It gets worse year after year, I hope their Club Matrix fails and causes the company to go out of business.

I think they put on good shows. What is this Club Matrix you speak of? They opening up the Palladium for dance nights again?

I've boycotted them for years. They book shows based on market viability rather than expressionism, content, or helping the little guy.
Also I find it odd that i talked one-on-one with Eric from the ICC about MC and he said he'd never work with them, they are too financially concerned, and now they are pretty much the sole people that work with the ICC.

Instead of leaving all the good shows to a company that's just reinvesting the profit into making more money, maybe we could take it upon ourselves to work on having venues that are more in line with what everyone wants; deconstruct the monopoly.

club matrix in boston, underneath the Roxy

yeah...reminds me of a little company called stepup presents that we got here in albany...used to be really sick, through awesome shows with sick locals...now it's all fucking emo and pop punk and post hardcore bullshit, and they only cater to like 3 or 4 locals, and that's only if you kiss a shitload of ass...occassionally a good show, but for the most part the dude is in it for the loot, period.

mass concerts does metal, mostly metalcore though. Scott Lee manages bands who always play the Palladium tours, regardless. It could be Nile and his bands open. It could be In Flames and his bands open, it could Iced Earth, well you get the idea.

Granted, I am pretty elitist, but atleast the 'scene' I work in isn't made up of uber-trendy metalcore bands - which is why I love it. But more bands should get chances to play on such shows, especially if they fit the bill more.

Cheers!

I see TONs of massconcert shows. they put on a lot of them. what they do is BIG shows. not small ones. the ones upstairs are smaller and I've seen TONs of smaller bands up there (like goratory, BOE, and more).
yes, scott lee puts on his own bands, but whatever.

Massconcerts is one of the factors that has pulled metal and hardcore to this area. talk to anyone from around the country (mdd?) and they are wicked jealous of what we got around here. Prophetless, Massconcerts, Ann-maggedon, muscle-city, maniac production, etc... plus all the "indie" record labels around here that put on their own shows; not common, bridge 9, all about, etc... that's why I have so many shows to go to and a gay-assed site like this can exist.

the_reverend said:

and this
http://massachusettsmetalshows.cjb.net

I think the Rev pretty much summed everything I would have wanted to say up. Plus, Scott Lee has Fat Cats in Springfield, and he puts on plenty of shows that are "smaller."

I can't fault Massconcerts for trying to make money. If they weren't, there would just be more clubs to the laundry list of clubs that have had to close because they can't pay the bills. These smaller shows are great and everything, but there's a reason all the clubs that they are being booked at don't last...

Joe, Aaron just housed you. Get on your knees and beg to be spared further punishment

as part of the collective whole, I agree with Aaron - MC has brought some great shows to town. But MC has also monopolized many nights that small promoters and small bands want people to go to. Try getting a bunch of people to go to a smaller show the same night as say, a Blood For Blood reunion at the ICC and often times that's hard. You can lose a big turnout.

True, I don't think that people should RESIST booking just to make way for the little guy -- that is to say, why give up what you want to do out of modesty? -- but I think they could be more compassionate to the people who AREN'T going to make money and AREN'T going to draw a big crowd, knowing that it'll make some band of goofy, nerdy kids happy. And who knows? Sometimes those bands get big.

Case In Point - A long time ago these kids wrote me and were like "hey you're doing a Tear It Up show and our friends in Ikol are playing that show. Can we get on?" and at first I was like nah but then space opened up and I was like "Sure, just if you could help find a PA that would be radical". That band was As Long As We're All Living We're All Dying and brought like 40 kids, despite the fact that they hadn't been around that long.

Another band was Figure 6. They hadn't been around that long either, didn't bring a million kids, but later that band became The Young Idea and then Querencia and ex-members of all these bands could draw a good crowd.

I also once booked a show that NO-ONE literally NO-ONE came to and it was with this band called "Limit Break". The bassist from that went on to sing for Eyes Like Autumn.

So I don't think Massconcerts fully grasps the idea of smart booking, either, which is a sad footnote. They aim for markey viability but lose out on the real heart of underground music, which is the love, the fostering, the growth.

Jay - I think what you said kinda proves Joe's point. How can he get 100 kids to see Not common bands the same night as, say, a Braid reunion show, or a 454 Big Block reunion show? It's the same crowd, more or less, and there's only so many people that can go to one or the other.