Oh my God, and me and Guids bemoan our circumstances! That is a hell of a long ways! When I was going to Florida last year each time I saw Canada plates I wondered just how long had they traveled? When I lived in Northern VA, I once thought on a whim I would drive to the Niagra Falls, but then I saw it was 18 hours away and decided that was too much for a weekend whim. LOL
[Show/Hide Quoted Message] (Quoting Message by Head banger from Saturday, September 05, 2009 1:07:44 PM)| |  | Head banger wrote: | | yeah, to go to one recorded would be cool. 10 hours would not get me to a major US city, unless you were to count great falls as major. didnt think so. think 12 hours would get me to seatle.
| | | spapad wrote: | | I would have cringed at 10 hours as well, UNLESS the Management would have told us about the Hollywood, FL show then I would have drove the 10 hours with not a single complaint! Damnit. Must not be any Major US cities right under your part of Cananda? Shame. Sorry!  I do miss the 80's when bands went EVERYWHERE!
| | | Head banger wrote: | | yep. if they were within a 10 hour drive of me I might have considered it. but the closest this year I got was 22 hours to colorado. but... what should I do? sure a shit if I moved to somewhere they have never missed they would never go back. plus to stay in canada that would mean living in toronto. prison would be better
| | | spapad wrote: | | Not to be whining but the entire southern US east coast was missed last year. Except the one show at Bristow, VA.
They have not played NC, SC, in so long I think the last time they were there was turbo? Alabama, Mississippi and Louisianna can forget about it! They would have to to to Texas, TN or GA. Florida got a few shows this year and one in GA, but that's it. If your a fan, and live in these parts, well you simply have to face facts that travel will always be a part of it.
| | | Head banger wrote: | | yeah we got a good tour in 2008. Calgary had a shortened set cause they were in a festival, but it was a good show.
| | | spapad wrote: | | Actually, I was not refering to band travel in europe as much as fan travel in europe.
Even with the shows they did play in the US this year, there are people who had to do some serious traveling to get to a show.
HB, sorry Canada took a miss this year, but were they not there more last year? I could be wrong and I haven't checked the back dates. This show was largely due because 12 shows in the US is just very limited, and that is what they did last year.
It will certainly NEVER be like the days of old where I could have seen them at least 2 times in VA once in Maryland, twice in NC, and then could have branched out to TN, they will never tour like that again, sadly those days are long gone.
| | | ron h wrote: | | Euro Disney doesn't do well because Europe has real castles and we don't!! 
Visa issues aren't that big of a deal because management takes care of a lot of that stuff in advance. As far as the actual travel, they could fly a charter or helicopter in if it was that bad. But all that does is reinforce why I think they play fewer shows in larger venues there (and Europe was just 1 example). How many shows did Priest play in Canada?? One, maybe two? Austrailia?
Remember, I'm just a fan giving an opinion here and don't know for sure one way or the other...an educated guess if you will. The real reason(s) may have nothing at all to do with any of what's been mentioned here, but this topic does make me think...damn you Prowler!!!
| | | spapad wrote: | | Strat has some valid points Ron. Travel in europe is not the easiest thing to do, there are visas involved, and the roads are terrible in alot of places as they still follow the contour of the land and that means while you drive up a mountain forever your not really making much headway, or you drive along a coastline hugging every turn in and out lots of mileage with very little progress. I would be like befor the interstates where built in the US, long winding roads that take you forever to get somewhere, and then imagine having to show visa's at each state line. Big pain in the ass. For instance, why does Euro Disney do so poorly, because travel is such a pain to get there, Why not just hop a plane to Florida and you only need one visa to do it!
So, it's not easy to move about europe in vast milage.
The reason the bands play so many venues here is the area of the US is so vast, and in general most americans are too lazy to put forth too much mileage to go see a show. They may do it for a vacation but many of them simply wouldn't bother for a show.
Ron you may have had that many accessbile shows, but the closest show to me, would have been a five and a half hour trip, that was the CLOSEST, which I didn't go to, but I went to the third closest to me which was a 7 and half hour trip, close to 400 miles, if not more. The second closest would have been Pittsburgh at six and a half hours. So not everyone had shows that close to them.
(Quoting Message by _strat_ from Saturday, September 05, 2009 10:36:06 AM)
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_strat_ wrote: |
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Hmm... If Im not much mistaken, the nearest they came to me on this tour is Vienna... WHich is about 3 or 4 hours drive away... On an empty road, with no stops, with favourable wind. That is if they dont reschedule the shows in Zagreb and Belgrade, which they still havent, and I dont know what they are waiting for.
IDK, they certainly have a packed schedule on the American tour, maybe thats why they find it hard to do more shows elsewhere. IDK, we would have to ask them. Or wheover organises those shows for them.
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ron h wrote: |
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Hey Strat...To better illustrate my thinking which has been known to be flawed lol here's what I mean...
My home to...
...downtown Chicago 18 miles
...Milwaukee 103 miles
...Indianapolis 143 miles
...Detroit 236 miles
...Cleveland 281 miles
...St. Louis 423 miles
If I'm not mistaken, Priest played all of the cities...if they wer're to only play 1 maybe 2 of these cities, there wouldn't have been an empty seat in the house and could have probably played (a) bigger venue(s). Priest are loyal to their core group of fans and they'll play anywhere here (and we thank them for it) but I think they pay a price for it as well.
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_strat_ wrote: |
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IDK about that... Theres about twice as many people living in Europe than in whole of north America. They could double the number of European shows, and still play in full venues. What is true, I guess, is that all the borders and stuff makes it more time consuming and expensive to travel, thats why it makes it difficult when they skip enitre countries on tours.
IDK, I usualy envy you guys in the states... It seems like whenever someone goes on tour there, they play everywhere where there are at least ten fans.
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ron h wrote: |
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I think it's because of the size of the States. Overseas you've got smaller countries grouped together, like our New England states, therefore there's no need to play a 30 show tour in say Europe...a couple of shows will do it and the fans flock because there's so few. Using where I live as an example, I could have caught Priest at any one of 6 of their shows all within 500 miles **Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Louis, Indianaplois, Detroit or Cleveland**
That being said, we don't have a Download Festival type event. At one time we had the US Festival, which if continued it could have rivaled a Download, but that never happened. Just an opinion off the top of my head...but it's certainly not for a lack of enthusiasm!!!
(Quoting Message by ProwlerCub from Saturday, September 05, 2009 6:56:33 AM)
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ProwlerCub wrote: |
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I was watching That Metal Show the other day and they had a special from the Download Festival. It seemed to me that there seems to be a greater outlet for metal bands overseas than there is in the US. I am not talking about the intensity of the fans but a greater chance for exposure of bands overseas. Why is it that some bands can play larger venues overseas but come to the US and have to play clubs (if they even tour the US at all)? Thoughts? Comments?
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Edited at: Saturday, September 05, 2009 8:00:48 AM |
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Edited at: Saturday, September 05, 2009 11:03:19 AM
Edited at: Saturday, September 05, 2009 11:16:14 AM |
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