. who's left?

 

[BlindPanzer]

I actually like these new lineups with less popular bands.

 

[Megawozniak]

Was it you talking to English Teachers Union in the chat? That's the only recent comment I've seen like that.

Personally, so long as the bands can pull out a great show live and we have a few bands I know beforehand, it's good with me. At PP4 when I was a n00b, I only knew significant material by Nightwish and Into Eternity, but seeing how I look back favorably on that year, it made me realize it's not just about "name" bands.

 

[SharkBlack]

Whoever said that has no clue...
I mean, look at this years line up!

 

[BARfest]

In all fairness-- all the bands that you might be referring to are completely able to tour on their own in the US.. When Glenn started doing this 7 years ago NONE of these bands could headline. Now you have Kamelot, Nightwish, Sonata, Epica, Edguy, Sy X ALL headlining shows.. It becomes very hard to do something different.. The big names are ALL over here-- Glenn keeps doing different things by bringing other bands over here for their North American Debut.. Im sure in a few years we will see After Forever here in the US as a regular draw--

 

[SeaStorm]

BTW, this isn't really "something that pissed [you] off about ProgPower". It's not ProgPower's fault this guy's a doofus.

 

[renejanssen]

Hi guys,

Well, we have received the same comments about ProgPower Europe, but the fact is that we try to be different from all the major festival we have to struggle in Europe. We have an overkill, in June, July and August you can travel to a festival over here every weekend, and than you have to choose from at least 2 festivals. Not even to mention how many festivals we have in The Netherlands and Belgium only!

For us it is quite simple, we try to book some bands that hardly ever played here, bands that are very talented and promising and than some bigger bands to attract a bigger audience. But we never will book the major bands such as Dream Theater or Queensryche, simply because we can't afford it and it would loose the strength of the whole ProgPower idea.

But just one tip, simply ignore those negative people, you always will have such idiots. And Glenn, Jon (PP UK) and I never can book a line-up that will please everyone , but we simply need all the support! Keep that in mind.

Greetings,
Rene Janssen
ProgPower Europe

www.progpower.com

 

[St Enigma]

Always makes me wonder, how people can live with their heads in their a**es and keep thinking that the only decent music comes from the five or six bands they are familiar with by keeping an eye on the high street media

I mean, look at the PP bill this year; anyone with the slightest interest in metal must at least have heard of every band before. Well maybe Raintime may not be on everyone's top 100 yet but they've got a website, don't they?
With broadband internet it's not an issue to find legal and unfortunately also loads of illegal sites to download and get familiar with the music of practically any band you ever may catch the name of.

There are tons of recording metalbands out there, both in Europe and in the USA who are talented, original and stuff, but never get to push their names outside the nutbush borders because of lazy crowds not giving a poo for a name they never heard from the "cool" sources before. Five minutes of Googling won't brake anyone's neck, but will easily turn up the wonders of yet undiscovered but awesome bands.

 

[Megawozniak]

I mean, look at the PP bill this year; anyone with the slightest interest in metal must at least have heard of every band before.

I look forward to the show this year, but that is a huuuge exaggeration. The people on this forum are not representative of the average metalhead. I don't think it's a stretch to say lots of real metalheads haven't heard After Forever or Pagan's Mind.

As I said, love the fest, but I think Enigma's way off mark there.

 

[Magius]

As was discussed way back in this thread, http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/progpower-usa/272768-real-problem-here-out.html, the problem isn't that Glenn isn't getting the big names. The problem is that a lot of people don't recognize a big name when they see one.

Granted After Forever is a bit unusual in their slot, but Glenn did that specifically for audience retention. However, as big names go Sonata Arctica and Primal Fear are as big or bigger than most previous ProgPower headliners. Pagan's Mind is rapidly climing up through the ranks, and Vanden Plas headlines European fests.

Big names change with the times. Newer bands rise to the top, while other fade away after their prime. Whenever someone says "big name" in the context used above, they really mean "old name" or "classic name." What they want is to see Blind Guardian... again. Gamma Ray... again. Stratovarious... again.

It's not a big name problem, it's it's an audience problem. It's new versus nostalgia.

 

[Volcane]

Just to echo what Rene said really. It's all about supporting the festivals, discovering new bands, and knowing that we've genuinely tried our best to deliver something truly unique.

Sometimes I look forward to seeing 'big name' bands, and it just doesn't live up to the expectation. Maybe it wasn't like I remember them being, or the buzz wan't there, or it was too corporate... I dunno.

Other times, I've been to a show with maybe less expectation (not knowing the bands maybe) and been really suprised. I genuinely would much rather prefer that. Not made it across the pond yet, but PP Europe was like that for me last year. I knew a few names on the bill, but I made a lot of new 'discoveries' and it got the old adrenaline going! Granted you might hate all the bands you see, but if you find 2 or 3 new bands to shout about... well that's pretty cool.

Jon
PPUK

 

[Harvester]

I appreciate all of the comments and I echo what Rene & Jon have said. I also agree with Magius on his analysis.

It's a rather cut & dry situation for me. If the public continues to support the festival with the changing dynamics and strategies, PP USA continues. If they do not, then I hang it up.

That said, I don't plan on hanging it up for a while.

 

[VenomGA]

I think the lineups are better the last couple of years. I know I have enjoyed more of the bands that played that the 2 festivals before that I attended.

 

[Bryan316]

And I certainly hope you DON'T EVER hang it up, Glenn! My brother and I are eternally thankful to you for Manticora, and last year we were STUNNED by Freak Kitchen. Now we get to scream along to Primal Fear, and that's gonna be a friggin head trip for us!

Megawozniak, not me in the chat, I haven't been in there in over a month. It really was an at-the-moment conversation with a guy. I could tell that by the statement he made, he expected Edguy, Blind Guardian, Sym X, Stratovarius and Kamelot every single year. That would get stale for me. Glenn's got a different purpose, one that I completely agree with. At ProgPower 4, I definitely remarked that I'd probably never get to see Kamelot return to ProgPower. I WAS WRONG! I didn't think back then that I'd ever see one of Olaf Thorsen's incarnations over here. I WAS WRONG! I never expected to see Primal Fear's extremely extreme style over here. I WAS WRONG!

I look down the list of CD's I've collected recently, and there aren't many bands left that I think I won't get to see eventually, cuz I know Glenn's trying to give every great band a chance to get over here. So sooner or later, I'll get to see everyone. Plus the "discovery" aspect of the show! Come on! If I say "Did you see a band that totally suprised you and you went home a fan?" and you DON'T raise your hand, you've got no fuckin pulse! You're in a coma! I can't think of anyone I've talked to here, or at the show itself, who hasn't found a band each year to take home as a new discovery.

I love seeing the big-name bands. That's what brings me there. But it's the discoveries that you just can't get anywhere else. No matter how many people told me Epica was awesome, I wouldn't have believed them. I WAS WRONG!

 

[Bryan316]

BTW, this isn't really "something that pissed [you] off about ProgPower". It's not ProgPower's fault this guy's a doofus.

Yeah I realise that now that I've had some sleep. I was friggin tired last night when I posted that, but I couldn't reword it to save my life.

 

[mëtålspëd]

Magius nailed it. I personally am enamored with this years lineup. It will probably go down as the most solid lineup that I will have seen. My only complaint is that the Euro version got Sieges Even before us.... but to have that as the only complaint is fine by me!

 

[halcyonwayband@aol.com]

And I certainly hope you DON'T EVER hang it up, Glenn! My brother and I are eternally thankful to you for Manticora, and last year we were STUNNED by Freak Kitchen. Now we get to scream along to Primal Fear, and that's gonna be a friggin head trip for us!

Megawozniak, not me in the chat, I haven't been in there in over a month. It really was an at-the-moment conversation with a guy. I could tell that by the statement he made, he expected Edguy, Blind Guardian, Sym X, Stratovarius and Kamelot every single year. That would get stale for me. Glenn's got a different purpose, one that I completely agree with. At ProgPower 4, I definitely remarked that I'd probably never get to see Kamelot return to ProgPower. I WAS WRONG! I didn't think back then that I'd ever see one of Olaf Thorsen's incarnations over here. I WAS WRONG! I never expected to see Primal Fear's extremely extreme style over here. I WAS WRONG!

I look down the list of CD's I've collected recently, and there aren't many bands left that I think I won't get to see eventually, cuz I know Glenn's trying to give every great band a chance to get over here. So sooner or later, I'll get to see everyone. Plus the "discovery" aspect of the show! Come on! If I say "Did you see a band that totally suprised you and you went home a fan?" and you DON'T raise your hand, you've got no fuckin pulse! You're in a coma! I can't think of anyone I've talked to here, or at the show itself, who hasn't found a band each year to take home as a new discovery.

I love seeing the big-name bands. That's what brings me there. But it's the discoveries that you just can't get anywhere else. No matter how many people told me Epica was awesome, I wouldn't have believed them. I WAS WRONG!

Fo Sheezy! I've been coming since 2003 and have found many bands that I had never heard of prior to going to PP. For example....Edguy, Jorn, Mercenary, Circle II Circle, Enertia, Katagory V, Prototype, Evergrey, Symphorce, Into Eternity, Brainstorm, etc....

So I'm pretty much committed to coming whether or not I know the bands because I'm pretty certain that I'll find something new I dig. Since seeing them at PP, Jorn & Edguy are some of my favorite bands. Had no idea who they were prior to that.

For those that think the fest is on a decline....shut your cakehole. =)

 

[Jibrille]

I'm always amazed when people seem to not have an ability to discover new bands or when they refuse to acknowledge that a newer band has become as big (if not bigger) as some of their favourite older bands.

 

[Cheiron]

I want to add onto Magius's comment.

Virgin Steele headlines in Europe. Firewind will soon be a headlining band in Europe.

Redemption and Threshold are considered to be two of the top prog metal bands out there right now (yeah a lot of proggy geeks prefer them to Dream Theater). How long till these bands are capping festivals?

Some people are fools. And think that a lineup sucks if it doesn't have the bands they would put on it. When instead its more of a matter of 'the lineup doesn't fit my taste.'

Heck, sometimes I'm surprised by how small... yet huge the metal community is. I mean it must be big when the guys from Threshold had never heard of Dan Swano before he was recommended to them to do the growls. So if you don't know somebody, or don't know some band, it doesn't mean that they are "small" or anything. It just means that you need to listen to more metal =D

Lastly, I want smaller bands to a point. I want the bands that push metal in new original directions, not the RC Colas of the world. I.E. "Big bands" are sometimes like Budweiser, a careful formula tested through and through to ensure that they meet the needs of a massive number of palates, but aren't the favorite of any of them.