Sino naman ang ipangtatapat sa kalibre ng Megadeth??? Kung sino sino nanaman? Kaya pinagtatawanan tayo ng mga foreigners. Kaya iniisip ng foreigners wala tayong eksena dito or wala tayong pantapat sa mga bands na pumupunta dito, or kung pupunta man, they tend to back off and not pass here, lagi nalang tayo dinadaanan. Parang technical na banda na foreign, itatapat mo novelty band na sikat or macho rock or a band that does not make any sense, or bands you've been seeing open for the past 3-4 years straight with nothing to offer but the same old sh^t! Foreign bands come over with something new to offer, sorry to say but it's a sad fact, 3-4 years straight they play the same sh^t and do the same antics!!! A real freaking joke.
Dude I appreciate your opinion. But what I honestly think, your conjectures are a bit off, and what I think, the reason why our support acts for foreign band shows are as such, and why other great foreign bands pass up on the RP, is all about
economics; far from your speculation that the foreign bands have no appreciation of our musicians here.
Case in point: DREAM THEATER. Do you think Dream Theater 'passed up' on the RP because they think no local band can represent the strength of the RP prog community? The Philippines is a great resource for music producers who are on the budget. And
WE are the best-kept secret. And to our demise, our musicians are underpaid and undervalued.
No reasonable artist (both foreign and local) would want to pass up a playdate at any place for as long as they are guaranteed a few things: 1) Income 2) Insurance 3) Comfort - relative from one artist to another, both on and off-stage. And to reason out that why DT passed up on us is because "kung sinu-sino lang ang nagfa-front dito" is plainly fallacious.
Dream Theater did not make it here because NO ONE WOULD LIKE TO SPONSOR THE GIG. Just look at Mike Mangini's kit. Can we afford to replicate his kit by requesting JB to give him all that sh1t? Can we afford to ship that drum kit here? No again. Even Mike Portnoy toured with a 'lite edition' kit some few years back in their SEA tour to book more dates (sans RP). Let alone the whole rig of DT. Promoters cannot afford to shoulder the TF of DT and the economic indicators of people attending a DT show are far from formidable. These are characterized by CD sales, merch sales, and spending power.
Now, regarding FRONT ACTS. In most cases, the front acts are chosen by the producer of the show for specific purposes. They can be any of the following:
1. a label or big-shot manager of the band PAID the producer to front for the foreign act to promote the local artist's/album
2. the show producer had an X-deal with the support band, and the front act was part of the deal
3. The support band could be managed/handled/sponsored by the sound system provider, and the support act is one of the arrangements
4. the label distributor of the foreign act's music wants to promote another local artist in their local label's roster (think Gen. Luna fronting for a Warner-signed foreign artist)
COME TO THINK OF IT, you can get any GREAT LOCAL BAND to front for Megadeth. But will the producer spend an extra 60-100k for the backline of the band? Think about it. You need another set of instruments, mics, mixer, and the personnel to pull that off. Hassle pa sa backstage at aagawan pa ng pagkain ang main act. A support act (even if it waives its talent fee) is more of a liability than an asset, both onstage and backstage. Unless the producer can get something out of the support act, then consider the front act a waste of valuable resources.
So folks, look at things from a wider perspective. Mag-away away man tayo sa sino ang dapat mag-front, PEACE SELLS BUT NO ONE IS BUYING.
