And so forth, as i went on to answer other prog related questions.It's hard to say on the festival scene... NEARFest, as you may/may not know was cancelled due to low ticket sales. How much of that was the economy and how much a lineup that didn't have that... "gotta see" band on it... I don't know. I think more so the latter, as NF has for years been THE festival to go to. On the other hand... the "gotta see" bands are becoming fewer and fewer... well, at least the classic 70s prog artists. Some of the big big names tour anyway (Yes, for example). I guess a big "get" would be... Genesis w/Collins and Gabriel...
And factor in the mix, the number of festivals that crop up ... after NF and the "granddaddy" ProgDay... we had BajaProg, RoSFest, CalProg (not scheduled for this year, and that was purely an economic thing), 3RP, ... and now for 2012, OhioProg. It's almost a point where they pull attendance from each other. Too many festivals, not enough time/money/vacation.
Ironically, if you look at Europe, there's a festival of some sort every weekend - admittedly metal festivals - but there's Wacken, Summer Breeze, the traveling Sonisphere... just to name those that come to mind. And they sell out. Well, Wacken does; seems the "festival season" there is vibrant ...
But here in the US... perhaps because of our size... it's harder to bring folks in. I suspect most of those who attend RF and NF are from the East Coast, most of those that go to CalProg are from the West Coast. I know that RoSFest is struggling, but George finances it himself, and is now seeking sponsors. Well, patrons help by buying tickets in advance, but know he's seeking fan-backing. RF caters to a neo/modern prog crowd, and that's ok.
In working on converting our interviews from html files to data in a database (and updating them with addendums, etc.), there was one in particular where the interviewee mentioned his band's performance at a past NEARFest (www.nearfest.com) and it got me thinking about this question again. With NEARFest 2011 having been cancelled due to insufficient interest -- i.e., ticket sales -- and NEARFest 2012 still up in the air, at least as of the end of July (in writing this now, I've not got back to check to see if there's been movement in either direction), it occurred to me that if NEARFest is no more, it signals the end of an era. (Or does it?)
Why did ticket sales slump dramatically for NEARFest 2011? I must admit I was very shocked when I heard the news it was cancelled. One takes NF for granted… like the only things certain in life are death, taxes, and NEARFest. It wasn't the first progressive rock festival; I believe that honor belongs to ProgDay (www.progday.net), which itself is an institution that we take for granted. So why?, we have to ask. The economy? For sure that was one factor, perhaps more so for those where getting to Bethlehem is lengthy trip, whether flying in from California say, as I would have been, or from overseas, as I know some do. And because fuel costs were up, those nearer to the venue, but not exactly near, had to make some decisions. But, wouldn't those who view going to NEARFest on the same order as going to Mecca being saving up by cutting out… well, lattes and other discretionary spending? Maybe, but maybe their economic situation was a sudden shift in the balance of things.
Could it have been the lineup, as some have speculated? NEARFest's attractive feature is the lineup that appeals to the broad spectrum of progressive music fans. Even if 200 fans come to see some classic 70s prog band, and another are coming to see a RIO band and another 200 are coming to see a neo-prog band, etc. and that's multiplied by 8 bands… why, that's 1600 people (more than the venue will hold). I don't know really what the percentage draws are, by the way, so these numbers are, of course, made up. But really, were folks staying away just because the headliner was not some 70s era prog band? Or otherwise a band of broader marquee appeal? Or that there weren't any "popular" bands on the bill? How do they get popular if no one comes to see them? Or is it, as one ProgressiveEars,com (www.progressiveears.com) post notes, that said headliner tours regularly, at a ticket price less than the per-band ticket price at the festival, and so... going to see just that one band at the festival doesn't make economic sense?
I won't lie and pretend that I don't make my decisions based on who is on the lineup, but generally there's at least one band I'd like to see, and that's enough for me. Full disclosure, of course - I could not attend NEARFest 2009 and NEARFest 2010 because a work commitment was scheduled for the same weekend each of those two years. And for 2011, it was for me purely an economic decision, and RoSFest (www.rosfest.com) won out. And to be equally honest, I have not attended ProgDay, but it wasn't because of who was on the bill… or any particular bias against the festival, as I do support it with ad dollars and promote it by featuring our reviews of the bands... but I digress.
To be honest, I don't know the reason NEARFest didn't sell as well as expected. It could be all of the things I mentioned, or none of them. But, this commentary wasn't meant discuss the cancellation of NEARFest in and of itself, but more about progressive music festivals in general. Because we also had CalProg (www.calprog.com) going on hiatus for 2011. RoSFest happened and is scheduled for 2012, but has changed its funding model somewhat, asking for direct sponsorship - beyond the patron ticket program - to help offset costs. Those fuel costs, airfare costs and generally the cost of living, have pushed up the costs of putting on a festival, which wasn't cheap to do to start with. Things we expect to be a part of it get cut - no program, for instance. I know from my days as publications associate with my employer, that to put out a 15000 copy quarterly newsletter (about 10 times as many as for a festival, I know), it was about $4000. And that was 2 colour at 20 pages. Now, full color, as the programs usually are, for, say 1000 copies, would probably run about $2000 … maybe. I didn’t have advertising dollars to offset our costs (it's a non-profit and if we did accept advertising, we'd have to pay taxes because of the frequency of our publication, for which we gave away free to our members, donors, etc.*). Venues have to charge more for their rental as the cost of maintaining and running the facility has gone up. And those costs have gone up because… well, it's the economy.
So… with all this in mind, we have two new festivals entering the game - the first is OhioProg scheduled for September 2012, which boasts a lineup that includes Persephone's Dream (whose new CD is playing as I write this…), After The Fall, Arena, Cryptic Vision, FM, Gende's Giant, Going For The One, Nightingale, Orphan Project, RC2, and Script For A Jester's Tour. Find out more at http://www.ohioprog.com/.
The second newcomer is still really in the planning stages, even though a line up is established - FarFest, which is planned for October 2012. Its focus is 70s prog, mostly French and Italian bands, but not entirely, along with modern bands with a 70s sound. The bill? Alphataurus, Anekdoten, Anglagard, Arti E Mestieri, Atoll, Latte E Miele, Locanda Delle Fate, Maxophone, Pulsar, SBB, Shylock, and Wobbler. Wow - I can report that ProgressiveEars is abuzz with excitement about this festival - which still has not announced an exact date or location (as of August 2011 {and while proofing this for publication, I checked again and that is still true}).
With these additions, and presuming the continued life of our venerable prog festival institutions, we'd have a US prog calendar that looks like this: April/May - RoSFest; June - NEARFest; August/September - ProgDay; September - OhioProg; October - FarFest, CalProg. We could throw in ProgPower there, which adds another in the September category… and puts ProgDay, Ohio Prog and ProgPower on three consecutive weekends… And, it's been said that FarFest is planned as a one-off event…
Can 6 to 7 festivals be supported? I'm not sure; does that spread our prog dollars too thin? Or will we find these festivals attract smaller crowds and all them within a day's drive of the venue? That they become regional festivals rather than international?
It might be an interesting concept, though perhaps not a viable one, if they did think of themselves as regional. Imagine if they had a core lineup that was the same for each, and then supplemented it with local talent? That is, something where the headliners and the second bands on the bill appear at all festivals, maybe the third band is regional and the fourth is local -- regional being, like west, northeast, southeast, etc., and local being from that or a nearby city. The headliners would have a mini-tour built in… which is often a stumbling block to bringing "big names" from overseas. But why that wouldn't work is if you went to see "headliner Saturday" and "headliner Sunday" at RoSFest, would you go see them again a month later at NEARFest, as they're both in PA? And would you if they promised different sets? Oh sure, there are people who will see a band at various venues on a tour (hello Grateful Dead!), and a band often does play a series of dates geographically close to each other - San Diego isn't that far from Los Angeles, for example, and San Juan Capistrano is midway between… and, of course, there's touring festivals already - like Lallapalooza - so it does work, to some degree. So … there's plusses and minus either way. Especially as the current schedule weighs heavily on the Central and Eastern time zone - in as much as the prog community seems to be concentrated there. Add a fest in Washington state and maybe one in Colorado or Utah, and the continent is pretty well covered.
I think the reason Europe can host what seems like a hundred festivals of 60 bands each is because… well, it's more than geography, I'm sure. The different countries of Europe and the UK are considerably smaller than the US (and smaller than Canada… actually probably smaller than Mexico, too). But I suppose if we look at Europe as a whole, it is geographically the same as the US. And really, it's hard to judge, since most of those festivals are metal festivals with bands that run the gamut from extreme, thrash, hardcore, black, dark or doom, prog, and power metal (though I'm not sure if hardcore and extreme aren't the same thing). There's an eclectic mix for you… And maybe these festivals do so well because they do have huge line ups, multiple stages to support those big line ups, and lots of corporate sponsorship from magazines, beers, and… whomever else. Might not that be another way to go with our prog festivals? Now, I know the labels, prog review sites (this one included), general fans as patrons, provide funds to support the festivals, but I'm thinking bigger in addition. I do know that ProgPower has or has had corporate sponsorship from Guitar Center, for example. How much, I don't know. I mean, I don't know the dollar amount, or "gifts in kind" in terms of loaner drum kits, keyboards, and backline and other instruments that are a bit harder to load onto a commercial airliner (not impossible, but not cheap and easy either). So, that would be an example of a festival that does. Perhaps NEARFest and RoSFest, etc., have as well (not necessarily GC). If not, it's worth considering.
We have to remember also, I think, a sell-out crowd at these festivals is about 1000 people; fewer at RoSFest and CalProg as they are smaller venues. Well, RoSFest has been at a smaller venue, I don't recall the seating capacity at its new home in Gettysburg. And I don't know what ProgDay draws, but sadly I don't think it's 1000. I'm not dismissing that as nothing, as it's just not practical to expect these festivals to book Madison Square Gardens or Staples Center. I mean really, Kansas plays casinos and county fairs nowadays. Yes seems to play slightly bigger venues, but I don't think the order of MSG or Staples...
Have I, after all this, really come to some answer that truly paints the status of progressive music festivals in the US in 2011? Yes and no. Getting back to NEARFest, only because it was what launched this thoughtstream, I guess the question is: Who do you want to draw? Neo fans, classic prog fans, RIO fans, or... what? And maybe Umphrey's McGee, since they were one of the headliners for 2011, was pitched at the wrong audience. I mean sure, there are a few jam-band fans amongst the prog crowd (maybe more than a few, but proportionally fewer than, say, classic Italian prog fans...). Had NEARFest been promoted amongst the jam-band crowd (and I don't know that it wasn't; I'm just saying...), that fan base might have bought more tickets. Except, we get back to the comment on ProgressiveEars.com...
We'll have to see what 2012 brings...
* basically, if you have a one-time a year or less publication you can accept advertising and not be assessed taxes which is why, presumably, festivals don't have theirs taxed. I'm strictly speaking about US tax code, of course. It may be different elsewhere.
Unless you've been living in a cave for -- what, the last six months? -- Mike Portnoy left Dream Theater. Not willingly but voluntarily, as we all know (except those living in caves, I guess). So, there were days and days of that "drama." Portnoy quoted, Petrucci, LaBrie, Rudess, Myung all quoted. Actually, so much so, I just stopped posted the news. It's out there, elsewhere. It was just the same thing over and over. We get it - Portnoy didn't want to leave, just take break; the other members wanted to dive right into working on their next album... so on and so forth.
"The members of Dream Theater have been extremely sensitive to the fact that this is not only a monumental decision in their own lives, but also a critical moment in the lives of their fans around the world," again, sourced from Blabbermouth.net, but I'm not sure if that's their editorializing or Roadrunner Records (which, of course, hosts Blabbermouth.net). "'The departure of our lifelong bandmate and friend was an unexpected and truly heartbreaking blow,' says guitarist John Petrucci. 'The fact that as a result of that event we'd be introduced to seven infinitely capable and uniquely talented drummers was heartening.'"